Category: Writing Tips

One of my oldest tricks for writing is to use music in the background.

I try to find an album or a single song that isn’t too intrusive, but perhaps lends itself to cinematic qualities that match the tone I am looking for.

Using the same music each writing session allows me to return to a similar headspace.

BUT . . . it can get tiresome.

There are a few bands and albums I can’t listen to again since I played them on repeat during a draft.

There are others that I return to, fondly remembering their guidance.

I don’t always listen to music when I write (more often I do not). But I always listen to music in the car. During a novel draft, I will not change whatever album I’m listening to. The time in my car listening to music is generally when I think about what I’ve written and what I want to write next. Having consistent music keeps me in a similar headspace. Of course, after a month of the same album, it’s usually a relief to change up an album when a novel draft is completed.

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We all use the same words over and over again. Same phrases too.

But it’s often hard to notice it unless someone else points it out. But if you’re weary of repetition there’s a couple of steps you can take.

If it’s a short story, it’s rather easy. I’ll run through the steps, but afterwards I’ll include tips for preparing a larger document, say a novel . . .

I use Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.

1. Create a copy of your story (or just don’t save changes after you do the next step).
2. In Microsoft Word, Use the ‘REPLACE’ feature
3. In the FIND type a single space
4. In the REPLACE type ^P. This will turn every ‘space’ into a new paragraph.
5. Hit replace all. Now every single word you wrote is on a separate line.
6. Select All and Copy (control-A then control-C)
7. Open Microsoft Excel, select a cell, and paste (control-V) You will now see every single word vertically in their own cell on the spread sheet.
8. Sort the date Alphabetically. Do this by using the Sort feature after selectin the entire column.
9. Now scroll down, you will see long stretches of those words you repeat too dang much!

TIP #1– You can also fill the second column with the #1, to make tallying words easier, with an advanced sort. But trusting my eyes is usually enough for me.

TIP #2– For longer documents ESPECIALLY, use the find and replace to delete words you KNOW are going to be used and can’t help but be used. FOR EXAMPLE: a, the, an, of, is, are, he, she, they, I, me, you, your, not, was, were, that, ‘Character or location Names’, etc.

TIP#3- Almost forgot, oops. Punctuation should be eliminated first. So find and replace all punctation and replace it with a tap of your space bar.

TIP#4- Remember, just because you use a word a lot, doesn’t mean it is wrong. Repetition can be done right and can trigger a rhythm in the reader, but for all other words, break out that THESAURUS!

TIP#5- A small sample size is fine. Choosing one chapter or one short story is going to benefit you as much as running every story and every word of your novel through this scenario. Words that we repeat that are problematic will show up, and once you learn which words you overuse, you just have to remember to avoid them (or replace later).

TIP#6- Keep a list of those overused words to FIND and REPLACE during your next edit.

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One of the hardest things in life is taking advice.

There are many reasons we don’t want to take advice. The most common is:

THEY ARE WRONG.

Also commonly phrased as:

THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT

But even if you feel that way about advice given, especially if you asked for the advice from a peer or reader, you should look at why that advice is being given.

The why will help you understand whether or not that advice is worth taking.

When I first started writing scripts for short films, I’d exchange them with actors. I’ll never forget the one that was returned to me laden with curse words. Every line of dialogue had at least one. Sometimes multiple, with barely a word between them.

–-Not that curse words don’t have their proper place and time–

I threw out all that person’s changes. How could they be right about anything if their answer was to add the ‘f’-word to everything.

Later on, I learned the actor was a huge fan of Tarantino films, and it suddenly clicked. It wasn’t the f-word they wanted, it was the edge and wit. They just didn’t know how to do that because they were not a writer.

When you know where someone is coming from you can view their remarks through the proper lens.

It’s taken me a long time, but from my pool of early readers, I believe I know where everyone is coming from. And when I ask for a critique, I generally get back what I expected. I know what they’ll pick at–and when they don’t it means I did something right.

Of my 3 main early readers, I’ll sometimes send one a story first because I know they’ll help me get it to where the next reader will have less problems, or I’ll send it to the one that I think will tear it apart last–that way I don’t get entirely discouraged.

The thing with advice from others is that it can be a great tool to gauge your confidence. If you understand why they are saying something, maybe it reveals something you left out, maybe you didn’t ‘earn’ a moment in the story.

There is always some form of disconnect from what’s in your mind and what you wrote. People will react differently to lines. Trust their reaction.

Always think about who your reader is.

Interested in my thoughts on writing, well there’s more from the past months, but look for new WRITING TIPS every LAST WEDNESDAY of EVERY MONTH.

You remember basic algebra, right?

3 x X= 18

Most of us, trying to be fair this is a site for writing and reading short stories, will know that X equals 6.

Well, writing a story is a lot like that equation above.

3 – is the idea we have

X – is how we tell the story

18 – is the ending.

When you know the ending, finding X is a lot easier than: 3 x X = ?

Knowing an ending creates momentum and incentive to our writing. Everything we write is building towards it.

Some endings manifest themselves and those are sometime the most rewarding ones. But sometimes, what stands in our way is not knowing where a story is heading.

If you know your ending before you start, it makes writing X a lot easier.

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