Writing Discipline
Writing can be great fun – and so it should be – but sometimes you will, alas, need just a little bit of discipline…
- Read your work aloud to yourself, and cut any unnecessary words. It is a good idea to do this at the end of each paragraph, or section, or chapter – however much you write in a ‘session’; everyone is different. Review your draft after you have just completed it, and when you are still in that particular ‘zone’, but also read it to yourself when you’ve gained some distance, so that you can see and hear it objectively. It’s not always easy, but it is necessary. Helen Dunmore advises to ‘listen to what you have written’, and it’s true. Words should be your craft, as a writer, so don’t let them become obstacles to the story itself.
“Any book has behind it all the other books that have been written. ”
—Anthony BurgessSometimes I think about the boys that have been in my life. The ones that touched me and I didn’t even feel it. The ones that ignored me and I ached for them. The ones that kissed me when I didn’t want them to. The ones that I lusted after. The ones that annoyed me with their flirtation. The ones that made me open up, just to leave. The ones that held my hands and I didn’t want them to let go. There have been boys that have shown me affection and explored me with their beautiful hands, but I always remain cold. My heart doesn’t skip a beat. A smile doesn’t naturally appear. I don’t want to hear about your day. I don’t want you to fall for me. I’m empty and I don’t know how to fix it.
Dean had a problem.
The problem was currently sitting across from him, casually eating a burger as if there wasn’t a problem. The problem was wearing one of Dean’s old shirts and had the most absurd case of bed head that Dean had ever seen. The problem was named Castiel, fallen angel and Dean’s best friend, and the problem was that Dean didn’t even know what the problem was, except that it all seemed to center on Cas.
“When you say that I am beautiful, please, tell me why. I don't want you to just say it to flatter me, or make me blush, it will work in your favor, sure, but if you're going to tell me that I am beautiful, make me believe it. Because, I wake up with myself every morning, and I know what my hair looks like, and I have probably seen the way my eyes look more than you have. I know how my eyebrows look, simply because I have refused to pluck them, my ears and nose are rather average, and I have memorized the small gaps and overlaps of my teeth, so I know what I look like, you don't need to remind me of my facial features, you're going to have to try a little harder. I know I talk with my hands, and I know I stutter from time to time, I trip when I walk, over nothing but my toes, and I bite my nails, did you know that? I pick at my cuticles when I am nervous and crack my knuckles in any emotional state. I probably giggle too much and smile way too often, and overuse the words, "I love you" are these things that make me beautiful, or just make me who I am? I don't know, you're going to have to make me believe it. I make things, out of junk and I cannot draw a simple stick figure, I spend way too much time writing, and not enough time talking, and I can't even whistle a short melody, let alone sing one. My heart is everywhere but beating inside my chest, and I look at world maps and think about the different faces in each different place and I wonder if these hearts feel worthy of love sometimes. Take a look at my thoughts, dig and dig and dig deeper, do you still think I am beautiful? Why? ”
—I know who I am, but am I beautiful?New Adult Fiction: The Next Big Thing In Publishing? - Writer's Relief, Inc.
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