Anyone Know How To Write Literature That Doesn't Suck?

I am officially grovelling and appeasing to you, the greater elements of the earth and air, to bless me with your wisdom and deliver me from the ultimate talentless rut I seem to dwell in.
All right, so maybe I'm just a bad writer. But maybe someone has some way to help me... any advice is welcomed and embraced.
I generally write either realistic fiction or lyrics (but I'm tone-deaf, so that doesn't work out either) and have never once had a piece of writing turn out well. There was one instance- a short suspense story we had to write for school- when I managed to create something I wasn't tempted to bury in a freezer somewhere, but I hold the belief that that was luck. I can post examples, if necessary, but it'd be cruel to subject you to that.

The long and short of it: I am young and uneducated. If you can help me improve my writing, it would be greatly appreciated.



jAdeFI

 

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Perhaps, since you say you suck at writing, you might try another form of the arts. Just a thought, not trying to bring you down but put you on another path that you may like to do better.

 

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I appreciate the suggestion greatly, and it wouldn't be a bad idea except for the fact that I am, sadly, not exactly good at anything. The only things I can draw/artistically create are creepy faceless crucifixes, which never turn out correctly if I want them to, and I've tried dancing and instrumenting and we've already mentioned the singing bit.
So, specifically, the arts... what else is there (since I'm sure I'm evilly overlooking at least some major interpretation of the soul or whatever here)?


jAdeFI

 

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You don't suck at writing, no one does. Well, for some people it happens to be easier. For others it’s much, much harder.

Niudo, what you have to do is sit down and exercise your delete key. You write and write, and write some more. You write complete crap all day and all night.

This is called practice and exercise. Eventually you'll hit upon an idea that intrigues, and then you'll be writing like a madman.

 

Though you have a valid theory, I don't find it to be difficult at all. I'll think I'll be working on something good, but I'll reread it and it'll just be... awful.
And then, of course, there's parents and the like trying to boost your self esteem and telling you that it's wonderful, but these are the same people who told me I was beautiful when I was young, so how on earth am I to be expected to trust them?
Although I'm being bitter at the moment and not making much sense.
Your advice is appreciated, and I'll try it. One hopes it works as well for me as it does for you...


jAdeFI

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=sr_8_1/102-0114604-8037720?v=glance&s=books

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm

Read these.

Coffee gives good advice (in this case). Write constantly.

 

Don't listen to my sex advice because I make mistakes. I once told a guy that pulling out works, it doesn't.

 

Thanks, Xev. Will go to library.

I don't deserve you people.

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jAdeFI

 

Just write. You must write for yourself alone; once you lose focus of this fundamental, you lose yourself. Write, and write, and stick them in whatever places you want to. Read and read and analyze whatever is great about the read. Afterwards, write and write. Eventually, you will be satisfied. Regardless, bombard the publishers with whatever tripe you manage to complete. Trust me, eventually, someone will publish one of your "crap".



Hed

 

You're welcome, Niudo.

However, my services are not free. You must sacrifice one baby to me on the fourth day, in the fourth month, of this year.

 

And another piece of advice...

Don't try to write anything great. Don't expect to change the world. That's not going to happen if you're trying to make it happen.

Also, a great book like Catch-22 took seven years to write. So don't expect to have your first book published within the next week.

 

Much thanks to all; I'll see what I can do about the babies.

I'm not trying to be Douglas Adams; that's pushing it, nor am I asking to change the world or even amount to anything. Being satisfied with myself would be a pleasant surprise... but I being to suspect that I'm one of those people born without that gene.


jAdeFI

 

"On the Road" was written in less than 3 weeks.

*edit - and took 7 years to get published.

 

Listen to The Marquis, Niudo. You could pull a Jack Kerouac and stay up for three weeks straight and write.

 

Well.

Since I'm a wannabe and my writing sucks too, I'm not sure how useful my advice will be. However I CAN tell you the things that have seemed to improve the pathetic prose that I've produced.

Keep it simple, stupid.

Spend as least as much time reading as you do writing.

Read anything and everything, old and new, in every genre; classics, pulp fiction, children's books, pornography, horror, non-fiction, greeting cards, newspapers... from Alger to Hemingway to King and all points in between.

Write about things that you care deeply about, don't waste time on anything else.

 

B. Russell has the right idea http://www.luminary.us/russell/write.html

First thing is that you have to read. Read lots. Books of all kinds, like watcher suggested. Don't limit yourself to a single style or genre, just read a lot. Even if you don't particularly like it, its experience.

In between and after, *read*. woops..I mean to say *write*, (but you really should read that much). Eventually you"ll find a style, or signature thats completely unique. It should flow like your thoughts and people will be able to tell that you wrote it. It also helps (in my experience) to ignore proper convention, trying to defy it at all turns. Many will criticize you, but you'll also be admired for your boldness.

You might also want to learn a computer language, or study archaic constructions in English.

Learning to write is just another term for organizing your thoughts, so the point, basically is to not focus on a single part of the brain, but to find ways to make them work together. For example, try exposing yourself to pungeant odours while doing geometry, keep a journal of observations on the most obscure things you could possibly think of. Then try to find symbolisms in them. Yes - it sounds wierd, but it works! And it can be pathetically fun, too.

Geniuses can harness all the power of their brains to produce something great. So the mark of genius is the ability to write in a way that makes us ask: wow?

Nobody can tell you how. You must learn for yourself, grasshopper.

 

That definately wasn't luck.

I'd like to tell you that you have potential to write things you'll be proud of, but that won't help you get good things down. But another bit of general, meaningless (but true) advice is that you haven't found your niche in writing. If you have produced work that you don't want to burn, then you should try to replicate that writing. Search for how you were feeling when you write stuff that you're proud of, and try to repeat those situations that get you 'in the zone.' If you created an outline before you started writing, or just stream-lined words, or wrote from paragraph to paragraph do what worked when you created your good writing.

Once you get more confidence, start expanding your skills. I think when you have such low esteem of your writing, you'll get lost in those "How To Write" books. As the HED said, "you['ll] lose yourself."

All this advice you're getting is great.

Don't be searching for a style of writing or a perfect piece of literature to come from yourself. Just follow how you get yourself to "naturally" write well. When you realize how you operate, you can expand your skills around the core of your abilities. You'll ultimately form your own unique style of writing, "naturally."

I hope Pollux V sees this thread and gives some insight. He's a talented writer and young too.

 

Whoa... leave my computer for a couple hours, come back to a manual of usefulness! Thanks all!

I've been trying to just write, like you've said, since I've spent my entire (though short) life reading everything- from the instructions on a shampoo bottle to Frank Herbert- but I definitely need to read more. About recreating moods and emotions- well, extreme depression isn't very fun to recreate (although easy enough) and on the rare occasion one of my sets of lyrics isn't completely hideous, that tends to be the sort of mood I'm.

Some of my friends- more gifted than I- say that music can help their writing sometimes. What say you?

If ever I write something decent, I will have you wonderful people to thank. Much thanks!

jAdeFI

 

Music can definitely help. I know for a fact (Having read many of his books) that Neil Gaiman openly integrates music into his novels. He had a hell of a time with Queen in his novel Good Omens. It was setup that whenever the lead demon character listened to Queen; Satan would talk to him through the stereo.

In his other novel, American Gods, Gaiman integrates TV, radio, and other pop-culture icons (i.e. I Love Lucy). It’s not horrible at all.

I have another suggestion as well. Post a lot on sciforums. Post really good posts that people wanna read. I know for a fact that Tiassa gets a fair amount of practice writing in at this place, as do I. But I’m not trying to be a writer, I just like to read.

My earlier suggestion, I think, is still the best one; write a lot of trash. It’s all about getting rid of the voice in the back of your head that says “This is garbage”. Get that voice to shut the fuck up. I don’t care if you have to ball gag it.

 

But the voice says it's my friend... with my best interests at heart... do you mean it wasn't serious? :bugeye: OUT IT GOES!



jAdeFI