Write what you say, not what you read

If you're not at least moderately witty and interesting by nature, this is going to be tricky. If you are, on the other hand, milk it.

Narration is a tricky thing that can easily become boring without the aid of imagery. It's not a movie or a comic book. The only things you have are your words. How do you keep people hooked? First off, think of your five favorite authors. Got it? Good. Now FORGET THEM. You're not re-writing their books. Here's what you should be doing. Go to the bar with your friends. Get drunk. Tell stories. Make people laugh. Make it interesting. Make it crass. Make it philosophical. It could be any story. The time you got wasted and pissed on a cop car. The fight from high school where the fat kid whose name you forgot got his teeth knocked out. The time you were at the strip club and it caught on fire. Anything. The crazier the better. Now write it out exactly how you told it. Even if you're alone with an imaginary audience, think about the best way to tell the story. Describe what you need to in order to paint the picture, but don't lose momentum. Now read what you wrote. Does it make sense? If not, what details did you leave out? Does your personality shine through? Or if you're trying to create a personality distinctly different from your own, does that come through? Do you speak in fragment sentences? Run-on sentences? Bad grammer? Do you constantly use contractions? Do you use slang and swear a lot? Then write that way. Imagine yourself as an actor and these are your lines. Would it sound forced? Stiff? Or could you repeat it in a natural tone of voice that didn't seem scripted? Go back over every sentence. Does it sound stupid? Not stupid in a humorous way, but in a "I was trying to sound smart and things went horribly wrong" sort of way.

Now, let's say you've come up with something fairly good, put parts of it are still, for lack of a better word, dumb. You have a couple of options. One, you could re-word it or delete parts of it. Two, you could make it even worse...on purpose. This is especially true in first person narration. Keep in mind that since the main character is narrating himself, he only knows what that character knows. Would he understand rocket science if forced to explain it? Or would he get it all wrong and try to fight anyone that corrected him? Or maybe he just flat out doesn't care. When you get down to it, facts are just a very persistent belief system. People write books on history and science, and everyone says, "Yeah, that sounds about right." So if someone corrects you on some obscure fact that the average person has no knowledge of, ask yourself if doing it wrong is more entertaining than getting every detail correct. Would the character misquote facts? Would he tell inappropriate jokes that nobody laughed at? Would he forget what he was talking about and trail off midsentence? Would he screw up things that he should have been trained to do perfectly? Flawed storytelling can work to your advantage, but only if you handle it just right. If it doesn't fit the personality, it's useless. Now if it's bad dialogue, you can still leave it as long as another character follows it up with something witty, usually mocking what the other person just said. I'll go more into dialogue later.

Comments

WritingismyHobby

Posted 6 Years Ago Well, I'm a bit under age for any alcoholic beverage but I'll see what I can do about the rest. XD

Rebecca

Posted 7 Years Ago I liked this

Rosemarie Venose

Posted 7 Years Ago This is an great article for me. I have done those things you suggested. It's a lot of fun and having an attitude of who cares what they say makes it all worth the effort. Nothing matters to me accept keeping sane in an insane world and sharing with others my story on how I do it. I've been writing on my own all of my life. Just a gift I think I was born with. Expressing myself comes easier and easier the more I write especially when I write when I'm inspired. I'm always inspired about life. The ups and downs seem to have something funny to offer if you look at life as a huge temporary playground. I've had a couple of websites. With the one I have now I've seemed to come to a stop with writing. Maybe a new website is what I need. Nah... Thank you for sharing your wisdom. Facebook Page - Let's Wake Up Billy Connected to each other

paleshadeofwhite

Posted 9 Years Ago thx you really enjoyed reading this article

Blake Shelton

Posted 10 Years Ago This article is basically a good example of self writing improvement. After reading something, you have to know express it in your own thoughts and words. This highly improves your research abilities.

VikkiV

Posted 11 Years Ago I really enjoyed reading your course writing. Im new to putting my thoughts/stories down to paper or website.... Ive read some of the other courses aswell but I want my writing to have that "real" feeling to it. I think that the tips that I picked up in this course will help me achieve that. So I thank you for working out side the box and breaking some of the rules of writing!

Timeless-Chan

Posted 11 Years Ago Since i'm underage i don't think ill be able to get drunk legally :P but thanx for the lesson it was helpful ^_^

N. C. Matthews

Posted 13 Years Ago Thank you for this. I have a tendency to write like I was giving an oral recount of a story. On a forum that I frequent, I have discovered 2 very distinct sets of people. The first set are the ones who love the way I write, i.e. my own little fan club. The 2nd set are the grammar Nazis who give me immortal H-E-Double Hockey Sticks over my use of run-on sentences, fragmented sentences, and over-used themes and terms. But that's the way I write. I have frequently said that creativity isn't just about the story that is told, but also how you bend the English language to paint the picture you are trying to get across to the readers. After all, if your book sounds like all the other books on the shelf, then who in their right mind is going to read them?! Your story not only has to set you apart, but your writing STYLE has to set you apart as well.

roarke

Posted 13 Years Ago great advice, I'm taking notes. Seriously.