July 30, 2010 8:29 PM PDT

Advice on Writing by Pasi

Rewrite your story.
Most authors never rewrite because of pride or habit. Most courses and schools also teach their students to focus on the structure or layout of the story, which is good, but neglects to induce the same focus on going back to study the created text itself. I've erased structural and flow problems because of my writing method. Don't reiterate the story numerous times the way i do it, but go back and smooth the rough surfaces at least once. Don't just reread, hunt the flaws down like an exterminator with your keyboard.
Don't add descriptions of the setting.
Might sound like strange advice, but describing the setting just to do it is simply bad. The text should be filled with details on the surroundings. Make the interaction of your characters and their setting known to the reader, and spare him or her the roundabout tour of the grounds? Let the people of the story experience the environment. Stuff that the characters don't interact with at all shouldn't be in the text. Make it easy for the reader to understand why a certain detail is important. And "dead" objects... let them remain dead, OK? Having the floor plank describe a character is plain weird.
Get someone to help you find flaws.
Enlist a friend, spouse, collegue or fellow imaginary to look at your story and listen to what is said. It's easy to be fantastic in your own eyes, but being enjoyed by someone else is much harder. What the "critic" says is right and you're wrong. If you can't understand that then you won't be able to ask that person again. Don't just say thank you. Try your best to improve the story the way your "critic" suggests. It's not always possible to do so, but it's more possible than you would like to admit. The most intense form of criticism is what you get during an iterative cooperation. It's like sparring.
Don't wait.
Your story won't write itself, you will have to write it. The sooner you start, the longer and/or better your story can be. It also gives you more time to follow the above suggestions. If you can't find a story in your mind, you'll probably find it in your fingers. It's there and you can't stop what you do anyway, so let your fingers free. Learning touch typing is a good idea because it interferes less with the thoughts while you're creative. If you can't learn to touch type for some reason, then there's always stuff like dasher - http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/ - to help you out.
Don't be linear.
Nothing good in life happens at regular intervals. There are moments that are more important than others and you should catch as many of those in your story without getting too much of the mundane time that surrounds them along. Your story is a bouquet of long stemmed roses from virtual world in your head, not a bale of hay. Make sure you treat your fictious special moments as well as they deserve.
-- Pasi Parnanen