(1) tell the reader where the story is going (2) engage entirely with emotion (3) cut ruthlessly, leaving nothing unnecessary I recommend listening to the whole video, so this summary is for my personal use only ;)
I love the fact that your videos don't drag on. You're especially right on the emotion part. I've also noticed that great stories have simple plots, but great characters and themes.
My saying for writing is 'Follow Logic, Listen to Reason, but Appeal to emotions.' in that you should keep the rules of the story consistent, don't have dumb shit happen without reason and as you said, appeal to emotions. But the trick is to not try and manipulate emotions. The first two parts of my little quote is to keep myself from doing that.
oh wow! i've gotten to the point where most of the writing advice online isn't really helpful to me anymore, but these were life changing. about to spend my sunday going through my manuscript and fixing up a whole bunch of stuff now. you've earned a subscriber!
I've listened to so much 'advice' on RUclips lately that my brain is awash. I was beginning to think 'ignore all that stuff, just write the way you write.' "Some of my best writing was when I didn't know what I was doing," I don't remember who said that, but I know what they mean. But I'm glad I watched this one. Very clear and inspiring. Knowing it is one thing; doing it is another. Oh dear ... but let's keep going.
Everything you said is exactly why I love Vonnegut’s writing. He always starts out by telling you that he’s going to tell you a story, and by the time he’s done telling you that he’s going to tell you a story, he’s already been telling you that story for two or three chapters without you noticing it. He takes you on a wonderful, circuitous adventure filled with real humans doing real human (emotional, not logical) things. And he doesn’t add a single word that doesn’t need to be there. There are, however, a lot of writers that are considered great but who do waste our time with lengthy sections of unnecessary prose. Personally, I’ve always taken Vonnegut’s advice to heart: don’t waste your reader’s time.
Really good video! I’ve been “feeling” this when I think about what I want out of my stories, but I had trouble putting a finger on what I was actually trying to accomplish. You read my heart ❤️. Now if I can get my brain to follow suit.
The delay between "you must be a murderer" and "but not of people... a killer of fluff" was too long. You're responsible for what occurs in those damoclean few seconds.
Thank you for another great video! Your point about foreshadowing gave me a lot to think about - especially when it comes to showing the overall mood even when the story is only starting. It reminds me of how Sanderson speaks about promises of what's to come in the rest of the story. (Now I only need to remember to include it in the story...)
Great video! Even better advices! Just one thing about the editing-I had to stop watching and just listen because every time you moved towards your notebook and then CUT, I found myself clenching my teeth. Try taking longer pauses in motion after a sequence to make the edits smoother. (I'm no pro editor, not even an amateur, just sharing what threw me off.) :)
What can I do about the first part if I'm writing surrealism? I feel like I grounded the beginning with a direction in the sense that the protagonist needed to do something but couldn't but now that thing has been done, which is going to lead to just getting dragged more and more into the hidden magic of the world (it's a representation of delusional psychosis) and I think this can feel directionless
Now that the thing is done you've relieved all the tension so the consequences of it being done need to create an even more important thing needing to be done that cant be done... Or can you just not have the original thing done until the end? "Thing needs done but he can't but then he does" can describe an entire story.
I guess Tolkien wasn't a pro writer, then. (Yes MOST of his long descriptions, etc., are going somewhere, but there's a lot there that he just wanted to be there because it explained lore that only the nerdy readers wanted.) Just MHO.
Quibble alert! Though … great video. Pro writing? Hm. This more describes a difference between good writers and mediocre to poor writers. Most writers don't make any money at their work, even many rather great writers. Heck, the great Cormac McCarthy only became a "pro writer" after winning The National Book Award for _All the Pretty Horses._ Even _Blood Meridian_ hardly sold until that moment.
You're exactly right. I used the terms "pro" and "amateur" strictly in the qualitative sense here because it provided stronger language to frame the video around. "Good" and "bad" just doesn't seem to stir up the same sort of emotion (In my experience). There are plenty of "pro" authors who write like "amateurs". And plenty of "amateurs" who should be paid more like "pros".
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(1) tell the reader where the story is going
(2) engage entirely with emotion
(3) cut ruthlessly, leaving nothing unnecessary
I recommend listening to the whole video, so this summary is for my personal use only ;)
You're a herofor the overview. I like to know where a video is going lol.
I love the fact that your videos don't drag on.
You're especially right on the emotion part.
I've also noticed that great stories have simple plots, but great characters and themes.
My saying for writing is 'Follow Logic, Listen to Reason, but Appeal to emotions.' in that you should keep the rules of the story consistent, don't have dumb shit happen without reason and as you said, appeal to emotions. But the trick is to not try and manipulate emotions. The first two parts of my little quote is to keep myself from doing that.
I only eat books and read food, so I never experienced the issue you brought up in the beginning. jokes aside this video was great
😂
oh wow! i've gotten to the point where most of the writing advice online isn't really helpful to me anymore, but these were life changing. about to spend my sunday going through my manuscript and fixing up a whole bunch of stuff now. you've earned a subscriber!
Glad it was helpful!
I've listened to so much 'advice' on RUclips lately that my brain is awash. I was beginning to think 'ignore all that stuff, just write the way you write.' "Some of my best writing was when I didn't know what I was doing," I don't remember who said that, but I know what they mean. But I'm glad I watched this one. Very clear and inspiring. Knowing it is one thing; doing it is another. Oh dear ... but let's keep going.
Another banger.
I was going to leave a longer comment but I cut the unnecessary verbiage.
😂
Everything you said is exactly why I love Vonnegut’s writing. He always starts out by telling you that he’s going to tell you a story, and by the time he’s done telling you that he’s going to tell you a story, he’s already been telling you that story for two or three chapters without you noticing it. He takes you on a wonderful, circuitous adventure filled with real humans doing real human (emotional, not logical) things. And he doesn’t add a single word that doesn’t need to be there.
There are, however, a lot of writers that are considered great but who do waste our time with lengthy sections of unnecessary prose.
Personally, I’ve always taken Vonnegut’s advice to heart: don’t waste your reader’s time.
Really good video! I’ve been “feeling” this when I think about what I want out of my stories, but I had trouble putting a finger on what I was actually trying to accomplish. You read my heart ❤️. Now if I can get my brain to follow suit.
The delay between "you must be a murderer" and "but not of people... a killer of fluff" was too long.
You're responsible for what occurs in those damoclean few seconds.
This is great. One of your best videos.
Maybe for point 1 instead of using "predictable," for clarity's sake we should instead call these kinds of stories "telegraphed"?
Great video!
Thank you for another great video!
Your point about foreshadowing gave me a lot to think about - especially when it comes to showing the overall mood even when the story is only starting. It reminds me of how Sanderson speaks about promises of what's to come in the rest of the story.
(Now I only need to remember to include it in the story...)
Thanks!
Hi Carl! I think your advice is insightful. Thank you for taking the time to share this. :)
Glad you enjoyed it!
Something I've noticed the pro writers do is set the theme with the first sentence/paragraph.
Great video! Even better advices! Just one thing about the editing-I had to stop watching and just listen because every time you moved towards your notebook and then CUT, I found myself clenching my teeth.
Try taking longer pauses in motion after a sequence to make the edits smoother. (I'm no pro editor, not even an amateur, just sharing what threw me off.) :)
What can I do about the first part if I'm writing surrealism? I feel like I grounded the beginning with a direction in the sense that the protagonist needed to do something but couldn't but now that thing has been done, which is going to lead to just getting dragged more and more into the hidden magic of the world (it's a representation of delusional psychosis) and I think this can feel directionless
Now that the thing is done you've relieved all the tension so the consequences of it being done need to create an even more important thing needing to be done that cant be done...
Or can you just not have the original thing done until the end? "Thing needs done but he can't but then he does" can describe an entire story.
@@rickwrites2612 I'll see about having a new thing, thanks!
Do you any videos on creating emotional responses and drawing out emotions from descriptions of a room and a length of a sentence?
I guess Tolkien wasn't a pro writer, then. (Yes MOST of his long descriptions, etc., are going somewhere, but there's a lot there that he just wanted to be there because it explained lore that only the nerdy readers wanted.) Just MHO.
"Murder your pets."
-Mark Twain.
sanderson doesn't do any of this, yet his current series the most beloved fantasy series of all time amongst the fantasy readers
Professional writers earn a living for their writing while amateur writers do not.
Quibble alert! Though … great video.
Pro writing? Hm. This more describes a difference between good writers and mediocre to poor writers.
Most writers don't make any money at their work, even many rather great writers. Heck, the great Cormac McCarthy only became a "pro writer" after winning The National Book Award for _All the Pretty Horses._ Even _Blood Meridian_ hardly sold until that moment.
You're exactly right. I used the terms "pro" and "amateur" strictly in the qualitative sense here because it provided stronger language to frame the video around. "Good" and "bad" just doesn't seem to stir up the same sort of emotion (In my experience).
There are plenty of "pro" authors who write like "amateurs". And plenty of "amateurs" who should be paid more like "pros".
Grey's anatomy and C++ and the complete modern blacksmith....dewd what in the hell are you making?