Came here via Mikes Book Reviews and I love a good writing advice vid. I’m glad I’m validated in how many saves/devices I have my current writing, i make all my notes on my phone in the notes app, sometimes it’s tricky to piece all those fragments together but I’ll use your method of laying out document/chapters. Thanks
That was quite a good piece of advice about. How to write. The Chapters thing and all. You could do a series, just like Brandon Sanderson does, on issues that nobody talks about EVER. How do we format the pages , what size of font we use. Do Agents will read a piece written in Arial Or we need to frmat everything on Times news Roman at 12? No one EVER talks about it.
Saving all your ideas is great advice. Doesn't cost anything, and if you never use some of them, so be it. I've used this to great effect with music and I'm adopting the same approach with writing.
This is great! I usually keep my outline in a separate document, but then I notice how it gets increasingly obsolete with each day during the writing process. This seems like a great way to painlessly keep them both in-sync.
Thank you for this advice. I just recently started writing the book I wanted to write for years and I've been looking for advice to help me out with the process and these tips seem very helpful so thank you
I’ve decided to try writing a small fantasy book because of you Durfee. I have zero experience or talent in writing but I have a lot of drive and ideas. Right now I can’t really harness a solid storyline but I have a good “elevator idea” that I’d like to expand on. I’m practicing by writing random scenes that are sometimes a couple of sentences or a couple of paragraphs. Should I be making character list beforehand and insert them when needed? Or write in characters as I go? Anywho, I gotta watch the video a few more times.
Great advice on planning out the chapters in advance. My first novel seemed a lot more all over the place, the second one I started with the chapters roughly planned, and it was a lot easier to write. Will be querying it soon.
Your outline process is clever. After 50 years of writing I subconsciously fell into a pattern of beginnings, middles and endings or Acts I, II & III without outlining beyond having a beginning and end in mind. We all know middles are the hardest and endings need a bang. Mostly I blunder from point A to Z; if I'm having fun letting the characters tell me what to do instead of the other way around that's the buzz writing gives me, what keeps me typing. Outlining enables writing out of chronology if you can't wait to get to that big love/fight/butler did it scene(s). Walter Gibson could write a Shadow 'novel' in four days; he'd often quit writing for the night in the middle of a sentence in order to start the next day with the same train of thought. Mickey Spillane bet his publisher Dutton a thousand dollars that he could write a novel and leave out the last word and the novel wouldn't make sense. Late one night Dutton called Spillane: "What's the last word?" Spillane asked where was his thousand bucks. It's fun to write a story with that goal in mind. Forgive me if I digress.
Thanks for the tips, especially #2. I think that is great advice. I had the chance to meet Kurt Vonnegut once at a book signing, and he gave similar advice (though it was not framed as such). He said that he wrote his novel (Hocus Pocus) on whatever scrap of paper he could find and threw them into a bag. Then he gave the bag to his editor/publisher and said, here, you make a book out of them [since most of us have far less clout that Vonnegut at that stage of his career, we might be the ones who have to take our notes and make a book out of them; but your method seems sound].
Notes are important. Its weird but Stephen King says he never takes notes. He says if the idea can't stick around in his head then it must be a shit idea. I have to take notes or i will forget
@@B.LEE.DbrianleedurfeeREVIEWSthat’s probably why Stephen King books start out as great, intriguing ideas, but the endings almost always shit the bed. Maybe, if he saved ideas, the conclusions would be as interesting as the concepts.
Thank you, Brian!! Your advice is excellent!! Fantastic, to use the genre-focused pun!! I've written three novels and four novellas, and had them accepted by small to mid-sized presses, but I have the habit of being very tight and rigorous about the style and word choice on the first draft. I focus so much on it that it really takes time, and it's tough. I like your approach!! LOVE IT!! Can't wait to read your novels!! ROCK ON!
have you ever used Scrivner, you can organize all of your chapters just the way you said but it also lets you have multiple other docs for characters and notes.
Check out this AWESOME Comic Con panel with me & Jim Butcher & Brian McClelland & Larry Corriea etc. ruclips.net/video/75HXCaHFcx0/видео.html
...also, having fun while writing and your reader will know it because they'll have fun reading it is great advice.
Came here via Mikes Book Reviews and I love a good writing advice vid. I’m glad I’m validated in how many saves/devices I have my current writing, i make all my notes on my phone in the notes app, sometimes it’s tricky to piece all those fragments together but I’ll use your method of laying out document/chapters. Thanks
Ya saving a lot has saved me.
That was quite a good piece of advice about. How to write. The Chapters thing and all. You could do a series, just like Brandon Sanderson does, on issues that nobody talks about EVER. How do we format the pages , what size of font we use. Do Agents will read a piece written in Arial Or we need to frmat everything on Times news Roman at 12? No one EVER talks about it.
This is probably the best writing advice video I've seen! Thanks for sharing your tips Brian!
Damn.... You were always an inspiration and I kept telling people your book were underrated... Didn't know you were this good
Saving all your ideas is great advice. Doesn't cost anything, and if you never use some of them, so be it. I've used this to great effect with music and I'm adopting the same approach with writing.
Best practical advice I received in years. Cheers man 😁
This is great! I usually keep my outline in a separate document, but then I notice how it gets increasingly obsolete with each day during the writing process. This seems like a great way to painlessly keep them both in-sync.
Thank you for this advice. I just recently started writing the book I wanted to write for years and I've been looking for advice to help me out with the process and these tips seem very helpful so thank you
This is great advice. I hope you are feeling better!
I’ve decided to try writing a small fantasy book because of you Durfee. I have zero experience or talent in writing but I have a lot of drive and ideas. Right now I can’t really harness a solid storyline but I have a good “elevator idea” that I’d like to expand on. I’m practicing by writing random scenes that are sometimes a couple of sentences or a couple of paragraphs. Should I be making character list beforehand and insert them when needed? Or write in characters as I go? Anywho, I gotta watch the video a few more times.
I’m back 7 months later to relearn since I’ve made with no progress. Still have the “elevator idea “ and nothing but blank pages.
Thanks a lot for this, love your passion.
I've never heard this advice before but this is great stuff.
Great advice on planning out the chapters in advance. My first novel seemed a lot more all over the place, the second one I started with the chapters roughly planned, and it was a lot easier to write. Will be querying it soon.
Thank you for the video!
Awesome advice! Very insightful and I’ll definitely be using these tips in my own writing.
Your outline process is clever. After 50 years of writing I subconsciously fell into a pattern of beginnings, middles and endings
or Acts I, II & III without outlining beyond having a beginning and end in mind. We all know middles are the hardest and endings
need a bang. Mostly I blunder from point A to Z; if I'm having fun letting the characters tell me what to do instead of the other
way around that's the buzz writing gives me, what keeps me typing. Outlining enables writing out of chronology if you can't
wait to get to that big love/fight/butler did it scene(s). Walter Gibson could write a Shadow 'novel' in four days; he'd often quit
writing for the night in the middle of a sentence in order to start the next day with the same train of thought. Mickey Spillane
bet his publisher Dutton a thousand dollars that he could write a novel and leave out the last word and the novel wouldn't make
sense. Late one night Dutton called Spillane: "What's the last word?" Spillane asked where was his thousand bucks. It's fun to
write a story with that goal in mind. Forgive me if I digress.
This is great... Thank you for this...
Please keep it coming... We want to know more of your craft & writing advice
This is a great video. Very useful. Thank you.
Thanks for the great advice!
Thanks for the tips, especially #2. I think that is great advice. I had the chance to meet Kurt Vonnegut once at a book signing, and he gave similar advice (though it was not framed as such). He said that he wrote his novel (Hocus Pocus) on whatever scrap of paper he could find and threw them into a bag. Then he gave the bag to his editor/publisher and said, here, you make a book out of them [since most of us have far less clout that Vonnegut at that stage of his career, we might be the ones who have to take our notes and make a book out of them; but your method seems sound].
Notes are important. Its weird but Stephen King says he never takes notes. He says if the idea can't stick around in his head then it must be a shit idea. I have to take notes or i will forget
@@B.LEE.DbrianleedurfeeREVIEWSthat’s probably why Stephen King books start out as great, intriguing ideas, but the endings almost always shit the bed. Maybe, if he saved ideas, the conclusions would be as interesting as the concepts.
Thank you, Brian!! Your advice is excellent!! Fantastic, to use the genre-focused pun!! I've written three novels and four novellas, and had them accepted by small to mid-sized presses, but I have the habit of being very tight and rigorous about the style and word choice on the first draft. I focus so much on it that it really takes time, and it's tough. I like your approach!! LOVE IT!! Can't wait to read your novels!! ROCK ON!
Can I get a copy of that "the stand" size book you wrote pwease :)
🔥🔥🔥
have you ever used Scrivner, you can organize all of your chapters just the way you said but it also lets you have multiple other docs for characters and notes.
Wonder if durfee use Scrivener???
No
Next question is why not?