One of the best directors of the twentieth century, perhaps all time, had this to say: Alfred Hitchcock was accused of many things in his day, but being “dull” was never one of them. The little dull bits known as “stage directions” that are cluttering your work are driving readers away. Let’s see how to avoid them.
Micro Distractions While Writing
Small distractions that pull you away from writing for short periods of time may improve your productivity. I know. It’s counter intuitive. But it’s also true. Let’s see why.
Share:
Read Your Manuscript Out Loud
“George, you can type this shit, but you sure as hell can’t say it.” – Harrison Ford to George Lucas. Harrison was saying that if George had taken the time to read Star Wars out loud, he would have discovered problems that reading it silently couldn’t reveal. I like his wording better, but let’s take a look at what we’ll find in our work if we take the time to use the spoken voice.
Share:
My Facebook Page is up!
It’s been said “if you build it, they will come.” Well, I decided to put that to the test! If you’ve enjoyed the blog and would appreciate smaller-sized content that I don’t post here or on Twitter, I invite you to join me on my new Facebook author page: Nat Russo – Author. Please head on over and click the “Like” button for me. It will likely inspire me to continue producing quality content. But if nothing else it will give me a much-needed ego boost! 🙂 For some added incentive, I submit this picture of a skull on black…for no other reason than I like it…oh, and I write about people who play with dead things. What’s a little necromancy …
Share:
The Importance of Stepping Away
[Update 03/05/2016: This was one of the articles I migrated from the old blog site. Some of the formatting zigged when it should have zagged. I’ve fixed it. Also, I did some additional editing. Why? Because I write gooder now. 🙂 ] I’ve been absent for several weeks, but let me assure you…it was by design. Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that I post a Tweet every couple of weeks that reads as follows: Sometimes you just need to step away for a while. As I prepare for at least two more weeks of hiatus, I’d like to delve a little deeper into that Tweet.
Share:
Can Anyone be a Writer?
[Updated March 19, 2015] Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that I have a schedule of writing “tips” that I tweet semi-regularly. They often spark thoughtful conversations on the craft, which is one of the reasons I started them to begin with. But there is one tweet in particular that I receive no end of grief for publishing: Writing is a learned craft, not a mystical gift from the universe. You can learn. Practice. Read. Write. Read some more. Write! #writetip That sounds innocent enough, doesn’t it? Read on to feel my pain…
Share:
- Page 2 of 2
- 1
- 2