{"id":789,"date":"2018-03-18T15:38:55","date_gmt":"2018-03-18T15:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marcbilgrey.com\/marcbilgreyblog\/?p=789"},"modified":"2023-04-12T16:52:02","modified_gmt":"2023-04-12T16:52:02","slug":"ten-things-new-writer-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marcbilgrey.com\/marcbilgreyblog\/ten-things-new-writer-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten Things a New Writer Needs to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text]<\/p>\n

\"antique<\/a>I\u2019ve noticed that beginning writers make a lot of the same mistakes. \u00a0Here are a few things I\u2019ve learned that may be helpful to you. Some of these might look obvious and easy. So does juggling, ice skating and hang gliding. They are not easy. Neither are the things on this list.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Keep sentences short and simple.<\/li>\n
  2. Don\u2019t include anything that does not advance the story or help define the characters.<\/li>\n
  3. Be careful about characters addressing each other by name. People who know each other seldom do.<\/li>\n
  4. If you\u2019re writing a story set in our time, keep the dialogue and description informal. If not, you will sound like a Victorian novel.<\/li>\n
  5. Don\u2019t explain things when you don\u2019t have to.<\/li>\n
  6. Don\u2019t have characters tell each other things they know, or should know.<\/li>\n
  7. Explain statements when needed.<\/li>\n
  8. \"writer<\/a>Don\u2019t repeat dialogue and descriptions. Many beginning writers feel the need to tell the reader the same thing two or three times using different words. Give the reader credit for understanding you the first time.<\/li>\n
  9. Refer to Elements<\/em>\u00a0of<\/em> Style<\/em> by Strunk and White whenever you can.<\/li>\n
  10. Read the great French mystery writer, Georges Simenon, to see how simple sentences and a deliberately limited vocabulary can be used to tell very complicated stories.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"handCheck out the new webcomic Tom’s Tiki Bar, written by me and drawn by Jason Chatfield.<\/p>\n

    &raquo www.tomstikibar.squarespace.com<\/a><\/p>\n

    [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    [et_pb_section bb_built=”1″][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text] I\u2019ve noticed that beginning writers make a lot of the same mistakes. \u00a0Here are a few things I\u2019ve learned that may be helpful to you. Some of these might look obvious and easy. So does juggling, ice … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marcbilgrey.com\/marcbilgreyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marcbilgrey.com\/marcbilgreyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marcbilgrey.com\/marcbilgreyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marcbilgrey.com\/marcbilgreyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marcbilgrey.com\/marcbilgreyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.marcbilgrey.com\/marcbilgreyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":918,"href":"https:\/\/www.marcbilgrey.com\/marcbilgreyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789\/revisions\/918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marcbilgrey.com\/marcbilgreyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marcbilgrey.com\/marcbilgreyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marcbilgrey.com\/marcbilgreyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}