Actually, it's an acting tip, but of course it's applicable to writing, as it is to all art.
There is no such thing as a "character." It's about exposing yourself and all your imperfections in writing. You put all this stuff out in the open --these feelings -- and become vulnerable.
For instance, you don't write that a character is yelling because that is what the plot calls for. The character yells because I'm frustrated. You have to work yourself up about things. You have to relive rejection, failures, heartbreaks -- revisit pain and manifest this in the writing.
Same goes for every other emotion.
This tip is helping me to create some of the best writing I've ever had.
i thought you were shallow, but then i fell in deep.
"READ IT THROUGH FIRST! I DON'T WANT TO READ YOUR RAMBLING, QUICKLY SCRAWLED, AIMLESS RUBBISH!"
Yeah. That teacher had problems, but it's a good tip (I think ).
DarkLight
I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose. -- Woody Allen
^^I agree with Clau there. I used to throw a bunch of my stuff out because it didn't come out right the first few times. Now I have a million random little documents on my computer and little pieces of paper and small bits of poetry EVERYWHERE (see: Chem notebook + inspiration = bad Chem notes) but I never lose anything, and sometimes they turn into nice things.
"My pet, I've been to the devil, and he's a very dull fellow. I won't go there again, even for you..."
When Philip Pullman (author of the His Dark Materials Trigoly, for those of you who live on Mars) is asked this question, his answer is invariably the same: [the isn't a quote, but it might as well be]
'Write what only you can write. Don't give in to trends and fashions, don't try to second-guess what a reader wants. Readers don't know what they want. So write what you can write'.
I follow that advice like a religion. Enough said.
I have an idea about these voices I hear
They're audible to everyone
Everyone but me
Hahaha... it's an acting tip, actually. Everybody contains every single character inside oneself. So writing becomes not a place for "character development" but rather self-reflection and analyzation. And EVERYBODY has experience variances of emotions to some extent or another.
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
"A lot of amateur writers overlook that, but the real professionals, the ones who get the top honors and awards in writing fantasy and the like, are the ones who build the supernatural from the natural."
--Rain Gray.
"Video games don't affect kids. If Pacman had affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills, and listening to repetitive electronic music." --anonymous/banner.
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