I need your tips!

EDIT: Thanks everyone for all your contributions! The book has now been published and can be downloaded for free or purchased here: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/b ... k/15147355 Let me know what you think!

Hello! As you might know (I do tend to spam the chat a bit with it!) I create my own magazine, Blinking Cursor, which is currently on its third issue. Well now, I want to make a book! A handbook, about writing. And I want to fill it with writing tips. I think it would be a bit egotistical of me to write all the tips myself, so what I would like is for all of you to give me your writing tips, for inclusion in the book. They just need to be short - a sentence or two. I'm not looking for anything particularly long, unless it takes a lot of explaining. It can be anything - spelling and grammar, creating characters, your writing habits, creating a writing environment, finding an agent, computers vs. pen and paper, what you like to write with, collaboration, good writing books (I'll be compiling a reading list), anything at all!

Just put your name (not your full name unless you're over 18 and really want to - first name and initial is fine) and your location (obviously just the country or state or planet, or something vague, not your address ), so we can get a nice varied amount of tips. Give me as many as you like! You can post them here, PM them to me, tell me on Facebook, email me, I really don't care as long as you get them to me. (Please note that all tips received might not necessarily appear in the book.) For more info on the magazine and my tiny publishing empire, go here: http://www.blinking-cursor.co.uk Thank you!!

Make sure that spoken words are natural for the characters speaking them. Urban slang would be out of place coming from the mouth of an eighty year-old college professor, as would college-level SAT words from the mouth of a six year-old.

Rules are made to be broken, but to break them in an interesting, worthwhile way, you first need to actually know them.

-Avoid adverbs like the plague. Carefully choosing specific verbs has a far bigger impact and is less likely to frustrate your readers. So when you've completed your novel/story, type "ly" in the search box, and have fun replacing a lot of words.

-"Said" is your best friend. It's one of the very few words that readers automatically gloss over and gives your dialogue a chance to speak for itself. If you feel you need to say "she moaned" "he ejaculated" "he growled" "she argued" to get their tone across, your conversation probably needs some revision.

For your reading list:
The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
Rant: An oral biography of Buster Casey, Chuck Palahniuk
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
Anansi Boys and American Gods, Neil Gaiman
Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card

Wonderful, keep them coming!

If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.

(No, just joking. XD)

Never give up. And always remember, it will be better in the morning.

I highly recommend reading the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan. Here in the US, they've finally got eight books out! Australians are so lucky. They already have the ninth book out.

You can just say Isebella L. for my name, if you really need it. Glad to have helped! Good luck on the book! ^_^

I shall PM you something soon. Blinking Cursor's great. ^_^

First Drafts are meant to be finished first, and are accepted to be generally crappy. Finish, keep writing, edit later in the Second Draft.

Avoid description like the plague. Use them when nessessary. Do not rob your reader's imangination.

Typically when someone suggests improvements, they are wrong, and when someone tells you, "I don't like it," and offers their opinions, they are right.

If at first you don't succeed, try again a month later. The world will continue to spin.

Sanity is judged by yourself. However, if you find yourself dressing, and speaking thier dialect (*coughs* I am an exception!), you're still sane, just weird.

If you can't take critiques or advice then writing is not for you because the backbone of your career depends upon the people who are prospective buyers.

~Ben H.

Just bumping this and making it a sticky, I sort of left this project for a while but now I'm coming back to it and need more, so keep your tips coming please! Thank so much!

music is your best friend and source of creativity. Put your ipod on shuffle, close your eyes, and when the song is over write about what you saw.

Andrea Houston,Texas

Start out with a small idea and grow on it. You can write a poem about a snowflake, a pebble, a feather - you just need to focus and build on that first idea.

Always carry a small notebook on you; you never know when something will inspire you, or some great idea will come to you, and you don't want to lose it.

Find out where your favorite spot to write is. Generally people have a time of day, and area they write best in. If you are feeling frustrated while trying to write in the car, or at a different time of day than usual, try later in "your spot".

Writing a rough idea on a notepad is good, then take those notes and ideas and convert them to your computer. It's better then going to the keyboard dry, and for me, it helps a lot.

In creating characters, write the main characteristics they are have: stubbornness, cheerfulness, emotional strength, etc. Give them characteristics, and then reasons why they have those personality traits. Also, basing a character off of someone you know, and giving them similar quirks, helps the characters become much more strong and real.

Lydia C. M. Wisconsin.

Read. Read fiction, read nonfiction, read newspapers, read post-it notes. Try to read books from different genres and by different authors. When you're sick of reading, write-- and don't worry so much about what comes out.

- Keep reading. Be open to ideas.

- Always be open to critiques. Maybe you can ask one of your best friends to look over your project. Or even better, ask someone totally random to help you out. That way, you can be sure of some constructive criticism.

- Never get discouraged when someone says it isn't good. That way you know you have to work on it. Take a peek at things you've written years ago. Definitely an improvement, right?

- If you have an idea, jot it down. Write something. It doesn't matter if it isn't good. Just keep writing end editing.

~Laavanya, India.