Twitter Tuesday is a new feature on my blog. The first Tuesday of the month, I include all of the past month’s writing and editing tweets from the “field.” Read Twitter Tuesday 1 here.
If you’re reading this before May 15th, 2014, be sure to check out my Editing Giveaway! I’m giving away manuscript edits and critiques. It’s ridiculously easy to enter, and the more response the contests get, the more I’ll give away!
April
When writing, try cutting these: which / thus / that / is why / because. People don’t think in 5-sentence paragraphs. #writingtips #voice
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) April 6, 2014
You're #writing a novel, not an English paper. #Voice trumps grammar. #Writingtips
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) April 6, 2014
Let readers infer what's going on. Good writing is full of subtext & subtlety. Never lecture or insult their intelligence. #writingtips
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) April 6, 2014
Describing characters: Only remark on the remarkable. Clothes DO NOT make the man. Eye color says nothing about personality. #writingtips
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) April 7, 2014
(1/2) Every writer needs to figure out #theme. For over-writers, it's the wind that blows chaff from the wheat of the MS #writingtips
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) April 18, 2014
(2/3) For under-writers, #theme is the protein that builds muscle onto skinny manuscripts. #writingtips
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) April 18, 2014
(3/3) And for stuck or tired writers, #theme is a writing prompt. #writingtips
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) April 18, 2014
A novel is an argument. Your primary concern in storytelling is convincing the reader of something. #writingtips #amwriting
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) April 20, 2014
(1/2) Narration needs to match the emotional tone of the protagonist. #amwriting #amediting #writingtips
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) April 28, 2014
(2/2) When the MC is disturbed, don't sound like a Lit professor. Go Anglo-Saxon: http://t.co/GIYtjPe51I #amwriting #amediting #writingtips
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) April 28, 2014
Dialogue tags are punctuation. Use them as periods, commas. Not exclamation points. A simple "he said"/"she said." #amwriting #writingtips
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) April 29, 2014
Write plainly. Thesaurus-thumper sentences impress only the feeble-minded. #writingtips #editingtips #EditorsAreBrilliantFYI #amwriting
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) May 1, 2014
Retweets
No joke. MT “@AdviceToWriters: It takes writing a billion bad words before you get to the good ones.-RAY BRADBURY #amwriting #writingtips”
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) April 1, 2014
MT @AdviceToWriters I don’t want it to sound like I’m writing, I want it to be like I’m talking to you. JENNY WINGFIELD #writingtips #voice
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) April 6, 2014
Nouns and verbs are the guts of the language. Beware of covering up with adjectives and adverbs.
A.E. GUTHRIE, JR.#writing #writingtips— Jon Winokur (@AdviceToWriters) April 7, 2014
Why use a modifier to set straight a not-quite-right noun when the right noun is available?
WILLIAM SAFIRE#amwriting #writing #writingtips— Jon Winokur (@AdviceToWriters) April 10, 2014
Cue the pentecostal "Hallelujah" RT @TimFederle You are not your first draft.
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) April 11, 2014
RIP, GGM. RT “@AdviceToWriters: All my life, I’ve been frightened at the moment I sit down to write.
GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ”— Lara Willard (@larathelark) April 18, 2014
"I believe the root cause of [writer’s block] is perfectionism…”http://t.co/r368Z2afgg#amwriting #writing #writingroad
— Jon Winokur (@AdviceToWriters) April 19, 2014
Never make the mistake of assuming the audience is any less intelligent than you are.
ROD SERLING#amwriting #writing #writingtips— Jon Winokur (@AdviceToWriters) April 25, 2014
Don't assume every thought you have is fascinating to others. Your job is to give people a reason to keep reading.
DAVE BARRY#writing— Jon Winokur (@AdviceToWriters) April 26, 2014
It is not the object described that matters, but the light that falls on it.
BORIS PASTERNAK#writing #writingcraft— Jon Winokur (@AdviceToWriters) April 27, 2014
In general, what is written must be easy to read and easy to speak; which is the same.
ARISTOTLE#writing #writingtips— Jon Winokur (@AdviceToWriters) April 27, 2014
That Aristotle quote I just retweeted? Tattoo it to your brains, writers. #notliterally #writingtips #editingtips
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) April 28, 2014
RT @AdviceToWriters Poetry is the liquid voice that can wear through stone. ADRIENNE RICH #poetry #writing
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) April 29, 2014
Lara Willard 