The Ten Supposed Mistakes Aspiring Creative Writers Make



Hey, everyone.

 

So, I know last week I said that this week's post I'd be doing one of two things. Turns out I'm doing neither of those. I found a third thing that fired me up. Basically what I've got here is a list of the "ten mistakes aspiring creative writers make." The people I took it from on Pinterest seemed to think it was correct. Me, I had a different take on it. So, let's look at the list, and I'll tell you why it's wrong or right.

 

 

Alright, so here's the list: 

 

1. Wondering how to find an agent or publisher before completing the project.

I don't think this is so much a mistake as it is just getting ahead of yourself. Without the project complete, why should an agent or publisher care about it? But, to tell you the truth, I've dealt with some pretty slow bastards in this business. Hell, I got a rejection letter from an agent a few weeks ago for a query I made like a year ago. I was kind of insulted by the whole thing because the agent actually tried to spare my feelings in her rejection, and I was like, "Bitch, I've already decided to self-publish this book. Address your email to 8 months ago when I might have given a sh*t." Now, I know there's no way she could've known that I had decided to self-publish it, but in this business, when you don't hear from someone for like three months, you automatically assume it's a "no." So, why bother even sending an email to tell them no if the email is dated from the year before? But anyway, there's no reason to contact an agent or publisher until you're finished, unless you know for certain it'll take them so long to respond that you can have it done by then. In which case, you do you and stick it to the system sideways.

2. Waiting for inspiration to hit.

This is a legitimate mistake. You should think of writing as a job; if you're not doing it, you're losing money. Sure, sometimes inspiration can hit like a lightning bolt, but often times you're better off either manipulating your inspiration to make it hit or just setting to work right away. Seriously, just do it. Just write right now.

3. Trying to write something "different."

This one I take issue with because I don't know why it's here. I thought my first novel, Remnants of Chaos: Chaotic Omens (buy it here on Amazon), is different from most of the stuff out there. Now, maybe it isn't and that's why this point is here because nothing's ever really different, or maybe because in some general asinine way it's all different, I honestly don't know which way this one is trying to go, but I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to be different. It might take a while to write something that is truly different, but if you can settle for "different enough," it can totally be done. F*ck this point.

4. Using weak nouns and verbs, and passive voice.

Oh boy, here we go again with this sh*t. Honestly, it's a decent point to make, but so many f*ckers make it that we're beating a dead horse. Not to mention, most writers aren't guilty of using weak nouns and verbs. And I'm pretty sure I've even seen the "experts" use passive voice from time to time. There's just some sh*t you can't get away from once in a while. My other point of contention with this point is that I wouldn't be surprised if most new writers don't know what the difference is between a weak noun and a strong noun. This piece of advice is like saying, "Hey, don't be a square, be cool." There are so many different ways of being square or cool that without a definitive example, this point is completely useless.

5. Deciding not to read in your genre because you don't want to inadvertently plagiarize.

This is another one that I don't understand why it's here. It seems like a legitimate concern to me, especially if you already know the cornerstones and defining qualities of your genre. Now, you might be able to make a strong argument for that you're more likely to plagiarize because you don't know what's out there, but someone should just say that instead of this ass-backward way. On the other hand, this point could be trying to make the argument that because there's no such thing as an original idea, everything's inadvertently plagiarized anyway, so what's the big deal. I mean seriously, I'm working on a project with my uncle, and I showed him my new published novel Remnants of Chaos: Chaotic Omens (buy it on Amazon here), and for a moment he was concerned that he may have been inadvertently inspired by my story because I told him before what it is about before. I thought his worry was redonk because I can see the clear differences between our two stories just fine--I don't know why he can't. It's only in the broadest, most general sense that the two stories are related as in they're both fighting evil. But honestly, I can't be sure what this statement is after because it's too damn vague to begin with.

6. Not outlining.

This is actually a legitimate mistake. Because I didn't outline Remnants of Chaos: Chaotic Omens (buy it on Amazon here), it took me seven years to write. My other novel, Heroes of Majestia: The Company of Flight (buy it on Amazon here), I did outline and I managed to complete it in within a year. An outline keeps you on task and prevents you from wandering, either away or to a different part of the story, while you're working on the story. It helps you to focus on one point at a time as they become important to the developing story.

Take my uncle for instance: our project, no outline. Why? Well, his personality isn't easy to communicate with and he's got that artist thing where everything he does isn't good enough unless someone heaps tons and tons of praise on it, so if I'm not telling him it's good, he starts getting second thoughts. But what's really slowing us down is that only he knows for sure what the story is, but he won't tell me, and he seems incapable of getting any productive work down without me. It's quite frustrating, especially because I've completed multiple projects by myself, and I have a method that works. And a part of that method is outlining. So yeah, outline your story.

7. Not setting aside time to write.

Honestly, with point 2 already on this list, this point is really superfluous. Like I said, think of writing like a job; if you're not writing, you're losing money. So, how do you make sure you're making money? You write every day just like you would at a regular job. And because you have more stuff to do than just write, you're going to need to learn how to budget your time. And because of point 2, there's no reason to say any of this because most people are intelligent enough to work all that out for themselves eventually. It's honestly kind of insulting that someone felt the need to tell someone this.

8. Not knowing what you want to communicate.

This is stupid. This is really stupid. Because every writer gets, oh, what's it called again? "Writer's block," once in a while. It happens to the best of writers. It's not a rookie mistake at all. And sometimes you may know what you want to communicate, but you just don't know the words. Ain't no one said this writing sh*t would be easy. Or at the least, easy all of the time. That's why we proofread and edit. That's why we perfect our drafts before we publish them. Honestly, this isn't a big deal. I can tell you with all certainty that this is going to happen to you, but I can also tell you that it isn't a big deal because you'll get over it. Other writers always do.

9. Never reading a book or taking a class on the craft of fiction writing.

I don't really see this as problem. Some writers have never taken a class, and some writers don't read very often. Hell, if you can write and be successful without doing either of these things, you go, girl!  The universe isn't going to cease to exist just because you can write without ever taking a class or reading a book. Not to mention, everything you could ever need to learn about how to write English you can learn in your English classes. They all cover word order, punctuation, metaphors, adjectives, etc. And just because you've taken a class or read a lot doesn't automatically mean you're going to be a good writer or better than other writers. But, would taking a class or reading a book improve your chances of being a good writer? Certainly. But it's not a requirement.

10. Having an idea for an interesting situation but not having an interesting character.

This one is pretty dumb, too. On the one hand, I'm not sure most new or aspiring writers would be able to realize that they have an interesting situation and not an interesting character, or vice versa. So how are new and aspiring writers supposed to know? But on the other hand, I would think having one would beget the other. I have no idea how any one could possibly screw this up. Kind of like how when you put someone ordinary into an extraordinary situation: how would you expect them to respond? They may not be able to even at the start of it, but as they get more comfortable with the situation, they should become just as interesting as the situation itself. But, just like many of the others, without a definitive example, I don't know how this is supposed to help anybody. For the most part, I get the feeling like this list isn't meant to help anybody; it's just meant to take already experienced writers for a stroll down memory lane when they were terrible at writing. Or, this is a piece of clickbait to get you to go to someone's blog. Regardless, most of this list is really stupid. The only useful bits about it are outline your work, write every day, and don't tease people with unfinished work.

I know I was really sassy and kind of pissy during this blog. I was in a rush because I was trying to prep it for yesterday when I usually release writing posts, and I did watch a bunch of Team Four Star's Dragonball Z Abridged episodes right before working on this post, so I was still feeling that savage wit they use in their writing. But, anyway...

For next week, I hope to write one of the two things I promised for this week. I think the secret to getting them done and sticking to the plan of turning them out is to write them in advance. So, I'll try that and we'll see what happens. So, until next week...

Keep writing, my friends.

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Should You Write Fan Fiction?

Hey, everyone.

So, for this week, I'm going to be taking a look at fan fiction and trying to figure out whether or not you should write it. So, let's talk about writing.

For starters, let me tell you that I hate fan fiction. My biggest problems with it is that it is often written poorly, whether it be because of the punctuation, grammar, usage, or the story is just terrible, and because most fan fic writers out there write as if everything they've ever learned about writing came from reading erotica. Things are phrased weirdly, there's always a sexual tension, and there's a strange focus on the characters body parts.

Mostly though, I hate it because it's about ego--people are just writing a story with characters they like with a storyline that they want to see. And in doing so, their own impressions of the characters and their world is all they take into account, and you're likely to find non-canonical bull sh*t everywhere. I once read a Final Fantasy VII fanfic where the guy made Vincent Valentine a douchebag who drank beer and sat in his chairs backwards.

That's not who Vincent is.
He's a real cool guy.

But, I have to admit: I have dabbled in fanfic writing myself. I once tried writing a FFVII fanfic, and my first attempt at writing a novel was full of "homages," actually more like "rip-offs," to other works i.e. the game Drakengard, Van Helsing, or The Lord of the Rings. Sure, I was impressed with the fact I had written forty chapters or more, totaling over 400 pages before I stopped, but I knew I was ripping sh*t off. Hell, two other attempts I made at novels were other rip-offs. However, despite my past, I am vehemently against the practice of writing fan fiction. Why? What harm could it do me? Well, let's look at the list.

1. Non-canonical bullsh*t.

Alright, I admit that this has less to do with the actual writing of fanfics and more to do with the fact that I hate fan ships and people ruining my favorite characters on sh*tty as f*ck storylines. But honestly, if you like a character, why would you change said character to match your ideals and dreams? Probably because your an egotist, like I said before. If you have genuine care for a character, you would adhere to the established rules of the story's universe and not make your favorite character more bad ass than they were in the game, movie, or book, and you wouldn't make them fall in love with your waifu or husbando from that same medium. It's seriously BS.

2. Wasting an original story.

Fanfic writers use the characters they want and insert them into a story they want to see play out. I don't fault them so much for this because like all fans, I too am hungry for content and want more from my favorite shows, movies, and video games. But, if you're going to go through the trouble of making an original story, why wouldn't you also therefore make original characters, and then make yourself an original story story?

This one I fear has less to do with ego and more to do with laziness. Creating characters and a universe can be challenging, but writing a good story that doesn't break the rules of the universe and doesn't throw away the limits you've imposed on your characters is where the real challenge comes in. With a fanfic, writers don't really worry about this. They already have fully developed characters, their universe, and they have "sample work" in the form of the original media. Ergo, it's easier for them to write a story of their own when most of the hard work has been done for them. And, if they do happen to break the rules or throw away the limits, meh, it's their fic; they can do with it what they want.

So, all this complaining then begs the question: is there anything good about fan fiction?

I honestly can't say. I have read some fan fiction, and not all of it is terrible--just most of it. But for those pieces of good fan fiction, I have to ask, why write good fan fiction when you can change the names and basically invent an original story? It always comes back to that for me. If you're going to go through the trouble of writing a story, write an original story!

But anyway, like I said, not all fan fiction is bad. In fact, my sister has written a number of Resident Evil short stories. She even got some feedback from a fan who said that reading those fics always made her feel better on crappy days. The reader even printed them out and put them in a binder. Now, that's a pretty strong compliment. And, some people would argue that my RWBY fan project RWBY: The Novelization is fan fiction. The devout fanfic'ers on the site don't, but some of those losers actually took the time to tell me a show can only be "anime" if it comes from Japan. It's like, really, dude? You're going to be that much of a stickler. I understand disliking American attempts at anime because they almost always suck, but to be like, "It's not anime unless it came from Japan," I have to wonder about you.

Anyway, I do know that there are people out there who cherish my RWBY:TN. One of the reasons why I started re-editing and rereleasing it was because I had taken a break from writing it, which I needed, and I said I wouldn't be working on it for a while in favor of some of my original work. One of my readers actually commented saying she was disappointed because she liked The Novelization so much. I had no idea, and that's what got me working on it again. So, what are the redeeming qualities on fan fiction?

Well, for one, they help bring together the fandom and even brighten up a fan's day to read a well put together piece. Another boon is that so long as the fanfic writer doesn't violate the characters' character or the universe's laws, it can be a dandy little practice for people who want to try writing but are either scared to come up with an original story or don't have the time to put into creating an original story. It's also possible that by writing fanfics, some writers will evolve into writing full stories.

So, I guess there are some good things about fan fiction, but generally, I still hate it. Again, it keeps coming back to the idea of writing an original story. So much time and effort is spent writing a fanfic, just write an original story instead. I just can't get around that point.

Anyway, that's it for this week. Next week, I'm not sure what I'll cover. It'll either be on why I chose to self-publish my novels over traditional, or why it bothers me that it bothers other people that main characters have "plot armor." We'll see which one burns my ass more when I come back to writing a Let's Talk About Writing. So, until next week...

Keep writing, my friends.

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A Writer's Manifesto: What Is It and Why the Hell Do You Need One?

Hey, everyone.

So, if you're an Indie author, likely you know how some big name writers out there are trying to help us out with our own writing success. One such writer is Jeff Goins. This past week, he emailed all his subscribers and gave out free copies of his book 12 Steps to Make a Living Writing which details all the things writers need to do in order to be successful. Now, most of the tips aren't anything too secret or special: start a blog, get a mailing list, get more followers, etc. But one of his tips left me a bit puzzled and that was...

Now, this left me confused as hell, as is obvious by the two questions underneath, because I thought I knew what a manifesto is and I didn't understand what the hell it had to do with writing. According to him, a manifesto is "a summary of [our] worldview. It's a short, shareable document that quickly lets [our] readers know what [we] are and are not about."

That sounds simple enough, but you'll notice that Goins defines the word "manifesto" around another word: "worldview." Now, I thought I knew what a worldview was, too. But, according to Goins, a worldview is "the guiding statement that undergirds everything you write and why you write it." And again, I'm really f*cking confused. I've never thought about what I write and why I write it in some great cosmic sense. I write what I do because I want to. That's as far as it goes really. Now, there may be reasons besides that, such as the reason why I'm writing a novelization of RWBY, to expand my audience, or why I'm writing a beginner's guide to traditional archery, to introduce people to archery in a friendly manner and to expand my audience, but all things I write start foremost with the reason of because I want to.

 

Unfortunately, telling people that I write because I want to isn't very romantic. To some extent, I do feel a calling to be a writer, and not everything I want to write is random, some of it has a definite point such as another WIP that I'm calling "Struggles on and Meditations with the Catholic Faith." That's all about breaking down the harder to swallow beliefs of Catholicism and explaining why Catholics have them. So, the purpose is to enlighten others. But, I'm also writing that because I want to write it. Like I said earlier, I may have other reasons for why I write something, but generally I write because I want to write.

 

Now, some may ask, how does this cover the what I want to write. How do I choose to write what I do. Well, I write what I write because again, I want to--I'm interested in it. I'm interested in poetry, philosophy, romance, thriller, horror, gothic, fantasy, science fiction, plays, screenplays, and all the rest. There's no great metaphysical reason behind why I write. I write because there's nothing in this world I would rather do.

 

So, unfortunately, that's my manifesto: I write because I want to. Truth be told, phrasing it as "I write because there's nothing in this world I would rather do" is much more romantic, but it's the same thing. In fact, I may actually use that as my manifesto instead. But, the point is, I write because I want to, hence why I call myself Bryan C. Laesch, the Writer. I write for the sake of writing.

 

And to get rich.

 

Next week, I'm going to cover fan fiction and whether or not it's good to dabble in it or not. And, in case you didn't notice, the two ads on this post are of my two newly published novels: Remnants of Chaos: Chaotic Omens and Heroes of Majestia: The Company of Flight. Click on'em. Buy'em. Do it!

Keep writing, my friends.

 

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There's Too Much Writing Advice On The Internet!

Hey, everyone.

So, in my last post for Cryptids and the Paranormal, I wrote a rant about something that bothers me about the paranormal community. And recently, I got the raw end of a business deal, so I'm feeling a little fired up this week. As a result, I've decided to rant about something that burns my ass when it comes to the world of writing, and that is...

That's right; there is too much writing advice out on the Internet. Whether you're a new writer starting out or you've been at this a while and you're looking for tips on current writing styles, there's a lot of information out there. It can especially get confusing if you think you knew everything or you had a style already worked out, and then suddenly, you start seeing tips that suggest just the opposite. So, what the hell are you supposed to do?

At first glance, the answer seems obvious: change your style to fit the recommendations. But, when professional and world renowned authors like Stephen King say that "he said, she said" is king when it comes to dialogue tags, but several pins on Pinterest have titles saying "Said is Dead," it gets quite frustrating.

Why would you use "asked" if you have
a question mark in the line?

I noticed something rather irritating about my own writing recently as well. See, I signed up to be a tutor for a local company. The first student they tried to set me up with wanted a crash course in grammar and punctuation. (I say tried, because I couldn't schedule a first meeting with her, and to my knowledge, neither have they.) Anyway, to make sure I was up to snuff on punctuation, I went looking for copies of Strunk and White's Elements of Style. Turns out you can download the whole book for free as a PDF. Anyway, as I was brushing up on the punctuation, I noticed a mistake I've been making with my commas. Apparently, I've been running my sentences on, when actually there's more than one sentence there and they need to be separated by a comma. Here's the example from Strunk and White.

I met them on a Cunard liner many years ago. Coming home from Liverpool to New York.

Strunk and White say it should look like this:

I met them on a Cunard liner many years ago, coming home from Liverpool to New York.

Looking at my last finished novel, I noticed quite a few places where I don't do that. To add to my confusion, I noticed places where I can't justify the rule; perhaps because they aren't two separate sentences. But the real chagrin came when I realized there were probably dozens or even hundreds of places where I've made this mistake in my first novel. Does this mean I have to go back and re-edit both books in their entirety even though I'm so close to self-publishing both of them?

No. While I admit I'm a perfectionist, something I realized was that no one had caught this error and called me out on. I'm sure I've made this mistake in my book Tales of Horror: Macabre Monsters of Michigan, and like I said, I've likely done this everywhere in ROCCO. But, no one on Inkitt, not even my beta reader, caught it. Does that mean that Strunk and White's comma is superfluous? Well, it could be. Strunk and White are only two "experts" of the rules of writing. Something that you must realize is that writing isn't a science. There are basic rules that everyone accepts as being the rules on how to write, but they're not immutable laws of the universe. They are subject to change as evidenced by the fact that there are multiple editions of Elements of Style, and some writers just straight up ignore them. I heard of an Indie author who doesn't use quotation marks at all. And, some of the rules for writing in Britain are completely different from those here in America. So, where does that leave me?

Well, being so close to self-publishing both books, I'm not going to go back and re-edit them. I probably will re-edit them some day, but not this day. Like I said, no one seems to have caught my blunder, so most people must either not care or don't notice. But, moving forward, I will be a little more careful. Coming back to "he said, she said" versus "Said is Dead," what does one do moving on from here?

I suggest you do what's natural for you and make up your own style as necessary. After all, unless you're an English teacher yourself, you're not likely to know all the writing rules, and there will still be times when you'll forget them or you'll be unsure of what to do yourself. So, follow the rules for the most part, but deviate when necessary. Something I've discovered while editing some pieces is that in order to obey certain rules and styles, I've had to make a sentence quite awkward. Instead of doing that, I say screw it, and just do it in the simplest way possible, even if that means adding words when you're trying to cut back, and even if that means using the abominable adverb.

Next week, I don't know what I'm going to cover, but I hope to have something a little more focused.

Keep writing, my friends.

The Top 5 Things I've Learned About Writing Fight Scenes

Let's talk about writing.

So, I'm pretty damn close to self-publishing my first novel Remnants of Chaos: Chaotic Omens. A book that I've been working on for ten years. I sh*t you not. I started writing it back in December 2007. For those of you wondering what it's about, well, the short answer is demon slayers. So, as you may expect, it's on the dark side and has a lot of action. I actually label my book as a Gothic Epic because "action" isn't grandiose enough, and "horror" doesn't really fit. Yes, it's dark, but it's not really scary.

Anyway, when I started ROCCO, I wanted it to be epic and have these great fight scenes in it. As you can imagine from a noob who doesn't have much experience writing, some of my fight scenes dragged on. I also had this notion that all my chapters had to be at least twenty pages when double spaced because I noticed that many of JK's chapters were twenty pages long in the Harry Potter series. Well, that was ridiculous because in print those books are single spaced. But, I digress.

As I got older and wiser, and gave my book to a friend of mine to beta read, some things about the action of ROCCO began to dawn on me, and I would like to pass down these tips to any writers out there interested in writing a fight scene. So, let's get on with it.

1. Highly Detailed Fights are for Film

I love action movies. Films like Underworld, The Matrix, hell, even SuckerPunch. They're just so over the top in their action, incredibly detailed, and so thrilling! However, have you ever imagined what it would be like to read a transcript of a fight scene? Sure, the movements may be epic and fluid, and the characters in the scene are experts of their arts and only a martial arts weeaboo can really wrap his head around how awesome the fight is, but reading how it plays out kind of sucks.

Now, you will need some elementary action description such as "jump kicked," "jabbed and then crossed," or "parried against his enemy's sword with his buckler before following it up with a riposte," but you don't need to break down every little action and reaction; you don't need to detail every attack, counterattack, and then counter to the counterattack. You're not writing a fight manual or an instructional guide for a practitioner. This book is meant to entertain, not teach. You can teach your audience some things like proper technique or terminology if you slip it in quick enough, but remember, it's perfectly acceptable to say, "He gained the upper hand on his enemy, and before delivering the coup de grace, he said, 'blah blah blah.'"

So, leave the fine details of the fight to the film adaptation.

Transcribing this scene would be a bitch!

2. There's a Formula for Writing Fight Scenes

Believe it or not, there is a style or formula that should be adhered to when writing an action scene. Now, this particular tip I get from Jackie Chan. When Jackie Chan ever puts an action or fight scene in one of his movies, there's something they all have in common, and that's that Jackie must overcome an obstacle. Think about it, in many of Jackie Chan's movies, he typically has a handicap of some sort such as he's fighting dozens of baddies, he has to protect someone, or he's using a ladder or bicycle as a weapon. These are all situations that place Jackie at a disadvantage and it's something he has to overcome in order to win. And the great thing about it is that Jackie has been doing this in all of his movies since the very beginning and it's probably one of the reasons why he's so popular and seems so invincible, yet human at the same time.

Think of it like this: I'm sure you're all familiar with how as a story's plot progresses, there's a sequence of rising and falling action. And generally, these smaller challenges are what lead to the big crisis at the climax of the story where the reader will see if the characters have developed enough to evolve as necessary and win in the end. Ergo, as you write, you should think about most fights as an opportunity to show that your characters can change, adapt, and evolve as warriors. Stack the odds against them in some way, and write the scene so that they are able to win using their strengths, or preferably, learning and adapting to new ones.

Takes great skill to be able to fight with a ladder in the first place.

3. Long Action Scenes are Boring

The Battle of the Five Armies from The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies.
It was nowhere near as epic as this in the book. Probably because
it would've been boring as hell to read.

Going back to how super detailed fights should be saved for the cinema, this is another time when you want to leave something to the movie studio. Even if the fight scene isn't super detailed, if all it is, is a fight scene with barely any dialogue, or character or plot development, it's going to be pretty boring. Not to mention, when movie goers think of a long fight scene, they probably think of a scene lasting eight minutes. For a reader, a long fight scene could be a minimum of three pages. Now, that may sound disheartening, but remember, I'm talking pure or mostly action. You don't want it to carry on so readers actually start skipping the hit-by-hit play and just jump to where the dialogue or story picks up again. They could miss something important. So, try to keep unimportant fight scenes short, and give the important ones plenty of breaks. Speaking of which... 

4. Action Scenes Should Have Purpose

If the action in a scene is important or is supposed to be important, then it should have a purpose. What sort of purpose? Well, it needs to reveal character, world, or story detail, or advance the story and/or character development. While there are some of us who love fighting for the sake of fighting, you shouldn't just put an epic fight into your story just because you feel like it. There's a saying in the writing world: if what you're writing doesn't add to the story, don't put it in. Anything's that's pointless will drive your word count up which could piss off your publisher or audience, and it may take away from the rest of the story. Sure, you've got a book 70,000 words long, but a quarter of that is fight scenes for sh*ts and grins. What a rip. Those are words that could have been used adding to the story. So, remember, make most of your fight scenes have a point. The good news is that if your fight scene has a point, you can make it longer and partially disregard point 3.

Try this simple exercise. What can you learn about two characters
when you find out they're women who practice Muay Thai, one of the
most brutal martial arts on the planet?

5. Action Scenes Should Have Impact!

That's a lot of impact!

I'm not talking about story or character impact, I'm talking about impact. Ka-pow! Blam! Boom! If a character punches someone, you don't want to write, "he punched him." No, no. That doesn't have any feel. And it can't be "he punched him hard." Well, no sh*t. If you're going to hit someone, there's a good chance you're going to hit them hard. Now, if your character punched someone softly, that would be different because it's not expected.

So, instead what you need to do is say something like, "he punched him so hard, he was thrown across the room," or "the force of his punch was so incredible that if he hadn't missed, the baddie's head would've gone through the dry wall instead." Another thing to keep in mind is to make sure you use impactful verbs: slash instead of cut, thrust instead of poke, crushed instead of stamped, decked or slugged instead of punch--you know, something with a lot of energy. Make your reader feel the character's pain.

                                                               


So, those are the five most important things I've learned about writing fight scenes from writing about fight scenes. And, you're likely to pick up more as you go along. In fact, if you have any tips or you think there are things I've missed, go ahead and leave your comment below. And, if you want to keep up with all my writing tips and banter, why not sign up to my Let's Talk About Writing mailing list. Everyone who signs up will receive a novel outline template to help you outline your novel.

Keep writing, my friends.

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