Writing Advice: Let it suck.

Practical Advice for Beginning Fiction

Best advice ever. Let it suck.

That may sound like really bad advice, but it’s not. Trust me.

When you’re writing your story, you will inevitably come to a point where you get stuck. You may know what the scene needs to do, or where you need to go with the character, but you feel like every word you’re putting on the page is just horrendous. The temptation is to stop, rethink and wait for inspiration to hit you. Don’t do that. Finish the scene, put it on the page and move on. Remember, when you get to that part where you type those infamous words, ‘The End’ it’s not really the end. You’re not even at the half way mark. You need to read it from start to finish, review, revise, edit, cut, and polish it until it shines.

In my first published book, Visionof Shadows, I had a scene that was important.

The main character a 17 year old psychic named Bristol Blackburn sits down with the Grandfather she’s only recently met to get a family history lesson. A lot of the information in the scene was important, but I felt like it was coming out rather dry with two characters sitting on the back porch talking. It was needed, but it just wasn’t great.

Instead of stopping, thinking, and waiting for some divine inspiration to strike, I wrote it. I put on the page what was needed, and then I moved on. As I continued to write the book, I realized another issue was I needed to have some more interaction between Bristol and Jay, a character that was a member of the dearly departed club. During the revision phase, I realized this was the perfect opportunity. Add Jay in where only she could see him, Grandpa couldn’t. He could provide commentary, comic relief and even a sweet moment. Suddenly, the scene came alive.

The point is, you can’t fix a blank page. Get your story done, then go back. Fix it. Make it shine. Remember, the end is just the beginning.

Oh, and adding a ghost may not help with each and every scene, but it's great when they do.