How to Make Yourself Write: 100 Writing Tips

Hey! I went through r/writing's old tips and compiled them into this list. There are a lot of tips in here, so if you want to find tips by category, there's a legend below. Enjoy! ### Legend * **G**: Generosity tips (tips that will make you give stuff away) * **P**: Productivity tips * **A**: Advice * **E**: Editing * **B**: Backstory * **C**: Character * **N**: NaNo ### The Tips 1. Write drunk, edit sober. P 2. [Insert Tip Here] - because no one asked for my opinion. A 3. If you find something difficult in your writing... A 4. If there's a gun on the wall in Act 1, it absolutely has to be fired by Act 3. A 5. Kill your darlings. P 6. Show, don't tell. A 7. Write first, edit later. P 8. The road to hell is paved with adverbs. E 9. Don't info dump. B 10. Character is plot. C 11. Write a story first, an allegory second, and propaganda never. A 12. Write every day. P 13. Writing is like driving at night in the fog. E 14. Writing is like sex. A 15. Your main character is you. C 16. Real writers write for free. G 17. A real writer will write anywhere, anytime. P 18. You can't kill a premise with a club. A 19. Writing is an unnatural act. P 20. Keep it simple, stupid. A 21. Writing is like riding a bike. P 22. Writing is not an extroverted act. P 23. You can't wait for inspiration. P 24. The more time you spend talking about writing, the less time you spend writing. P 25. A writer is working even when they sleep. P 26. Writing is like giving birth. P 27. The muse is a bitch. P 28. You will always be nervous about writing. P 29. If you're a writer, that's what you are. P 30. A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit. P 31. Being a writer is a lifestyle choice. P 32. The first draft is shit. E 33. Writing is rewriting. E 34. Writing is like peeling an onion. P 35. First drafts are for crap. P 36. You can't edit a blank page. P 37. The best time to plan a book is while you're writing it. A 38. The first sentence sells the book. E 39. The last sentence sells the next book. E 40. The best way to get your first book published is to write your second. G 41. Writing, like sex, is only fun for the first twenty years. P 42. Every writer is a possible threat. P 43. If you can do anything else, do it. P 44. Write something you'd like to read. A 45. Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers. P 46. Your intuition knows what it wants to write, so get out of the way. P 47. You can't wait for inspiration. P 48. If you steal from one author, it's plagiarism. If you steal from many, it's research. G 49. The road to hell is paved with works in progress. P 50. You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you. P 51. If you want to know what God thinks of money, look at who he gave it to. A 52. Writing is like driving at night in the fog. A 53. Write every day. P 54. Write everyday, no matter what. P 55. If you wish to be a vanquisher of the morrow, you have to put the night behind you. P 56. A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called "leaves") implanted with dark pigments which decode into... E 57. And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. A 58. You don't have to see where you're going, you don't have to see your destination. P 59. Writing is an occupation in which a lot of people do not and can do the work. P 60. We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master. P 61. Writing is an adventure. A 62. Writing fiction is fun. P 63. Most writers arrange to be alone during their most productive hours. P 64. A writer is a product in which 100,000 of one's closest friends can fit into the glove box. P 65. A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people. P 66. In general, I agree with the surrealists, if I may use that totally pretentious word, but I don't think modernism is dead in any way. P 67. Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it. A 68. I always do the first line well, but I have trouble doing the writing for the rest of it. P 69. The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense. A 70. If you have other friends besides your family friends and if you don't get out and find activities to do with your peers, you're going to end up... P 71. The secret to creativity, according to Albert Einstein, is knowing how to hide your sources. A 72. The most valuable advice you can give to any young person starting in writing is to write about what you know. A 73. Writing is its own reward. P 74. Work every day. No exceptions. E 75. Never in my short 24 years of life had I went this long without writing. P 76. You must kill a part of yourself to develop others. B 77. If you can talk, you can write. P 78. Experience is the best teacher, but only a damn fool wouldn't have a understudy. A 79. The less I talk to people, the more I like them. P 80. I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. P 81. A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: 1) What am I trying to say? 2) What words will convey it? 3) What image or idiom will make it more vivid? 4) Is this image fresh enough to have an effect? P 82. You do not have to explain every single thing going on in your story. B 83. Don't be afraid to shit out a first draft. Let it be terrible. P 84. Talent is Overrated. P 85. When choosing the right word, always pick an active verb over a passive one. A 86. The less I talk to people, the more I like them. P 87. Writing is like walking down a road at night. E 88. A poem is never finished - only abandoned. P 89. Write to please just one person. A 90. Sound out everything you write. E 91. When you make a mistake, try to forget it and go on, and if you're writing, tear it up and throw it away, or erase it. P 92. The morning hour has gold in its mouth. P 93. I love writing. P 94. You must kill a part of yourself to develop others. B 95. Get through a draft as quickly as possible. P 96. A large part of writing consists of merely cutting out the fat. E 97. Write drunk. Edit sober. P 98. You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. P 99. Writing is 10% talent, and 90% mental illness. P 100. Talent is Overrated. P If you went through all of these, good luck! I hope these tips help out. Remember, if you can do anything else, your life will probably be better. But if you can't, well, I'll be here, writing.

How to Make Yourself Write: 100 Writing Tips

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