Three Writing Tips That I Don't Often See Elsewhere

It is easy to find a lot of guidance regarding writing. Choose strong verbs. Avoid adverbs. Swap out commonplace and indefinite words. These are valuable bits of advice, but they are spoken everywhere. Below, I present recommendations that I have encountered or developed over the years that I don't see at other writing sites. 

Never say yes. Never say no.

The following exchange of dialogue in the film L.A. Confidential changed my writing.

Bud White: The Night Owl case made you. Do you want to tear all that down?

Ed Exley: With a wrecking ball.

I'd seen the movie before and this time I watched in my writer's frame of mind. The question asked Ed Exley was yes or no. If he had answered, "yes," the screenplay would have missed a great opportunity to reveal character and add to the drama. 

The rule is: Given a yes/no question, don't have your character respond with "Yes" or "No."

 

Another example from L.A. Confidential.

Captain Dudley Smith: You'll do as I say, and ask no questions. Do you follow my drift?

Bud White: In technicolor, sir.

Isn't that so much better than answering yes or no? Even the brief appendage of "sir" adds to the character.

Did you know they tried to make it into a TV series?

Here are a couple of examples from my recent writing. Garret Belmont is a private eye, posing as a mold inspector. Ava Wellington isn't buying it.

Ava: "I notice you have handcuffs in your inside pocket," she said. "Mold inspector?" 

Garret: "I've had to handle some pretty tough fungi."

The same pair, shortly after.

Ava: "Are you the sort who prefers to play with words to other forms of recreation?"

Garret: "Crosswords don't bite."

Ava: "But I do."

Of course, this rule is not absolute. Sometimes I will have a character answer yes or no if that character has a motive to say the least possible. And you don't want to simply substitute a fancy word that means yes, like "indubitably"—unless you are writing a comic piece set in an Edwardian tearoom.

Fun fact: Say indubitably three times and you will grow a top hat.

Use the Thesaurus in Advance.

When you know you are going to write a scene with a specific setting or time, do your thesaurus work in advance. A graveyard at sunset. (These lists are incomplete, just here to give you an idea.)

Graveyard: burial grounds, churchyard, necropolis.

associated: grave, crypt, tomb, sepulcher, sarcophagus, catacomb, shrine, vault, tombstone, gravestone, grave marker. 

Sunset: dusk, nightfall, evening, eventide, gloaming, twilight, sundown.

associated: darkness, duskiness, dimness, gray, gloom, murkiness.

Having a cloud of words helps me create.

As a general rule of thumb: don't repeat the same word often, especially if they are weighty words that attract a lot of attention to themselves. The thesaurus choices help with that. Related rule: don't cycle through synonyms just for the sake of variety.

Learning how to use and tame the thesaurus is one of the talents that separates a novice writer from an expert. The word choices are the keys of the piano. Choose the right ones to construct your melody. Do not dump every complicated word into your text. 

End with a Bang.

Finish your sentences with a punch. You should place, at the end, a single word that delivers your message. Beyond considering the last word in a sentence, this should also be employed in the moments a sentence pauses through punctuation such as comma or semi-colon.

Here is the last word (or two) of the first seven lines of Hamlet's soliloquy (To be or not to be. . .). The final punch in each line delivers the theme and gravity, one reinforcing the next.

question

suffer

outrageous fortune

troubles

to sleep 

end

shocks

. . .

Or this from Macbeth:

tomorrow

day to day

recorded time

fools

brief candle

poor player

stage

tale

fury 

nothing.

Here are my own sentences: two versions.

That looks like a Ponzi scheme on steroids to me.

or 

That looks like a Ponzi scheme on steroids.

I often find that when one of my sentences sounds flaccid, I can reorder the words to end with a punch. It might be too much if every sentence ends with a whammy, but try out this recommendation when you want your writing to jab like Jake LaMotta.

For the above paragraph: flaccid (comma), punch (period), whammy (comma), Jake LaMotta (period).

Similar to this:

Put the punch-line at the end. This rule is derived from performing comedy. Don't finish a joke and then add words that the audience has to listen to when they should be laughing. Similarly, in mystery, if you are delivering a punch in a story, put the vital detail at the end of the statement (sentence, paragraph, or even chapter) so the reader has a moment to digest the startling revelation. 

This joke, attributed to various comedians, is classic and edgy.

When I go, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like the passengers on his bus.

It isn't until the final word that the mystery and the lethal edge are revealed. Compare this to the same joke, badly-constructed.

When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not like his passengers who were screaming when his bus swerved off the road and killed them. 

The reveal comes early in the sentence, nevertheless, we are compelled to keep on reading.

If you have a little-known writing tip, please include it in the comments.