Avi
word craft
blog
Read a lot of poetry, then scribble just for fun. Don’t expect your first draft to be perfect. Let the beautiful words and musical rhythms flow. You can make corrections later.
Get your protagonists in trouble right away. Put them in a place where something has happened, or will happen, and they have no choice but to respond. That starts the story off, and that makes the reader want to know what happens next.
Split yourself into 2 people in your head. I call them Writer Padma and Editor Padma.
One of the most irresistible things in the world is a secret. Seriously, what is your immediate reaction if someone tells you they have a secret? You want to know what it is!
Remain open to the possibility of changing your approach to a project.
I find writing rituals tremendously helpful—even when those rituals are also ridiculously silly.
Jasmine has a very simple writing tip: read.
Rules, rules, rules. Here’s my tip: make up your own rules, or better yet, have no rules.
I’ve taught creative writing for many years and one of my favorite writing exercises that I’ve given to both kids and adults is experimenting with another point of view.
Try this at home. It saved a couple of my books which were later successfully published from certain abandonment during the process.