Countdown to 2026 - #6 - Dungeons & Dragons - December 26 (June 12)

Countdown

June 2025... and I decided it can't be all about doom and gloom. Let's talk about something fun! How about Dungeons & Dragons? Or... how I managed to spend more on D&D than ever before 🤔

Countdown to 2025 - #8 - One year of Fahr Vergnugen / driving and modding the MX-5 / Miata (and my Top 3 in Cars)

Countdown + Car + MX-5

8 days... and today, Christmas Eve is upon us, and that means talking about presents. The New Year is almost upon us, and that means top-whatever lists. Let's talk about cars then...

Countdown to 2024 - Nine Writing Tips Before Christmas - #1 - Write a Lot

Countdown + Writing

The final tip on the final day of 2023 is very straightforward and way too obvious: write a lot. Write some more. Read a lot. Write again.

After a while building sentences becomes something automatic. You'll reach the stage where you'll effortlessly find the right words to describe the scene in your mind. This just takes practice. So write a lot, read a lot, then write even more.

Note: using a decent keyboard and some blind typing helps a lot here!

Countdown to 2024 - Nine Writing Tips Before Christmas - #2 - Shock Yourself And Your Reader

Countdown + Writing

Shock yourself and your reader.

What's the most exotic, outrageous thing your character would do? Would he / she really do it? Does the story lend itself to that? If so, create a situation where your character would do exactly that... the impossible, the unthinkable, the illogical (not from the character's point of view, mind you).

Countdown to 2024 - Nine Writing Tips Before Christmas - #3 - Character Sheets

Countdown + Writing

In general I don't see much use for extensive character sheets. I even tend to skip as much of world building as I can get away with. I did find it useful to make a small char sheet for my main cast. Not to flesh them out and delve into their deepest secrets and hidden background.

My reasons are much more ordinary: I don't want to get caught out.

Countdown to 2024 - Nine Writing Tips Before Christmas - #4 - Switch Off That Brain!

Countdown + Writing

Don't overthink. Or from a broader point of view: don't brood. Don't whine. Don't worry.

Advice is what it is: an opinion of another person. Listen to them, learn from them, but don't depend on them.

It's an odd dilemma: you must learn from others, to avoid their mistakes, and to improve your own work. On the other hand you must develop a spine. (Yeah, that's a little harsh, but read on...)

Countdown to 2024 - Nine Writing Tips Before Christmas - #5 - Do the Math!

Countdown + Writing

We're past Christmas, and a couple of days away from New Year's Eve. And so I think it is time to combine mathematics with the art of writing:

It's easier to add than to subtract.

Removing a plot line, a character, a chapter or a scene, all of that is way harder than adding something.  Anything. (Especially adding spelling errors is easier, but that's not the point.)

Write short. Concise. Focused. You can always expand later.

Countdown to 2024 - Nine Writing Tips Before Christmas - #6 - Bang It Right The First Time!

Countdown + Writing

Use a (real) keyboard.

Don't write on your phone. Instead, use a real keyboard (and a real screen). A tablet (with an external BT keyboard) will work, but nothing beats that big piece of screen real estate in front of you.

If you can afford it, go big. 27", or even 2x 27" or some ultrawide thingy. And don't forget you'll be editing as well! If you use an editor (as in: a person, not the software 😏) it can be nice to show the editor's and your own version side by side.

Countdown to 2024 - Nine Writing Tips Before Christmas - #7 - Making a Scene

Countdown + Writing

You're stuck.

In the countdown to 2024 I'm sharing a bunch of the most obvious tips with the poor victims that landed on this blog. Hey! You're one of them! So, what should you do when you want to write but you're stuck?

Close your eyes...

Countdown to 2024 - Nine Writing Tips Before Christmas - #8 - Write What the Reader Wants

Countdown + Writing + Wallpaper

Tip number 8 is so obvious that it hurts. And it hurts doubly so, because it effectively means that you have to sell your soul.

Write what the reader wants.

... but that's unfair! Should you shelve your dreams and go low and commercial?

Countdown to 2024 - Nine Writing Tips Before Christmas - #9 - Write readable

Countdown + Writing

Actually, it's nine hints before the end of the year, but this sounds better 🤔😁

Matt asked me for nine tips... Hmmm... So, here's number 9:

Write Readable

... but that is not a tip. That's the same thing I tell everyone.