Today I’m stopping at a Dunkin Donuts on the way home from work to work on my writing because for the last two days I’ve come straight home and got on the TikTok. I don’t need to be on the TikTok. I need to write. I’m putting myself in a public place to work, so I won’t get on TikTok. 😂
I know the feeling! When I'm working I have to put my phone across the room so I won't pick it up. What have they done to our minds?! But.....cat videos....
I always appreciate how supportive and positive and encouraging you are with yourself and other writers. Too many of us take up writing with dollar signs and movie contracts clouding our vision. That's the Hollywood-ized version of what a writer's life should be like, but it's 100% NOT reality. When reality finally does sink in, we think we failed, and we get discouraged. Media makes it it hard for us to shatter that initial disillusionment, but we MUST do it!
I followed the 3 exercises. The third one is the hardest.. After these exercises, I wrote a short story with 1510 words. So I was able to write a total of close to 2000 words today. The last time I wrote a short story was 3 weeks ago. Thank you. You are very inspiring and motivating.
The first thing you write will be garbage. But write that garbage story, finish it & then you will be a step further down the line than you were before you started it. I've gone back & read things I wrote 30 years ago, & thought--Oh, what was I doing there? Read more, & expand your reading horizon. Step by step you will learn the craft. Start with just writing one good sentence. Then, expand that to a paragraph. You're on your way.
Reading plays helps with dialogue patterns and pacing. I acted and directed for many years, which is why I prefer to write dialogue rather than setting descriptions! :)
I haven't written anything since I left school in the 1980s, yes I'm old, but I had a go at the exercises and really enjoyed them. Thank you for a wonderful supportive video.
The timing of this video is insane. Just when I was thinking of giving up the idea of writing a story before I could even start, thinking I was too incompetent. I'm actually impressed with the dialogue I wrote in those exercises. All what I had to do is break the ice and put my ideas on paper regardless. This video allowed me to do that. Thank yo so much ✨It was really helpful.
That's great! It's encouraging to know that the exercises help. I really do think there's some secret power in breaking the ice and getting words down. Thanks for letting me know this helped, I'm really glad it did.
Hey man, I have to share with you that I used to write a lot of short horror stories, and just fiction out of my life experiences, and I thought I was awesome. I also got validations from people around me - but one day it just stopped- and I haven’t been writing for almost 10 years now. Though I always had some kind of yearning to get back to it but didn’t know how to , especially with work and family life. But I have to say - taking 15 minutes to follow your steps, is really helping me to hear that voice in me that I’ve abandoned for so long, so I really want to thank you for this! Step one - easy Step two - tricky (I had David from King’s Breathing Method and The Dude) Step three - surprisingly easy every time!
That's great! I'm really glad it could get you moving again. Sometimes just taking over the brain and starting the mechanics of writing can kick-start you a bit. You don't always have to wait for the ideas or the muse. Awesome that it helped, and thanks for letting me know!
Watched this due to my growing addiction to "You can do the thing!" videos I've been watching to try to get through some mental blocks and debilitating anxiety. I admit, I am only passingly interested in writing, and my interest is more because of.. how wordy I can't help but make things. If I could apply it creatively, maybe I'd do some impressive things. Really, I just like the idea of artistic expression and thought writing might be a way to get things out if I could get through my mental dam. But, I find the sentiment this, and the other video you made on the exact same topic years ago, to be one of the best ones I've seen. In that, encouraging is all well and good, but I feel like the idea of "You can't improve on nothing" is something I really needed to hear, and haven't seen before in these videos. Writing is especially bad about it, because yours is the 4th "how to write" channel, and the others were all more "how to make writing ideas" and "don't do this thing that annoys me that other writers do" marketed on RU-vid as "how to write". Not sure if I'll apply this to writing or not; I'm isolated enough that I am unsure how people interact in general, which really gives me some mixed feelings on the idea of me trying to depict anything. But I am definitely applying the sentiment that connected so strongly to me on my other hobbies.
Time’s gonna pass anyway is the greatest advice, especially for creative endeavors. I’ve heard that years ago and started writing. I don’t feel daunted nor pressured whenever I’m writing after that.
Your video is so helpful! I was looking for some writing exercises, because as a beginner I feel like I'm not ready to dive into writing a full length novel from zero. I am very restrictive to myself, that's why my pace usually is 200 words per hour. I did all three exercises with you, and found out that my actual speed is 50 words per 3 minutes. Today I wrote 400 words of my story in only 20 minutes. Insane! And I was actually enjoying it. Writing didn't feel like a chore, a hard work with no joy. I hope this warm up will boost my creative freedom. Thank you
Yessss that's exactly what we want! Honestly, a lot of progress with writing gets unlocked from figuring out how YOU do things and what works for YOU. There's no wrong answer, so if something gets you writing, lean into it. I'm really glad this could help.
This is very good advice and got me to actually write something. For the second exercise I wrote a scene of Tony Soprano talking to Mina the main character from the book The Watchers. "You look like shit." "Sorry what?" "Ah no, nuthin', I'm just saying you look tired that's all." "It's been one of those days. One of those years really." "That bad huh? I know the feeling." "I don't think you do." "Oh no, try me." "It is a long and unbelievable story, but basically someone wasn't who I thought they were." "So someone turned out to be a piece of shit, who you thought weren't?" "In a sense." "Oh I've been there more times than I can count. You ever think we attract these types of people, like they are drawn to us or some shit?" "I found them actually." "Did you though, did you really?" "Yeah, I literally found them in the middle of a forest." "A forest? Get the fuck outta here." "No it's true, they lived in a beautiful house in the middle of a dense forest. They were in hiding from the outside world and I lived with them for about six months." "See, that's a red flag right there, a weirdo living in a forest alone turned out to be a piece of shit." "I didn't have much choice." "I dunno hun, we always have a choice." "It was life or death." "Well fuck it, death then. What do I know?"
Absolutely love your videos. You are the only writing advice channel I have come across that seems to be rooted in truth. There are no strict rules, just suggestions. Keep it up, you deserve whatever success comes your way.
Thank you so much! I definitely just want to suggest, and not dictate. I can't tell someone else's story, but if I can help them to tell it, that's what I want to do.
Thank you for this. I've published three novels, but haven't written with any consistency or even dedication for a good number of years. I've been trying to slowly get back on the horse this year, mostly with essays and the like, but honestly, I want to get back to fiction. This was a perfect exercise to loosen a few of those muscles. I'll keep it handy for days where the words, the self-talk, and the motivation are all in battle with one another.
I like how you incorporated the timings into the video. I think the hardest thing is when you start and have a blank page and unlimited time to write anything, it's just too easy to get distracted. But when you have only 3 min and a clear instruction, you start to think it's not so hard after all! Will definitely use this video to practice some writing 😊
Thanks! It's a strange thing, but you're right. Having that limitation I think pushes my perfectionism away a little bit and subsequently leads to getting something down quicker.
This was a really good informative video!❤ Not sure if I did it correctly, but for the dialogue exercise, my characters were the adult me and the (inner)child me. As an adult, I was having a lovely conversation with my inner child about how she was feeling and what did she want for breakfast. I felt as though I was talking to what could be my daughter. It felt great and flowed well.
I followed along all three exercises, and it was a lot of fun! I didn't even feel like I made any significant progress with anything I've been stuck on with my current novel, but I didn't care, I just had fun writing.
Thank you so much for this!!! It really helped. Until now, I didn't realize how much my expectations were interfering with my writing process (constant search for better words on Chatgpt, the mental analysis of balancing imagery and dialogue ). You probably know the rest. More of these videos, please (if possible).
Thanks for this video. It's exactly what I needed. I've struggled with writing prompts and the advice to "Just write". Your exercises are great. I hope you give us more.
I don't like routine writing. I write down ideas, scenes and concepts anytime. As long as I have something to write. It's a hobby so i want no obligations.
You love to help others, I can feel it, I can understand, and I do appreciate it. I tried to change the channel, but it felt like you only spoke to me, and this felt right. I do appreciate the time you spent to help us, particularly when you said , "If English is not our first language," in my case, it's my 5th, language, it's challenging sometimes. Thanks tremendously.
I’ve been following your channel for a bit even though I don’t write but have wanted to for a long time. I’m 40 now and I feel like this video has finally given me permission to try. I’ve always wanted to attempt writing a story but have never had the confidence. I’m not interested in getting published I just like the idea of being able to articulate my thoughts and of seeing something through to the end. Taking the time to write with a pen and paper helps me slow my thoughts down and not be so anxious about everything. Thank you for the writing exercises. It was oddly comforting being able to keep the video running while you did them as well.
That sounds like a great reason to write, a direct link to something that will feed your soul. That's why I do it too really, and lately because the more I write, the more I find out about the craft that I want to share with other writers. Publishing and all that stuff is a very distant concern and I find that quite freeing. I'm really glad the exercises worked a bit for you, I was hoping they'd in some way take the edge of for folks trying to get the ball rolling. Thanks for watching and taking part!
Hello Kieron - my name is also Ciaran, and I’ve had my story idea in my head for years now. I have only JUST started writing it out after thinking about the world, plot, ideas etc for years. My problem is I have ADHD and dyslexia so I have the creativity in my head but since I was a little kid I have really struggled putting brain to paper and I have been using AI to help me sculpt the words, sentences and grammar. It’s helped me massively and hopefully one day many years from now I will click publish Thank you for your videos.
Thanks for being here, fellow Ciaran! Glad the channel could be useful for you. I'm glad you've found a method that works for you, that's a side of AI I'd never really considered before. You've opened my eyes a bit there.
Thanks for the advice man, I tried these exercises and it's incredibly helpful.The last one was especially helpful and I started writing a lot more, ideas just came flooding me as I was writing.I started with writing about something as insignificant as me waking up to wanting to write a full on mystery novel.I truly appreciate your help because I really want to become a writer and there's many other things I want to do but I just absolutely love writing, it's amazing how words on a page can completely transport my mind into a whole new world I love it!!
The algorithm blessed me today! This wasn’t a video that I was searching for however, I’ve been recently clicking on a lot of ambient music playlists for writing so it makes sense that the algorithm sent me this direction. Immediate sub! I love the positivity and the encouragement
Thanks for subscribing ☺️ Maybe the algorithm connected it because I said something about ambient music playing during the exercises? Whatever the case, glad you’re here! Welcome!
Was kind of looking and very much hoping for some outer element to help walk me out of my head, which is in a very tough place at the moment, and you showed up in my internet rambling’s. Your approach is lovely and has actually got me writing. Thanks!!
Thank you for this. I was much kinder to myself and tackled an intro I was scared to approach. There are a couple of lines I wrote that are worth expanding on. Such a great warm up!! 👏🏿👏🏿👍🏿👍🏿💪🏿
Nice to hear from you😊 Yes I'm often doing the same exercise when i try myself to improve my writing skills. Hopefully i can say, it’s better now. My aim to improve writing language skills.
Wow!!! i absolutely loved the video, the "try now" exercise sessions in between were not expected but they were absolutely helpful in challenging yourself as a new writer. At first I frowned upon them and thought with my eyes up in the back of my head .... "oh here we go" then after the first 2 tries, I decided ... why not? I didn't get very far, didn't complete the entire paragraph but 3 sentences later I actually saw a paragraph for my book begin to come to life. I loved it and the self challenge made me see that there is an opportunity brewing. Now the challenge for me is, staying focused on that one paragraph at a time and not moving ahead of myself, Organizing my thoughts and consistency. Thanks again, "new subscriber"
Thank you for this videos. I didn't go to university for writing. And I did doubt my self too. But I know I have it on me since my first writing I was 8 years old. I been learning process from reading, search, video's like yours. I'm good at story telling but still learning on script writing. My story coming from my own experience. My life story is my teachers. Writing is my savior and my companion during dark times of my life. I have written so far 8 story base on true events with fiction.
The dialogue that I came up with is between Andrew Medicine from a recent novel that I read and Severus Snape from Harry Potter. They had a weird conversation about the day when Snape was killed. The opening paragraph was also pretty weird. It was about two people, one named Daisy and the other Jase. They are brother and sister, and they had a conversation about their friends, revels. Thank you for this challenge! Best regards from an Ukrainian! Although this is not my first accomplished book, my third btw, I still had a lot of fun.
Thank you so much for this video. It's the first time that I have found someone so encouraging. Those three exercises were brilliant and it was easy for me to complete them. Looking forward to hearing more from you and will be listening to the other content of your RU-vid audios. Thanks for your time and interest!
How sad that is! People talk about themselves when they criticize so let it be water off a ducks back! It took me a long to understand Other people's opinions are none of my business 😂😂😂
This video is great. I did all three exercises and I was surprised with what I got down. I found the dialogue exercise the most challenging. Thanks for this.
I have a story inside me that’s screaming to get out. I’ve written and rewritten pages for a decade. It’s a memoir but very controversial, so I torture myself deciding to put this or that in, knowing those involved are still hurting and raw. Then I think maybe I should make it into a novella changing it up, so it’s the same story but not so bluntly in the face of loved ones. I also struggle with my voice. I don’t care to profit from it, but it’s a promise I made to write it. To myself and someone I loved. Help! I’m presumptive with this comment, and need to finish listening to your video. I like your voice and I know ahead of time I’ll learn something. So I will subscribe, listen and then go back to your previous episodes. Thank you! 😊
Thank you for this. I've wanted to write a book since I was a kid. My favorite genres and fantasy and military science fiction. I wrote a lot when I was younger, but stopped when I started a family and later, a career. Now, at 46, I think I'm ready to pick up the pen (or keyboard) and try again. I did all three exercises, and that is the first creative writing I've done in a long time. It felt really good to write again. I have a lot of self help books on how to write, but this is the first time I've actually put free writing into practice. I am going to try and make it a daily habit, and see what happens.
Thanks a lot for such inspiring words. Lot of stories come to my mind but I never write them down because I think grammar is weak, sentence structure is not correct and so on. But now I will write for myself.
This was really helpful for improving my mindset. I get in my own head quite badly avoiding the start of the process, but these simole little exercises felt really good for just getting my mind to let go and just try. Thank you for this.
A lot of us thoughtful writer types get in our own way I think, I'm the same. Sometimes just taking over and pushing through can get the ball rolling, I'm glad it was helpful!
Thank you, this was such a beautiful video! The exercises are super fun to follow along, no matter the result :) And to anyone reading this, there is no need to criticize yourself. Love yourself, encourage yourself and treat yourself the best, not just while writing but in life. Embrace yourself for who you are, cherish what you created and there will be progress. Enjoy the journey :)
@@KierenWestwoodWriting not just interesting but, also productive ( loved it ) ❤️... That was really good excercise 👍 ( Hope we get more videos on writing excercise)
Thanks for the video. Of all the videos I have ever watched, yours is the only one that helped me to follow through with the exercises. I appreciate that you wrote along with us, and the music also helped. Thanks a million. I just found your video and I just had to subscribe.
Thanks so much, I just recently (like within the last week) decided to go all in with taking my writing seriously and this video helped me to tell my inner critic to shut up lol. Also, I loved the exercises and the part where you mentioned that you didn't need to know everything to get started, like grammar and how to develop a plot or characters, those were the main issues holding me back.
I’m really glad it could help a bit! It’s natural to feel stuck by all of that stuff, but just writing something is often the best way to make progress, the rest of it can come later ☺️
Thanks Kieren. I recently found your channel and have been mining it for inspiration and information. I've found it to be one of the best of the crowd of writing channels out there. Anyhoo. Here are my efforts; I thoroughly enjoyed completing them. I hope others also share. Exercise 1. I don’t know why he always has to meet at these places. It's 3am and cold. I stamp my feet and rub my hands together to stop them from freezing. He said he’d be here at 2:30 but he’s already thirty minutes late. I pull out a cigarette and pause looking at the sky in a moment of stillness. “Fuck, look at those stars.” Then I feel very small in a very large universe. I guess me killing someone doesn’t amount to a hill of beans in the big scheme of things. Headlights crest the ridge of the road leading to the station platform, the light reflecting off frost on the road. Exercise 2. Gavin from the Lola Quartet by Emily St. John Mandel Case from Neuromancer by William Gibson “Have you ever lost anything?” said Gavin. “What do you mean?” “You know. lost something that you now miss, and wish you still had it.” “Yeah.” “Me too.” “Okay. What? You obviously want me to ask you what.” said Case, eyeballing Gavin. “Well, I lost a whole girl and her baby. I was a fucking idiot. But I let them go.” Case snorts. “What. That’s not tragic enough for you?” “No. Not really. I once lost a girl and humanity's future.” “Oh. Yeah. That’s probably a little worse. Sorry man. ” “Shut the fuck up and buy me another drink.” “Two again thanks bartender.” said Gavin, raising a hand. “Oh and some dex as well.” Exercise 3. It’s like the island is sinking. They keep building the walls higher. With them, the sea also rises. I imagine that the city, and the island it’s built on is sinking. It’s easier to believe that it’s just this place that’s going to end up be sucked into an abyss, flooded by the unending sea beyond, than to accept that it is the whole world. Humanity, art, all the great things that mankind has achieved will be gone. No more rockets launching to worlds far above and way beyond, or someone's creative spark bringing into existence some great work of art
Thanks so much! These are great I think! Your result on the first exercise especially is impressively coherent. I ended up with nonsense when I filmed this! How did you like The Lola Quartet? I'm a fan of Emily St John Mandel, though I find there's a bit of a difference in style between her stuff pre-Station Eleven.
@@KierenWestwoodWriting Thanks Kieren! I found out about her from you. I started with station eleven after you highlighted her use of a “flash forward.” I’ve bought all of her books, except for the first, and they are lined up to be read. I tend to buy second hand where I can, but I am finding it hard to find a decently priced copy. I found the Lola Quartet to be a bit of a master class in how to engage a reader who needs to know more. Not a lot happens, but it’s so well written and hooks you with a few details and unanswered questions right from the start that your along for the whole ride. Thanks for all your uploads.
9:06......I'm pleased to see free writing is the first exercise you suggest. Its absolutely invaluable I find. I do however approach it a little differently. When I write whatever I want, I do so using my already established characters. I'll put them somewhere, it can be two of the senior members of the group, having a random conversation about a particular event in X country, or the intended plan to make a move to install a more favourable regime in Y region etc - all in the comfy surroundings of a private members club haha. It might be one of the analysts working on a particular assignment, and I'll use the opportunity to just dig into the characters mind and let them speak to me. Its undoubtedly one of the best ways I have found to flesh out my characters and create something much more real. Even my main antagonist to my novel, he's not a cardboard cutout. I've delved into him deeply, given him a legitimate grievance and fleshed him out - dare I say I might have put a bit more work into developing him than my actual main character. Free writing is one of the best things a writer can do, and for me it even works well to plant the seeds for future novels I intend to write with the same characters. At the risk of rambling further, I'll stop here :D
@@KierenWestwoodWriting Yeah it can - I think on some subconscious level, I always have some idea of what I want to play with narrative wise. As I say, I've had a few instances where its actually led to something much bigger that has blossomed into an idea for other books with the same characters. I find it helps prevent my writing from getting rusty/stale also. I used to struggle with long procrastination periods where I would literally go several months and only have half a chapter written. It then becomes counter productive because as a writer you KNOW you're supposed to be writing, but then you fear the quality of what you are going to write so you procrastinate even more and avoid the issue. THIS then bleeds into mentally beating yourself up for the aforementioned lack of action and it just becomes a cycle of procrastination and self irritation haha! I'm fortunate to have a work from home job at the moment, so if work isn't too busy I can write too which is a huge plus. Last night I couldn't sleep and my sleeping pattern was all to pot. I ended up finally just getting up close to 4am, putting on a fresh cup of coffee and sitting down at my keyboard. A couple of hours later I had just over 800 words written - yes not a lot but progress is progress. I'v since done a bit more writing today, time allowing, and I'm feeling good :)
For the second exercise, I wrote a conversation between Tyrion Lannister and Kaladin from the Stormlight Archive. I'd never have thought to write something like that without your prompt, but was pleasantly surprised by the amount of things they could talk about.
I want to finally write a book because I enjoy creating stories. Some of the stories I want to write are adventures that I wish I had in table top RPGs, but didn't have the opportunity due to sometimes not having a group to play with, and when I did, the kinds of stories I wanted to play in and the mood of the game were not what the GM or players were creating so I just want to create my own stories that I have control over what happens in the plot and what kinds of characters are the story.
Thank you. I've been struggling with my inner critic and I just felt like I didn't knew enough to write a story. These exercises really helped me lower the stakes to something more reasonable.
Thank you very much, dude! I've been thinking to start writing for years and I've been watching videos about writing and story every day these last few weeks, I've even read Stephen King's book On Writing during this time but I've never actually started putting words on the page untill this very video. The hardest part for me, I feel, is coming up with something to say, especially an idea 'worth' saying, that's what probably freezes me the most. Paradoxically on the last exercise I've encounter the least difficulty on that front.
That's always a hard part I think. It tends to help me if I remember that I can find that 'meaning' and that thing that's worth saying along the way. It doesn't have to be all figured out upfront. Sometimes you don't know what you want to say until you start. Also, some stories are just stories and they're fun or they're sad or they're exciting and that's all, and that's fine too!
I wrote every chance i got since my passion grew in middle school. Whether i had homework, in the middle of classes, during lunch, even just in between breaks in matching band. Then i decided to go to college, which i did learn a lot of intricate meaning of themes and metaphors, etc. But i think it really messed me up cause now all i can do is think critically, like my self editor came in and is critiquing everything i wrote harshly. It takes months just to write something i like, and it feels like I'm trapped in the plotting stage cause otherwise, i feel like I'm lost in a never-ending maze. I'm just sad i can't write whatever i wanted, like when i first started, to not be afraid I'm putting in something wrong/stupid/bad for the story and characters. I just want to finish the first book and become a full-time author!
Definitely :) It's mad how three minutes can feel a lot different in something like this, to scrolling on your phone. It's almost worth doing just for a few moments of peace! :D
Thank you for making this video! I tend to become very absorbed in trying to make what I'm writing about sound finalized, or close to it, so I end up spending too much time working out the minor details instead of just writing. This video has helped push me to just write down the ideas without worrying too much about how I want every moment to come across. Example: It's very easy for me to get caught up with writing things like "he inquired," or "she cried out in exasperation." If these things come to mind, great. But I have a nasty habit of actively trying to come up with those statements after a character's dialogue, which kills my progress. So I'm just going to start writing "he said" just so I can move on with the story. Also, subconsciously trying to make things overly wordy for a first draft. That's a thing with me too. 😅
I can understand those things popping up, it’s really hard to engage your creative mind when you’re writing but at the same time also limit it and stop it running away with things!
Thank you so much for these amazing videos. I have been writing for a little over 3 years, have finally completed my first manuscript and am working on a line edit before sending to beta readers. The sentence level edit is really hard and of late when I reread or edit my work, it feels like I’ve written a big pile of horse poop 💩 and it will never be good enough. But your words of encouragement have made me feel much better. Your videos give people hope, so thank you so much 😃
I know that feeling! It's crazy how you can feel so differently about your own work depending on exactly when you read it, too. It's very inconsistent for me. Just got to roll with it I suppose!
My problem is with world building. There are certain aspects of the story that will change if I change certain rules to the world. So I go back and forth trying to figure out what would be best. And for me, I can't start writing until I have a good idea of how things work. It's frustrating.
I've just discovered your channel and I am really enjoying your videos. Thank you so much for all the valuable advice you have been sharing. I am going to be 50 next year and I always wanted to write stories, so there is no time better than now! Have you ever considered creating a discord channel to create a community around writers? I also use VR and there is this VR software called VRChat where people can meet like in real life and talk. It would be great to hang out with you and others to talk about this passion of ours that is writing :) Greetings :)
My problem when it comes to writing is the framework, so I won't get distracted because I already had a few blogs and have a lot of patience when writing but I don't know how to stop writing and I always end up with too long articles that are just painful to read. 😅
I decided i wanted to write a book when i was 32, It has always been a dream of mine... Role forward to age 44 and I am still procrastinating. How do I get my arse in gear? I've lost so many years from not starting.
The constant fear in the back of my head is that whatever I write isn’t original. Everything has been done before and thinking my version of it could be as good than what’s already out there is absurd. 😔
I can understand that, I've felt like that too, but you're not considering something really important... You! The unique part of what you write comes from you. There may be many similar stories out there, art influences art, and stories influence stories, we can't help that. Things will echo each other, but the writer is what makes the difference. There's a 0% chance that you've got nothing of value to add to the world. It's impossible. You'll write a story in a way that nobody else will. If you can learn to love that about yourself and to lean into your style and the personality of your work, that's where you'll start to flourish. You don't have to change the world, or write the best story ever for it to have value. Be your own best ally, support yourself and your writing will flourish. You can do it, and if you can't do it today, comeback tomorrow and the next day and you'll get there!
