I'm a veteran of many writing classes and I've learned that there are two pieces of advice I can count on hearing on any class: "Write what you know" and "Write what scares you". Both seem simple on the surface but can be anything but simple when it comes to putting them into your work.

 

This isn't about facing your writing fears (that's a topic for another day), but literally writing about what scares you. Like zombies and vampires, you ask? Well, those are extremely popular now, but I'm thinking a little more realistically. Take a minute and think about what scares you. Public speaking. Losing your job. The 3am phone call letting you know a family member is in the hospital (or worse). Focusing more tightly, fears can be more pedestrian, but no less crippling in the moment. Overcooking the roast when you're trying to impress guests. Hoping your thrifty significant other won't notice you went a little nuts at the bookstore. Having to keep a secret that you're dying to share.

A few years ago I read the entire Dune series (all 6 books) over the course of several months. It was a major undertaking, even for a committed science fiction fan like myself, and as much as I loved the stories, I needed a break from Dune for a bit. A few years ago, Kevin J. Anderson teamed up with Frank Herbert's son, Brian, to continue the Dune vision. They pored over Frank Herbert's notes and came up with a new series of books which started with Dune: House Atreides. Enough time has passed since I read the original books, so I figured it was time to give the new ones a go. I'm about 500 pages into Atreides and, while I'm generally enjoying it, I keep getting jolted out of the story by turns of phrase and bits of character description that don't jive with what I remember of Dune.

The tip...(Still)...: "Broadly speaking, the more intimate the point of view, the better. One of the most vital and difficult tasks facing a writer is creating believable and engaging characters, and an intimate point of view is a terrific way to do this. When you use your characters' language in your descriptions, you not only convey the sights and sounds around them, you also convey their history, their education, and the culture they live in, without any additional effort." (Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, p50)

The tip: “Broadly speaking, the more intimate the point of view, the better. One of the most vital and difficult tasks facing a writer is creating believable and engaging characters, and an intimate point of view is a terrific way to do this. When you use your characters’ language in your descriptions, you not only convey the sights and sounds around them, you also convey their history, their education, and the culture they live in, without any additional effort.” (Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, p50)

"When you present your readers with already-arrived-at conclusions about your characters, you leave your readers with nothing to do, and passive readers are at best unengaged and at worst bored. You need to let your readers take an active role in the writer-reader partnership to draw them into your story." (Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, p30)

Ross's Take: One thing that really made an impact on me early in my training with TED was the importance of leaving some things to readers' imaginations.