What's Your Thinking Style?

Often, when teaching creative writing, this is the first question I ask.

Why is it so important?

I think that your thinking style sets out how you will write, the difficulties you will face, and knowing what style you think in will enhance your writing.

But what do I mean, by thinking style? Well, let me ask you another question!

• Do you think in pictures?
• Do you have a voice in the back of your head?
• Do you see pictures AND hear sounds?
• Do you simply feel things?
  

• People who are pure visual thinkers will often freeze the moment the nib of the pen touches the paper.
• Auditory thinkers will often write too much.
• People who think in many styles will, depending on what mood they're in, write better or worse...
• Kinaesthetic thinkers won't write unless they "feel" like it!
• 
  

So what difference does this possibly make? Why it makes all the difference in the world.

It will dictate whether or not you're geared for:

• Poetry
• Plays
• Short-stories
• Comic Books
• Screenplays
• Novels

Which do you think favours visual thinking?
Which favours auditory thinking?

You don't need to be a genius to work this out.

And if you were a little confused, why are screenplays so different from theatre plays? Why, it's because they're more visual.

OK, you say, I know what style I have, but how can I improve my writing?

Good question! Now you're thinking!

ZHZ. 

The End in Mind

This is the one thing that if you do it, it makes all the difference in attaining your goals:

Visualise the end.

See it

Hear it

Feel it

Writing goals and aims down is brilliant, but also inscribe them, etch them into your mind and go over them again and again, daily, weekly, but visualise them, in fact I would suggest you:

Draw them

Paint them

The more vividly you see, hear and feel your goal, the more tangible, the more likely you are to achieve it, so go and dream and make them real.

ZHZ. 

What Do All Writers Have in Common?

There's one thing, one thing alone all writers have in common.

It comes before a writer becomes...a writer. And it follows ever after.


It is a sort of being.


And in this being and fulfillment and song and motion the parameters are set for all the things that a writer will become later on.


Before a writer becomes a writer, they are first a

reader.


So read and read and read

And then perhaps you can write and write and write.

ZHZ. 

Editing: Super Tips

Dear Writer,



here are some golden tips for shaping your writing, whether you're polishing a short story or a fifty book series:

1. Remove dialogue tags such as "said" - most of these are redundant or to put it another way, dialogue should speak for itself.

2. Delete weasle words such as:

• very
• little
• pretty
• really
• almost
• seem
• even
• that
• up/down
• in/out
• tried to...
• reached...

3. Use positive terms, not negatives e.g. instead of "he didn't come" write "he was absent".

4. Use concrete nouns. Stay away from the abstract.

5. Remove as many words ending in -ly.

6. Remove as many -ing words as you can.

7. Construct "active" sentences - not passive. If you notice yourself writing something like, "he was thrown by the horse", switch the sentence round to, "the horse threw him".

8. Reduce the number of adjectives.

9. Avoid prepositional phrases.

10. Show don't tell, that is, paint a picture, show me what you see, hear, feel and I'll become you. If you don't you'll just bore me.

Print this small list off and I guarantee you this, by following these guidelines you'll add zing to your writing.

ZHZ. 

A Writer's Life: 16th July 2008

So where am I today in my wordsmithery? Well, I'd say I'm in the middle of lots of projects:

1. I'm writing the follow-up to the The Curry Mile .
2. I'm working on drafting my first screenplay...big budget.
3. I'm thought-showering another screenplay...small budget
4. I'm planning the next edit of a children's book

I've been in the process of moving house for the last couple of months which has meant everything's been up in the ether.

I write regularly, but changing my writing space has has affected my work and it is only today that I'm in a position to say that, "Zahid, I'm back on track, welcome back!"

Oh, it's good to be yourself ;)

ZHZ.