I can't write!

I want to write but I suck.

• Practise with writing fanfiction. Lovers of fanfiction read anything and they will tell you exactly what they think of your writing

• You can write. You just don't know how to tell a story.

• Honestly? Read lots of novels. Worked for me.

• Op write something and give us a sample

• How do you learn to write dialogue? I've written short stories and non-fiction aricles but when I've tried to write a play it is just awful.

  not op but can relate

• R5 Scripts. Go to the link.

  http://www.imsdb.com/

• [quote]How do you learn to write dialogue? Listen.

• Sucking is what will get you ahead, OP!

• Read a Bart Yates book and pay very close attention to the descriptions and dialogue. That's how to write.

• Never stopped me, OP.

  Dustin%20Lance%20Black

• Writing is listening. The big secret, once you get enough experience, is, you aren't crafting every word and sentence, you are hearing them and recording them. Writing is imitation. Read a ton of scripts. Discover what you like. Discover what you want to imitate. Imitate it.. Do it enough, and well enough, and you will have a career. You might just improve on it. Writing is gossip. That is, seriously, the best shortcut I can give you. Any big successful story is just gossip. It's something you would tell a friend at lunch. "Omigod did you hear about Hamlet? His uncle killed his dad and married his mom. Seriously." Learn the contours and pleasures of gossip. Practice gossiping. Take any script you are thinking of writing, and rehearse it as a piece of gossip. It's the best technique I have for kicking the tires on something I want to write.

  Hope%20this%20helps.

• "Lovers of fanfiction read anything and they will tell you exactly what they think of your writing" No, they'll tell you that your story is great, and could you please read their stories and leave positive reviews? Because they just left YOU a positive review.

  Been there

• With writing, the more you do it, the better you get AND that writing is actually revision. You should not expect yourself to write beautifully the first go round. Just getting it down is more important during the first couple of drafts. Writing crap is acceptable and okay. You make it better in revision. So just write every day. But it has to be every day, or.you simply won't improve.

• Gee you guys are good! I think I've learned more from this thread than I would have in the writing classes I was considering taking.

  op%2C%20loving%20the%20DL

• Just the facts, man. Trying too hard.

• OP, perhaps you could write and suck at different times?

  Walken Chewgum

• *Write about what you know.  Don't  tackle a subject or set it in a time and place of which you are unfamiliar, unless you are willing to do a lot of research first (although research can be very enjoyable). *Read as much as you can with a critical eye.  Ask yourself what about the writing you like/dislike, what is compelling/uninteresting. *Kurt Vonnegut put together a short list on the keys to creative writing. The link is below.

  http://www.writingclasses.com/InformationPages/index.php/PageID/538

• I find it harder to think in terms of writing plays than short stories or articles. Any tips on how to think in terms of writing a play?

• thanks for the script link, R6

• Write about "what you know" but do not write about yourself. Write about people you love, but never imagine the hero as yourself.

  R11

• R18 Remember that dialog sounds just like conversation, but it must advance plot and tell us about character as well.

• Stick to sucking, the money is better.