Ten Weird Writing Tips That Actually Work

Here are ten unusual writing tips that I like to use. Let me know your fav, or share one of your own!
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[@TimbrrWolfe]

"I won't tell you what names I use when I want to like a character less but there are a few in rotation" 😂

[@AlleyBurke]

Hmm… I wOnDeR wHaT tHe NaMe Is?

[@sock356]

I see you are looking to be a writer well you should learn for a master like myself I'm Edward wartson a professional writer so I will help you just think about the world and realize it's all a story and you can change the world well no I can change the world because It's my job as a history writer you cannot because you couldn't make a story but maybe you can with my help.

[@meatbleed]

@@sock356 what a comment

[@TNcFlipbook]

♥♥

[@aurin_komak]

@@meatbleed definitely one of the comments ever

[@jessicam.g.8529]

A list, because I like lists: 1.Temporarily change the name of a character with the name of someone you like or dislike to imagine them more complexly. 2.Cut the last thing you wrote as extra words often make it weaker. 3.Stop writing while you still have ideas to have a starting point for the next writing session. 4.Print your manuscript for proofreading, as having a physical copy makes it easier to spot mistakes. 5.Keep sentence-long summaries of your scenes as you write them. 6.Keep a list of topics, ideas--- to follow up later 7.Keep a list of problems for revisions, instead of stopping to fix them while drafting. 8.Sumarize problem parragraphs 9.Swap scenes with a writing partner 10.enter your character's brain.

[@susanscott8653]

I was actually told No. 3 by a writing tutor years ago. He expressed it as leaving a thread for you to pull in your next session. No. 4: I can vouch for this one myself. I can't proofread from the screen to save myself 🙄. Reading it aloud helps too, but whether you would want to do that with a whole novel, I don't know...🤔. Not a tip exactly, but I wish I had developed a regular writing routine when I was young. Much harder when you are older I think. 😕

[@griffinrorcrafts]

Thank you!

[@TNcFlipbook]

♥♥

[@luamaral4333]

Thank you! I also like lists so you saved me some work

[@katgreer6113]

Just use something to read your draft out loud. You can literally HEAR your mistakes, rather than your eyes skipping over words. No need to waste ink or paper here folks.

[@yunnazee]

My favorite writing hack is acting out the scenes, I know its super weird but I'm a D&D and LARPER so acting out the scenes to see if they flow well before I write them actually helps me work through plot problems I hadn't thought of while typing up the outline. If you are comfortable acting weird its actually super helpful.

[@Jo-dk9my]

Me too 😂 I wonder if my neighbors are worried…sometimes I’ll just be jumping around and sword fighting an invisible wall

[@EmmaBennetAuthor]

That’s such a great idea!

[@itz_leequirrielexlaflamant2091]

That idea is perfect. I do that too

[@lunaraydue1340]

Once I grabbed a friend and pantomimed a scene of choking them on the floor and then being hit off with a bottle so I could better picture how the scene would play out 🤣

[@EmmaBennetAuthor]

@@lunaraydue1340 omg!

[@edenmckinley3472]

My weird writing tips: 1. listen to music. A ton of music. Three hour How To Train Your Dragon ambience loop has got the creative juices flowing multiple times. Once, I listened to Hurt by Nine Inch Nails for four hours while I wrote a particularly sad scene. I can now sing it from memory. 2. have several documents open on my computer so I can work on another story or look up notes if current story isn't going well. 3. write a poem about how the character is feeling, an element of the world, or a cultural attitude of a made-up culture. Once, I even wrote a love poem from one character to another to cement their relationship in my mind. (My sister read it and pestered me to include it in my book, but I am less confident in my poetry skills than I am in my prose skills.) Poetry never fails to cut to the emotional heart of the subject, whereas prose can get mushy. 4. eat an apple at the beginning of my writing session. Apples are my favorite food, they're nutrisious, and the physical catharsis of chewing something helps my thought process. I also like to have a cold drink on hand to sip throughout. 5. If I need time to think or if the plot is stuck, I go for a walk in the park across the street. I get in twenty minutes of exercise so no one can accuse me of sitting on my butt all day, and pacing helps me think. 6. I often delete the first thing I said rather than the last. Especially in inner monologues, I work up to the point through several sentences, fleshing out the idea, then delete the often weak, unnecessary beginning sentences. 7. write unnecessary scenes in a separate document. These scenes may not even be included in the book. It could be the MC on their deathbed surrounded by grandchildren, it could be a scene of a group of friends playing volleyball or the MC's first date from the POV of the love interest. It helps me understand the character if I know their life outside what happens in the book. I know that the MC can cook nothing but eggs and oatmeal, I know that he will have six dogs who know him only as "Daddy", I know that his future wife will have a miscarriage at age 37, triggering the only real argument the two of them will ever have. It's small details like that which make the character feel like a living being who has a life beyond the story.

[@sydneyperson1336]

u should start a youtube channel

[@lani490]

I like the way your mind works

[@shlafrock2175]

Nice ✨✨

[@TNcFlipbook]

♥♥

[@Christian-97]

5 surprisingly helps me a lot. I take walks when I write, it gets the creative energy flowing.

[@NateMonoxide]

The best tip I've ever heard is "don't tell anyone about what you're planning to write. Tell them once it's done". Something about getting people's reactions before any of the work is done means you're far less likely to see the project through. It rings true as well, since all the people I know who often mention they're 'writing a book' have been working on the same thing for upwards of a decade with little to show for it. There was a psychological study that pretty much reinforced the idea too.

[@heycj]

Yeah, there was this one book I was writing a few years ago, when I first started writing, I told all my friends I was writing a book. I eventually had to stop working on it because the pressure that they all knew what I was writing weighed VERY heavily on my shoulders. It was definitely all psychological though, and since then I only tell people I wrote a book when it's done.

[@Kephy_]

Especially your parents... I told my mother and she is asking every week if I finished bruuuuh

[@samwallaceart288]

I've been outlining my graphic novel series for 3 years now in the background of just living life normally and developing myself as a person. Haven't told a soul. It's something I probably won't finish anytime soon; the subject matter is something I'm passionate about but is even more personal for other people; I know for a fact there are things I haven't got right yet, that I wouldn't want put out in their current state. I need to find the right version of this story and be very careful not to fuck it up just because I felt pressured to finish it by an arbitrary deadline. I'm not in writer's block, it's been intensely rewarding but exhausting to work through this story and I get new ideas every day; I'm not holding off on actually producing it because I'm scared or unable, but because I know the story isn't matured yet and I want to do this one justice.

[@chesspiece4257]

if you’re like me and feel the need to ramble about your plot points to get them straight in your head, try this: “it’s just for fun.” or “i’m just planning it, not writing it.” (don’t lie, obviously, but you can totally convince yourself it’s not gonna happen right up until you start writing it.) and then you tell no one you’ve actually started writing it until you’re finished. it’s also great because if it’s an Offical Project™ people will critique it but not offer any decisions because they don’t want to step on your toes. if it’s just for fun, they’ll mention cool ideas, and have lower standards when it comes to critiquing it.

[@taewoods2034]

Yep took me a while to realize it. But Andrew Huberman pretty much explains it.

[@Buffy8Fan]

Writing tips that aren't just the standard ones you hear everywhere. 😁

[@HannahLeeKidder]

🙌🙌🙌🙌

[@thursoberwick1948]

@@HannahLeeKidderSeconded. Thank you for *original* content.

[@celtictarotreadings333]

It’s so refreshing to hear something new. I get tired of the same boring advice

[@lukasz96]

If thousands of trained and professional writers keep repeating the same 5 tips, it's you, not them. Maybe that's it, huh. All you need to understand. But instead you waste time watching some self-centred ytber who didn't publish shit besides some short stories. Could it be because her alternative and "original" tips suck? 🤔 I mean, if her tips are soooo great that a video needed to be made, surely she's a best-selling author with multilple hits, right? It's sad. You start researching, hope to not waste time, and yet, apparently, most of the tips on the internet are some ridiculously bad fanfic circlejerks. Sigh. "Original" in this case means "I don't want to learn the hard stuff, I don't understand what I am doing but somehow I still think that whatever I will come up with is just... better". 🤑🤢 Have some standarts...

[@bonnietelocole6777]

​@@lukasz96have you considered that everyone is unique, and what works for you might not work for them? For example, I'm working on 3 projects at the same time while watching videos and thinking of ideas for my handful of other projects. I thrive in this chaos because it's how I function, but I know there are people who would never be able to function in such chaos, because that's them and how they are. 7.8 billion people on this planet, never expect everyone to agree on anything. Including whether or not professional advice helps them.

[@cjpreach]

MY FAVE WEIRD WRITING HACK. I love to brainstorm characters and plot by taking several sheets of printer paper, laying them out on the table, and putting a circle (which represents a character) in the middle of each page. One for my MC, and others are for supporting characters. I draw a relationship web on each page that shows each individual's CHARACTERISTICS, as well as the ACTIVITIES, BACK STORY, DIRTY SECRET and INTERACTIONS each character has with all the others. The whole story comes to life in the scribbles. P.S. I know all this is supposed to be possible with Scrivener, and other programs, but I can't visualize my story on the computer screen.

[@HannahLeeKidder]

Sometime pen and paper just hit different!

[@Onajourney519]

I know I always go back to pen and paper! But the issue is I can't read my own handwriting haha

[@carolinea5201]

@@Onajourney519 I tried something similar with a new program that popped up on my MacBook in recent months, it's called Freeform. I can draw boxes, and add text, and insert photos. It's a cool way to make a mind map!

[@mariayates8625]

"writers just don't know how to shut up." TRUE!! I have used this tip so much and it almost always makes my prose (or any other writing for that matter) cleaner.

[@HannahLeeKidder]

It is so true!!! One time I reached over my friend's keyboard and deleted the last paragraph of her story and she read it back and GASPED. If you've been staring at a story trying to figure out what's wrong with it, it's Almost Always that it needs a trim

[@sorinstudies]

I think this is the best advice I've gotten about writing. My college English professor once told the class that when you don't know what to write, just put you thoughts down on the page. For example, you could write "I don't know what to write but I want to say __ and this is the direction I want to go." This has really helped me as I write a lot of argumentive research papers and I need to get my argument across clearly and effectively. But, I think this could really help if you were writing a novel or poem as well.

[@HannahLeeKidder]

Yeah, I had a poetry professor tell me the same! We would do writing sessions in class where we weren't allowed to have a still pen. It's a great exercise!

[@RaptorsCantSwim]

My favourite writing tip is using your story/ main plot as a plot for a tabletop roleplay, like DnD. Seeing other people's interactions with your characters or plot (or world, if it's fantasy) is an eye-opener for all angles of the story. Everything from pitfalls to solutions. Seeing your friend's reactions when their shenanigans make it into your book is also a lot of fun. 😅

[@jacksonkerr2095]

That is a really cool idea! I have played RPGs from time to time, and it has brought out some spontaneous (and hilarious) moments. The one time I tried to GM, my outline for the episode was more like a script than a regular plan for a session. It certainly gave me out into the different kinds of writing and how they function.

[@RaptorsCantSwim]

@@jacksonkerr2095 It is eye-opening, indeed. I always recommend people to try and write different things and different formats. Sometimes trying to imagine a scene in your book as a scene in a movie or on a stage can change your perspective completely. Also writing in different styles, such as writing the outline of the story as if it were a fairytale or imagining it as a comic panel can be helpful, should one have fallen into a block of some sort.

[@CdFMasterVideo]

I wouldn't be surprised if that was how the script of the DnD movie was written!

[@M1dn1ghtF0x]

this isn't just helpful for writign, but also fun to do with friends when you're all bored in a room xD

[@stefo66]

Tip 8 is it, my writing increased both in quality and quantity when I realised that what you write doesnt have to be "good" it just had to be writing - you can then just go back and fix it later, but also sometimes what you thought was rough and garbage sometimes actually turns out to be alright. It's better to get a draft down however bad it is and just fix it after the fact

[@rickcoona]

I find using Text-To-Speech helpful for not only spotting typos, but catching text that may "Look" like it works but when read aloud don't sound right. making it an easy fix. I also sit down and interview my characters like picturing meeting them in a coffee shop and sitting down and asking them about their life, history, and loves it makes them much more Dynamic because they will tell you things about their life you had No idea about

[@timtrottproductions]

writing for reading and writing for talking are not constructed the same way.

[@rickcoona]

@@timtrottproductions no, but it DOES help find typos and you may find that something may look good written, but when you read it out loud, or use a text-to- speech program, you discover the error in your prose. consider it a useful tool, rather than just reading it out loud.😺

[@franceskirsch9906]

100% Text to speech has been immensely useful for me in the editing process.

[@hey_its_jj]

I don’t write my book in order. Ik weird right? If I have a chapter that has something significant, like a death or plot twist, my brain gets the ideas and if I don’t write it out I will loose the idea before I get to that part in my book. I have used this for my novel I am currently working on and I have been going strong 😊🎉

[@thursoberwick1948]

I often write the end towards the start of my project. This is because it keeps it fresh and gives me something to aim for.

[@khall3131]

I don't write in order, either. I tend to write the opening scene first but then I'll move on to other important plot points in the order that I think of them. I may have a bunch of ideas for how a scene should go but if I waited until I had written everything that comes before it, I'd forget my ideas before I had a chance to write them down. I tend to write the beginning, then the end, then the middle. It makes sense to me because if I know where I'm starting and where I want to end, I can figure out how to make the journey from point A to point B.

[@lesliewells1062]

Some writers write the ending, and then go back to the beginning and everything they write works towards that ending. I like your way of doing it!!

[@hey_its_jj]

@@lesliewells1062 awww Ty ur too kind 😊

[@TNcFlipbook]

♥♥

[@paneljump]

+1 on the 1-sentence summary, and here's a trick if you're using G-docs/Word/similar: 1. imbed that sentence at the top of the scene within the document 2. give that sentence a "heading" rather than "paragraph" formatting 3. (optional) make the imbedded heading text white or very light gray (so it isn't annoying) 4. add a Table of Contents at the top of your doc Doing this keeps the summary synced with the manuscript, automatically provides hotlinks to let you navigate to the scene, and displays page count. NovelPad is better, especially if you're messy, but gdocs are free.

[@dokida]

these tips are SOOOO GOOD hannah. i have one too! something that really humanizes characters i'm struggling with is imagining the kind of music they really like, or grew up with. this might be super specific to my personal experience (and my slightly unhealthy obsession with finding and organizing new music into genre playlists), but i find that the music we listen to says a lot about us, and listening to artists that my character would listen to is a really easy way for me to really sink into their psyche. i like making lil character mixtapes, so i can swap between several different ones based on who i'm focusing on or what part of the story i'm at. it makes me happy to see you on youtube still after all these years

[@edenmckinley3472]

Oh, I do that too! I make playlists for certain characters, stories, or scenes that have a particular mood. Really helps me get in the mood.

[@StraightBananaAction]

This is an awesome idea thank you

[@shieldgenerator7]

im writing a story this month that was literally inspired by a song i listened to, and i actively listen to it while im writing the story

[@philcollinslover56705]

awesome i might use that. i can draw, but cant write for shit

[@lesliewells1062]

I love that idea! And I started thinking, what about the movies and books and decor styles they would like. I love it!

[@Sally-vk9yw]

a good tip is to try put something i’ve experienced whether it’s an event or emotion in my novel because it makes it more personal and of course its easier to write about something you’ve experienced. Even if it’s something like love, loss, betrayal etc. I wrote a story where one of the side characters were in a really toxic friendship which was something i had just experienced and it was so easy to describe how they felt so useless and they put up with all the comments their toxic friend gave them and how they were there for their friend but the friend was never there for them. it turned out really well and it didn’t take much effort to try put myself in the characters shoes since it was something i had experienced firsthand. It was sort of just writing what i had felt at the time. So yeah i would definitely put something personal in my writing 💕💕

[@shlafrock2175]

I hope for your better future and relationships 💪

[@TNcFlipbook]

♥♥

[@kiterafrey]

Switching colors of the font is very helpful too. As a professional editor, I learned that trick. I use it in my own writing now. I have a color for rough draft, a color for paragraph by paragraph rewrites, and a color for first round of copy edits. Then after doing developmental edits I repeat the process. For me, not everyone but for me, color stands out more for me than font.

[@KaiInMotion]

A fun one I've been getting a lot of miles out of recently is to write a scene as just dialogue, write the convos out as a kind of loosely-resembling-a-script format and then going back in and adding dialogue tags and details and other prose afterwards. Only when I know the convo itself is the core focus of the scene and needs to pack the most punch. It helps maintain the flow of the convo instead of distracting me from the interaction.

[@rowan404]

#10 is how I do most of my writing. Instead of writing the scenes in order, I write a scene that matches my current mood, situations occupying my mind, etc. It is both cathartic _and_ productive!

[@s.rtilly5822]

My writing hack I just made for my shitty memory: When outlining (which I recommend everyone learn to do in some format or another), there are little nuances or details that are referenced like "They go to this hidden place and found so-and-so's spellbook." - if this is a newer concept for the novel, I may actually make a footnote (as I write my outlines in google docs before working in Novelpad (link in the description)) on the hidden place and the spell book. This helps in a few ways. 1) Making a footnote makes you think of the thing and thus you may remember it more. 2) Footnotes are non-intrusive. I can skim past that little number if I know what the reference is. 3) If I forgot, the reference is there, in detail, but away from the section itself so it's not clogging up the flow of the point. This may be excessive but that's what I need lol I also color code the names of every character in my outline. It's a great visual to see if a scene is too crowded or chaotic or if too many people are mentioned (info dumpy scenes).

[@Arkylie]

I use the comments feature on Google docs much like you use footnotes. Also for anything I delete while rephrasing -- should I need to undo it later, or work part of it back in, it's right there, and it quiets the part of my brain that freaks out about losing things.

[@nikkinewbie6014]

Good ideas. Thanks to you both!

[@jestypop8698]

not sure if its that weird but one thats really surprised me is how changing my location can really impact my writing. i just spent a day sitting at the computer not getting anything substantial down but sitting on my kitchen counter with google docs pulled up i just wrote a ton more than i expected. just finding somewhere different to be (even better if it matches the vibe your writing) has done wonders for me

[@lovelylost4649]

Tips I have found helpful: 1) Find sounds that match the setting or songs that inspire a scene on repeat, keeps you focused and can write for much longer without losing focus 2) Writing prompts can sometimes help with world building. Some of my best breakthroughs happened while testing out a prompt and changing the tone from what I have been writing.

[@johnpublic1623]

With number 4, I like to use the document audio feature to read it back to me. My eyes will miss the error but the audio playback will not. It will help find clunky parts that sound great in my head until I hear it.

[@TimbrrWolfe]

I've actually done the second tip a few times after you mentioned something similar previously and it really does work out sometimes to just....chop the last bit off. Authors do be Unleashing Words, and sometimes they gotta be reined in.

[@lajourdanne]

That assertive yet monotone "don't leave" was fantastic 😂. Subscribed!

[@starlitbri]

i have a couple of weirdish tips (note i use google docs to write so these aren't going to be relevant for everyone): 1. put everything in different areas, so like one place for your outline, another for a thought dump, your draft, etc. because it makes it easier to find stuff (like you only have to scroll through three pages of your thought dump instead of like 100+ pages of that, your outline, edits, and your draft for one random background tidbit you need) 2. outline your draft before you revise! i like to read through my draft and comment my edits (like if a scene goes too long, i'll comment "have A leave at *moment* and end scene") then i'll outline again with my edits added in that way i don't have to go through 100+ comments and my previous draft when revising. Also, you can work out plot holes, arcs, etc. in the new outline instead of when you're trying to write 3. if you don't have a writer friend to swap scenes or ideas with, ask a friend you like and trust for help. i got stuck on reincorporating a sub plot because i made story changes that made introducing this sub plot hard, so i asked my friend if she was up with helping me and she gave me a bunch of ways to add it in and ideas for other issues and stuff for that story. honestly, i love talking with my friends (non-writers and writers) about my writing issues because they always hype up my ideas or suggest something that adds so much more to my story where i can't imagine it without that suggestion 🥰

[@esztervizhanyo1708]

3rd one is so fun! Friend who don't write but read a lot are really good editors!

[@2boston.m.a610]

(Mainly for drafting a poem, but can be used for fiction.) I'll make a packet of poems by other writers that share something in common--image, form, syntax, etc.--and outline the approaches to how each poem develops based off of that. Then, I'll make myself an assignment from those outlines--e.g., "write a poem that is six stanzas long, use a made up word as a verb, an image of a swan must appear in either the third or sixth stanza, and must use the line 'suppose you do change your life. Now what?'" Or, I'll make a cento from those packets. Either way, keeps me reading and thinking about writing.

[@alousnamer]

Good tips! It's always about how to sustain the 'keep going' phase until you have a 2nd or 3rd draft that can go out to betas, imo. I also have found a ton of use going into 'summary' mode for scenes I don't have as crystalized in my head. I think about it when I'm doing a Zero Draft as writing either 'narrative' or 'treatment' and just flipping between them as needed and making little notations for myself when I run into an issue. I've consistently found that your story will shape itself through that first draft no matter how much you try to outline and pre-plan, so it's critical to push through that to the end and these were great tips for that!

[@dameanvil]

00:27 📚 Create complex characters by temporarily renaming them after real people you like/dislike to gain fresh perspective. 01:10 🖊️ Consider cutting the last section of your writing to maintain focus and strengthen your point. 01:39 🧠 Stop writing while you still have ideas to ensure a productive next session. 02:20 📖 Print your manuscript for proofreading to spot mistakes more easily. 02:47 📝 Keep sentence-long summaries of scenes to create an outline as you write. 03:28 💡 Maintain a list of topic ideas to passively generate content for short stories, poems, blogs, etc. 03:56 🗒️ Make a list of problems in your longer project for later revisions rather than interrupting your flow. 04:54 📝 Summarize paragraphs to maintain momentum, then fill in details later. 06:03 ✍️ Swap scenes with a writing partner to gain fresh perspective and ideas. 06:59 🧘‍♂️ Get in your character's head by writing about something you're personally going through.

[@BrookeLewisballerinagirl]

These are some great tips!! One tip that I’ve used is to have a notebook or separate place to write ideas down. I use a notebook dedicated solely to ideas for my novel and I usually start the writing session by scribbling down some ideas and get the creative juices flowing.

[@nikkinewbie6014]

Brain dump. ☺️

[@wanderingbelleasmr1054]

I like to have a document reserved for loose ends and half-baked scenes/ideas. So like if I write a scene that doesn’t end up fitting the mood or whatever but the writing or characterization or dialogue or whatever was super good, I’ll just ctrlX the whole thing into the loose ends doc so I can use it later if I want. I also put brainstorming, scenes from later parts of the story that haven’t connected yet, and occasionally chapter outlines in there. It works well for me, maybe it’d work for you too:) Great tips in this video!♥️

[@kaamn1829]

these tips are legitimately such great tips, I've stumbled across/just started doing so many of them on my own and they've really revolutionized the flow of how I write and made it so much easier to actually get story structures out of me. so I highly recommend all those structure/verbiage ones at least, such as the story/scene summaries, keeping lists of problems and ideas, and so forth. they're really helpful! I can't wait to try out these other ones I haven't before, thanks!

[@cosmo9062]

something I do a lot is write all the dialogue of the scene/chapter first bc it makes the conversations flow a lot better + I find I write a lot more in whatever timeframe I have compared to if I did dialogue-action-dialogue-action

[@barrowc]

Great video, Hannah! I liked the tip about consistent idea generation a lot. I find it too tempting to put lots of time and thought into an idea right away when instead it would do much better if I let it sit for a while first

[@briannafenty4403]

Love these! Whenever I finish up for the day, whether that's finishing a scene or a chapter, I like to write the next sentence or 2 sentences of the next scene or chapter that way I have a jumping off point for the next session. It's SO MUCH LESS INTIMIDATING than staring at a blank page. I also do chapter numbers and titles, and I like to set up the chapter headings and title the chapter at the end of the session before I write it in the next one, because it feels like a little reward (I'm obsessed with titling things).

[@nicodiangelo9810]

Get a candle that matches the theme or mood of your book. Last year I was writing a story set in a forest, and I had a pine candle I burnt through entirely. Also I don't know if it's weird, but if I'm having trouble getting in the head of a character, I just freewrite their thoughts in deep character perspective, so their literal thoughts as narration, no italics, reacting to the world and people around them. Usually it turns into a lot of them complaining about things lmao and it tells me what their mood is. Then I highlight it to delete later and get back into the scene with their mood firmly set in my mind.

[@sophiafenger]

Keeping track of first draft problems (number 7) is soo helpful! I write in Google docs and I'll just comment on my own writing when I'm worried it'll pose a problem later. I know this is interpreting the tip in a slightly different way, but even doing this for life problems too can help clear your mind for writing. If you are struggling to focus on writing because you're thinking about what you need to do later or you want to fact check something you just wrote, write it on a notepad so that it's out of your head and you know you can come back to it. Hannah, I appreciate that you're straight to the point and informative all the way throughout your videos, which is something not every booktuber can say!! Don't worry about the length of your intros :)

[@celestegosling6054]

Thanks for some great tips! I started doing number 7 recently and it has helped to keep my momentum going with writing my novel. I'll be writing and then I'll realise I'm referencing something that I haven't really written much about throughout the rest of the story, but is important, so instead of going back to fix it right then, I'll write a note to fix it in the first round of edits, and just continue my story. I have lots of notes, and little questions to myself in a physical notebook (at the moment). Some are general, but a lot I will put the Scene number next to so I know where I need to look for that issue. I also have a lot of placeholders(e.g. [name], [inn name] etc.) because I don't want to be spending 10 minutes trying to decide on a name for someone or something every time there's a new one.

[@lesliewells1062]

Figuring out names is hard. I have a baby name book that is great and there are lots of lists on line

[@TheDaantje1234]

That's an actually new, to me, list of tips! Very helpful, thank you. This is the first video from you I came across and really enjoy how down-to-earth it seems. I'm following and checking out more of your stuff.

[@emmaalbers6320]

3, 5, and 7 are genuinely fantastic tips I had not thought of! Thank you 🎉

[@dare7782]

I used to be here for just the Twilight Rewrite, but through whatever series of life events I'm now pursuing writing and really appreciate these tips. I love that you include some really unique things.

[@natashatuskovichcoworking]

I recently learned the thing you said here about just asking what the scene needs or what the character is trying to do and just writing it down as notes makes such a difference, and then half the time the notes turn into the scene anyway!

[@ziyanda_theartist]

I love that this found me right now as I'm coming to the end of my novel and thinking about the editing process. Thank you for the tips!!! I really appreciate you mentioning some of these, because I don't hear other people talking about them, like the quick "this character sympathises with this character here..." which I actually do XD

[@Alleyoop1-7Fanfiction]

The sentence-long summaries really do help. I’m starting to include table of contents, and instead of just including the title, I include 1-3 sentences summarizing the main action without giving away spoilers.

[@doctor_eye4553]

Thank you for being so direct, helpful, and still aesthetically pleasing to watch. A lot of tips for writers just go off track and take waaay longer to convey information

[@jonincannon]

Best tip, the situations can be unbelievable as long as the characters react like it happens to them, eg. freaking out if they get in a car accident/ feeling angry if they’re randomly betrayed etc.

[@aquariotutu]

I just listened it while getting ready to college and it's SO GOOD. I'm more an ilustrator than a writer and I must say that your tips shed some light in my art block... thank u xD

[@thecharmedstudio]

Love the hack of cutting out the last sentence or paragraph. I already hack of the first paragraph of almost all my posts and that has really helped. So excited to try this.

[@amandafaganofficial]

Loved these tips! Awesome video. I've been trying to become a lot more disciplined with my creative writing as of late and will definitely put these tips to use. Thanks for making great content :)

[@anthemofink]

These are actually pretty practical advice. I had used something similar to tip number 5 in the past

[@HannahLeeKidder]

idk why this video is popping off but i'm scared, join my mailing list pls view.flodesk.com/pages/60a6adbc8c76bb525a084442

[@swordturtles5401]

Yeah, this was the first result when I looked up writing, but it worked out, thanks for the tips!!

[@ilavalolipop]

Because its extremely helpful!

[@DecoySammy]

First time seeing your channel but this video was really helpful. I hope that other people will find it also. You deserve a sub. And now you've gotten that sub.

[@zephyrias]

I got recommended xD

[@crow_winged_author_kat]

I'm a new author on KZbin, and this video just came up on my feed. I love it!!

[@townsendstephen]

Thank you Hannah. This is great. I also do the bullet point thing for the next session it helped a lot with something like Nanowrimo when you dint have great ideas or flow everyday. I live the hack of using someone who you know as a favourite good or bad character and seagoing out the name in the final draft. I can see how that can help to write with feeling about the character. I am going to use that from now on. I loved the other tips too and have subscribed to your channel because of it. I had not really thought about it before but what you said about your subconscious working on problems naturally throughout the day is so true. And I will look at Novelpad. I have a very complicated way of creating and collecting material for my writing. I need something simpler

[@brunhildevalkyrie9887]

the name changing tip is GENIUS! thank you so much!

[@hornbeam7131]

Great list, tip 7 is golden, I just started doing this myself and it really helps.

[@PhilTravisano]

You are SMART! Good tips. When I wrote my novel many years ago, I literally took 1 year to write about a 24-page outline. When I was done I took a month off work and wrote it start to finish in one continuous flow.

[@brucesheaves7115]

This was really helpful thank you! These are really smart tips that i am so glad i learned

[@StutleyConstable]

I don't know if this qualifies as weird, but I recently started writing conversations between my characters. I may use these scenes in the final draft, or I may just keep them for personal reference. The conversations are always about elements of the story and have proved useful in exploring how the various characters feel about what is going on and what reactions they will have. I have also discovered characters that I would not have thought of, which allows me to fill in plot holes and find different paths for the plot. Another useful thing from these exercises is I develop background for places. The local coffee shop or bar become more real in my mind when I include a few more details and I can add those details to other scenes if they are useful.

[@chimebell8237]

I actually just recently found that cutting the last thing I wrote while working on a chapter can be effective at times. Whenever I get stuck with writing a long dialogue where it seems to run for like forever, I backspace all the way to the point where the conversation is still solid. And then I realize it can actually work to redo the whole conversation over and make it more concise and brief, but packing a punch.

[@danieldurham3775]

These are great tips! Thank You so much for sharing! And a great video, to the point with enough explanation to get your thoughts across!

[@kiriavatar123]

Thank you, these are actual, practical ideas, I love it ❤

[@erkscollectibles]

Lots of great tips! I hadn't thought about many of these, excited to try them out!

[@sakisaotome6753]

i actually really like to open what i am writing in something that has built in text to speech function and then hit play. this is such a good way for me to catch things that i feel i can't pick up on just from just reading it.

[@ExplicitPublishing]

Wow! Actual, concrete, useful writing tips! Great job.

[@NegInfinity]

Short, efficient and to the point. Thank you.

[@SkaldIduna]

Thanks for this list. It's giving me ideas. 🤩 Sometimes if I'm stuck I will hop on a bus or go for a walk and come back a few hours later with a new perspective. 🌻

[@watermelongangster]

This vid is really different from the stuff that you can usually see in these kinda advice compilations, great work!

[@hexnoir]

That's a neat list, plenty of things I'm gonna try applying to my own writing. I tend aim towards a specific end point each chapter so the paragraphs I end up cutting typically end up being sort of filler paragraphs towards the end of each chapter. I also like to use outlines but usually try to keep them loose as the plot usually changes once I write it and flesh out the details, but the general overarching narrative direction can remain the same. But of course I write weekly chapters which I narrate and edit so I've learned to adapt to a more loosey goosey type of writing schedule. Basically placing the train tracks in front of the moving train 😅

[@bensturley1172]

This really is relevant, thank you Hannah. Some great ideas I'm going to be implementing straight away.

[@alaskanoodle6457]

I stumbled upon your video and I just have to say I LOVED the pacing of it. Most videos I find to help with writing seem to draw out too long and talk way more than they need to. You're video was so easy to follow and understand so big thanks to that! 🙏 Meanwhile, one weird writing tip i find helpful for me to brainstorm and figure out ideas is to rant about what you alresdy have and what you need to figure out with someone you are close to and possibly knows about what you are writing. Sometimes that person will give great suggestions, but at other times I often find my brain working through it as I text them. Ill write psragraphs on end of text messages to my friend, coming with my own ideas and finding things that work, and then I'd thank her for the help and she'd be like, "I didn't do anything, but you're welcome!" 😂

[@user-ng5gi9tl8c]

I plot out my chapters in my own Chapter Index--each chapter has a one sentence synopsis and some notes about it so that I can write the plot out several chapters ahead, plus I have a three page notes section as a preface to my first draft so that I can write down future ideas as I go; also yes I unload many of my problems onto my characters to make them more realistic and keep word and page goals

[@trevorchilders211]

These are great tips, thank you! When I find myself stuck on bit, from word to paragraph, I change the text color to red and move on. I can figure out to solution to the problem or even what the problem is, later while preserving momentum in the drafting phase.

[@TocYounger]

This was original and extremely helpful, thank you!

[@undercoveerse]

thank you for these great advices !!

[@michaelkelly6583]

Thank you Hannah! These were very useful.

[@yurisoross]

This is the first video I've seen in a while that actually have some good tips !! They are a new and I'll start using them very soon , thank you ~!

[@Ggdivhjkjl]

Thanks for the tips!

[@anandahuja4319]

Wonderful tips, very handy some of them. Loved them. Keep sharing more. I loved your flash fiction collection LITTLE BIRDS!

[@lavieenbren]

Tip five is SO helpful (so are all of these, but that one instantly clicked for me!). Thank you for this video!

[@lixia_blur]

I’ve started writing and seem to have a burst of motivation and then get burnt out so to counter this I listen to music that relates to a scene or character I’m trying to write and this always helps to give me ideas.

[@PhilAndersonOutside]

Thanks for making this and sharing.

[@ngtskynebula]

Lots of great advice here. Thank you very much!

[@BoredOfBills]

Genuinely helpful. Good video. Thanks.

[@earthwarriorangel]

Thank you I was looking for fresh new ways to help me keep writing my book that I’m struggling to finish, this video was the best video at this time for me. You’re awesome

[@LifeinGlow]

What a great video! 🌻 Love your tips, especially #8. And some comments are helpful.

[@fieldbones]

Something that helped me as someone that struggles to write in a long sitting: 1. write about whatever scene your brain is fixated on and dont pay attention to if its a permanent part of the story or if its just a whimsical idea you had until after the first draft is done. 2. Write out of order if you need to. A lot of people feel pressure to write a story from front to back and so when they cant think of anything else, they just stop writing.

[@m.j.johnsonbooks7856]

Great video. Love your relaxing and conversational style. I like to write out the internal conflict of my characters before starting a scene. For instance recent: Happy to be alive - freaked out by close touch with death Upset adult isn’t concerned about brothers injuries - understands the bigger picture Thankful brother is alive - upset the injury wasn’t prevented. Having her thoughts in mind helps put more tension into the scene.

[@ChillsAndThrills8]

I found it impressive and helpful. Thanks for the great tips.

[@harpeowl]

to me personaly drawing or painting the characters helps a lot when figuring them out

[@jelestra]

Keeping a list of mistakes you notice or additional things you think about, and then going back to fix it in the next draft, rather than lose the flow, is very useful. Lots of useful tips. Thanks.

[@TimbrrWolfe]

Another banger from Hannah Lee Kidder. Definitely gonna have to try out some of these tips and see how they work for me. Honestly so much of my writing process (such as it is) is down to my subconscious doing...all of the legwork but actually typing it out, so I don't really have any weird hacks I don't think. Rain check until I think of/discover one I suppose.

[@HannahLeeKidder]

need to just plug ur brain directly into the computer

[@TimbrrWolfe]

@@HannahLeeKidder The dream, truly I say as I continuously refuse to use dictation to write, which is the closest thing I have to that, currently

[@TimRG]

Tip 3 is one of my favorite pieces of writing advice. Leaving something in the tank for the next day makes writing so much easier.

[@kauemetzgerotavio7564]

I haven't written fiction in ages, and back when I did it regularly it was mostly for my own amusement. Some of the tips you've given here were similar to things I do while writing academic papers and the like, but I had completely forgotten how much easier it is to proofread your text after printing. I've done a lot of that in the past, but nowadays I don't even own a printer. I guess you've just reminded me of a very good habit that I'm most definitely going to apply to my thesis. Nice to get to know your channel, btw, just subscribed. Take care, Hannah! (Sorry for any mistakes, my native language is Portuguese)

[@kauemetzgerotavio7564]

@@thewritersalcove, you were very kind. I suppose that we - non-native speakers - tend to be more self-conscious (I for one am much more relaxed when talking in Portuguese)

[@carimbo8604]

Loved your quick introduction! Appreciate people who uses my time wisely =)

[@jephmat]

When I write down scene ideas in outlines, I write out a few sentences or a paragraph for that scene, so I not only have the description but something to get me rolling on it, even if it's just a line or two of dialogue.

[@coreywilliams4678]

Great ideas! Thanks for making the video

[@Dragoniiia]

Ohh! Those sounds actually helpfull! Thank you! Maybe I will be able to finally write my book

[@Mambo1061]

I have more good things to say about this video but initial impression thank you so much for getting to the point and staying there quickly, and keeping the video under 10 minutes Some content works for longer format on KZbin but there’s something to be said for videos that don’t drag

[@MariaMilenovasArt]

These tips are awesome. Thanks!

[@mygeekycorner9988]

I love to read my book aloud. Makes it so much easier to catch awkward wording or typos.

[@Cereal_Sauce_]

off topic, but i literally just found ur channel and i really love ur ideas and tips! also i really like ur voice