Writing Advice From Famous Authors (Compilation)

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

MY EDITING SERVICE: www.kierenwestwood.com/editing DON'T FORGET THE TIMESTAMPS - SKIP TO YOUR FAVOURITE AUTHORS!

[@StijnHommes]

Hi Kieren, the time stamps are off. I'm trying to watch the Neil Gaiman advice, but I'm dropped into the Haruki Murakami section instead.

[@KopynCity]

I'm only ten minutes into the video but what you said around 7:46 - "I generally find that the things that feel hardest to write are the ones that are most worth writing" - already blew my mind a little bit! Thank you so much for this ❤

[@haykay1626]

I love that this is a long video. I can't wait to listen to it while on my walks. Thank you!

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Ah awesome, I’d never thought of that but that’s a good use for it ☺️ I actually thought people would be mad about me running re-runs 😂 thank you!

[@bradkrupsaw]

Watched every single minute of this over a few days, and every single minute pushed me forward in my writing. Thank you, Kieren.

[@MiaowMcDonald]

same 😊 brilliant video. Kieren’s channel is one of the best for writers. always something to learn and he knows the struggle.

[@Screamgod]

Kieran, this was the most generous writing instruction I've seen. Thank you.

[@slipthetrap]

Very nice to have available, and the timestamps are helpful. Thank you!

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Absolutely, this would be a nightmare without navigation! Thanks for watching :)

[@Grierhax]

Thank you for compiling these fantastic and interesting videos. You do a great job .

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Thank you! Appreciate you sticking with me.

[@cariewirick4064]

Thank you for the positivity. When I was looking for writing advice, many authors gave all the reasons not to write. I like that you present a concept, give examples, and explain your thoughts. No judgment.

[@MOONSUN4Life]

Thank you for putting all of these videos together, Kieran! Several of my favorite authors are included, but I would love a video about Joe Abercrombie 👍

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Awesome, I’ll look for material from him ☺️ Thanks for watching!

[@MOONSUN4Life]

@@KierenWestwoodWriting I'll be looking forward to it! 😃

[@strekosta2126]

this compilation is pure gold. almost all advices are practical and applicable for my style of writing. thank you for this

[@trevorcarterva]

Some of my best writing came on days when I started out sluggish. I write every day without fail.

[@SteveJubs]

Good job.

[@phryg2035]

Loved this series, it's what brought me to your channel. Thanks for this compilation! As for requests, I'd love if you could do one on Markus Zusak. Cheers Kieran, keep on making great content for the writerly community.

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

The Book Thief is one of my favourites! I’ll work on that if he’s got enough tips out there! Thank you! ☺️

[@philm9593]

Thanks for this Kieren. Good job. 👍

[@MiaowMcDonald]

great compilation, Kieren. beautifully put together. thanks for devoting time to this subject. i’ve enjoyed this video. must have taken you a while compile this. thank you, it’s been greatly appreciated. it’s been wonderful, and inspiring, to learn from these masters. and include yourself in this. your insights and ‘reading between the lines’ has been a joy to listen to and you have been incredibly positive and motivating. kudos to you 😊

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Thanks for watching! It did indeed take a while, but as always it was fun to make. Appreciate the kind words! I'm just glad I can add anything at all to all of these tips, even if it's just a bit of context.

[@specterman603]

TY SO MUCH FOR THIS! I APPRECIATE U SO MUCHHHHH

[@Polecjanki]

I love this channel, and especially this series on your channel, thank you for it!

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Thank you so much :D

[@artistikworld4058]

Thanks Kieren, and all the writers advice.🎉🎉

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Thanks for watching!

[@taralouvre9376]

this is gold, thank you so much for putting this out in the internet and for the effort you put into it

[@MiaowMcDonald]

Charles Bukowski, Hunter S Thompson, and some of the Russian writers- Nabokov and Bulgakov etc. some of my favourites. Lewis Grassic-Gibbon, James Joyce, Lionel Shriver, Irvine Welsh. some more of my favourites.

[@MiaowMcDonald]

for your part 2… 😂

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Great suggestions here, thank you!

[@qine6559]

Make this blow uuuuuup! Cant wait to hear this one!

[@BJayGreer]

I don't consider myself a writer but I'm trying to put a story on paper. I have no idea what I'm doing, your videos have been great. No one author's advice stands out its all been good. Thank you.

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Thanks so much! Everyone feels like that at the beginning. Writing is a matter of building skills over time and figuring out how you want to approach things. I'm glad this has been helpful! By the way, if you're writing, you're a writer! You don't need any of that other stuff.

[@toomuchgarden6898]

Raymond Chandlers quote about a story being distilled - he is saying that revision is just rewriting what you already have. Distilling a story is to remove all that is watering the story down, cutting what isn't necessary from the brew.

[@easyskankingdude]

Woah, amazing!

[@cariewirick4064]

I have been using your advice to edit my first book. I know you should not write a novel first, but my muse disagrees. I heard a quote, "A good book will write itself." This book and its characters have led me through my changes. I have cried twice. I am just finishing the first 20,000 words.

[@blessedandbiwithahintofmagic]

Incredible, thank you so much! ^^

[@kaburnicas]

I think theres a certain balance to fanfics. when i do fanfics i look at the world and say "what other stories could happen in this environment" i always love seeing other stories that happen in a fantasy world i love

[@nickklett]

Awesome! Could you do Robert A Heinlein?

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

I’ll have a look of his advice is out there, thanks for the suggestion ☺️

[@chriswilliams6326]

Brilliant. Thank you.

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

1. Agree if it's boring weather. Like "it was raining. There were clouds on the sky". But I writer horror, atmosphere is key. And I make sure the sunset/sunrise, night or weather descriptions are fresh, creative, funny, with captivating metaphors. And I've been publishes 29 times, so people rather like them. But they're short, like a 5-7 line paragraph max and it introduces characters in a in medias res situation. 2. The prologue problem is that people infodump their lore im them. They lecture the reader and it goes on for many, many pages. So readers skip them. It ruins the hook of the story. 3. The advice was against going through the tags with a thesaurus and using "he ejaculated" or "she gurgled" just for the sake of avoiding repetition and sounding smart. No hatm in using screamed when the situation is emotional and calls for screaming. 5. If everything is emphasized with an exclamation mark, then nothing is emphasized. It's just characters with no indoor voice. I think it's fine to pick the most emotional sentence in a dialogue line and put it there. But yeah, it is jarring when you put an ex-mark at the end of epiphanies that are just banal to the reader like "there are muddy footprints! Someone must've come from the inside!" It sounds like the author being in love with their genius. 8 and 9. Same as no 1. Boeing descriptions, agree. But picking specific details can tell a lot about the character. The character's room can tell a lot about what the char is as a person. And again the point is for it to be fresh, creative, with funny, captivating metaphors ir observations. Not - "there was a wardrobe and a chair. A mirror hung on the wall. The floor was made od oak planks."

[@olleronn616]

I wonder if Joseph Heller (Catch-22) ever communicated his thoughts on writing.

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

If he did, I'll find them. Great suggestion, thank you.

[@theresakidd]

I’ve also taken Neil Gaiman’s Masterclass. I think the best advice I got from it was to tell lies with the truth. It was the first time I had heard that advice and heard it explained as one of the truths of the fairytale Little Red Riding Hood is don’t talk to strangers.

[@Heart_Health_and_Soul_by_Anika]

Wow. Thank You ❤

[@gregahunt]

me when you dropped this compilation: what a waste- it’s too long and i’ll never watch it! me after watching 30 minutes: lovin that he compiled this!

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

I get it though, 4.5 hours is ridiculous! Appreciate you watching ☺️

[@Wholly_Fool]

I particularly like Nietzsche's 10 rules for writers.

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

I'll look those up, thanks!

[@SpoonsForks]

This is amazing, I hope you make one soon about Shirley Jackson or Daphne du Maurier!

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Great suggestions, added to the list!

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

16:19 George RRMartin categorises writers as architects and gardeners. He says both approached are fine if they work for people, but he considers himself a gardener. I'm not sure if I agree with the short story one. He assumes shorts are easier. They're not. Novels leave more room for mistakes and being longwinded. Shorts require IMMENSE self-discipline, being economic with wording, leaving out 99% of your precious lore, cutting out scenes that don't further the plot while novels allow for subplots, digressions. It is a great practice for novels though but more like a trial of fire rather than walking through warm water to prepare you for walking on coals.

[@engyhossam3117]

Hi kieren, I really need your advice. What should I do if I want to write a novella but have no ideas? I can write, and I want to write, and I can finish things, but I always struggle with coming up with ideas. I've had a really bad writer's block for over 5 months. I really hope you can write back to me and give me your suggestions.

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Writer's block is one of those problems that never really goes away, it just decreases a bit. I don't think there's any solution that works for everyone, but for me I always find a story by thinking small, instead of big. Tiny moments like how the light hits something, or a noise from somewhere out of sight. Also, I find it helps if I aim to write something short, rather than something long and unwieldy. You said you're looking to write a novella, but if you're stuck for an idea. I'd wonder why it has to be that format exactly? I'd encourage you to write whatever you can to get the engine running again, worry about something longer later when ideas are coming to you. I've made a few videos over the last few years about being stuck for ideas. Hopefully one of these can help too: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ap_NgKF4lKusoqc kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3e8lXaAepices0 kzbin.info/www/bejne/j6OxoHaJlLt8gJI That last one in particular is more recent, but I think it's potentially the most useful. Immerse yourself in stories that you love, and hopefully something will come to you soon. I wish you the best of luck for it :)

[@engyhossam3117]

@@KierenWestwoodWriting Thank you so much.

[@lexiibattwitch]

I recommend the podcast Writing About Dragons And Sh*t to people who like this channel. Including the channel creator.

[@theresakidd]

Instead of “Suddenly!” Do something like “…and that’s when…” Ellipsis is where you put your own stuff. If you stick this at the end of a paragraph or at the end of a sentence it blends in with the other text and doesn’t warn the reader about a sudden change.

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

For sure, blending it in definitely helps preserve the surprise. That's a good approach for sure.

[@mbernier59]

👍

[@adriannademadriguera4859]

😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘

[@Dawn8022]

I'll take it as read that you don't like Dickens

[@moniquemiranda7289]

Promo-SM 😅

[@babavee100]

Probably, the only video you need to watch amongst the legions of videos available. Many of the 'tutorials' on You Tube seem to be stoking their own ego, and relying on a standard formula which produces a standard manuscript. and standard query letter. I often wonder how many potentially great novels are missed, because of this formula which hasn't been obeyed. We all know the story of Jayne Eyre , reviewed by an agent and refused. Likewise, a word count which doesn't meet the 'sweet spot' of 60 to 90,000 is classed as a novella, and, we are told, is of little interest to agents and publishers. Well, many of the classics are under 60,000 and many, under 30,000;. Shelly, Steinbeck Orwell, Kafka, Hemmingway, Lewis Carroll, Karawac, The list goes on and on, so i won't. "Sorry Willy old chap, This Romeo and Juiiet you sent me. It's only just over 24 thousand words. Don't slam the door on your way out''. Money of coourse is the motive, but i would have thought it better to sell a few thousand copies at a few dollars, than bring out a mediocre book which nobody wants. Apart from a knowledge of grammar, and 'them things, wot we should 'ave learned at scool.'i t is as well to remember ...... 'Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.'