I've found writing to be a bit of lifelong self-improvement project.

Most everyone here knows I have a huge hard-on for Stephen King, so let me be the first to recommend his book On Writing (which I have a PDF of that I would be happy to hand out to anyone who wants it – PM me for details). I think of all the things he talks about – and it's certainly the one I've benefited the most from – is to read everything you can get your hands on.

Take notes as you read if you must. Study what works, and try not to do what obviously doesn't. If you find something you like, read it again. Andro hit the proverbial nail on the head when he talks about saving all of your favourite quotes from authors you like. I do the same thing. I can't tell you how many times it has helped me when I get stuck with a scene. It's like having your own personal library right at hand.

So you may not have time to read. Cry me a river. Take a book with you wherever you go. Standing line? Read. Class hasn't started yet? Read. Lunch-break at work? Read. Waiting at the drive-thru for the fat bitch with four screaming hellions in the back of her SUV to finish complaining about her order? Read.

If you are what you eat, the same goes for your writing. You are the product of what you read.

Music is another strong influence on what you write. When I write action scenes, I tend to gravitate towards my heavy metal and German industrial collection. When I write surreal, introspective, dream scenes, I lean more toward Pink Floyd and the like. It can be as simple as minor key tonality for darker, more emotionally turbulent scenes; major key tonality for brighter, happier scenes. What you listen to as you write is a subversive thing – you may be so into a scene, you don't even notice what's happening in the background. But I guarantee, the moment a song pops up on your playlist that strikes a discordant note against the kind of music you were playing before, it will definitely jerk you out of the writing trance.

Prepare a playlist for yourself. It's a good way to settle into the planing mode for the scene you'll be working on. And don't be afraid to explore new music. It may just be the right inspiration you need.

And against everybody else's advice, DO write extravagantly. If that's what you're feeling at the moment – go for it. Get it out of your system. Don't over think it, just write.

If upon re-reading your writing later, you find that a piece is too over the top, you can always edit it then. In fact, when you're not feeling the urge to write, that's the best time to edit as it will prompt your creativity into sanding off the rough edges of your previous work. So if you feel like writing the literary equivalent of black raspberry chocolate liqueur, let your prose drip with decadence. Let it out, let your imagination run free, and rape the shit out of your thesaurus.

The best way to learn is by doing. And yeah, you'll produce a lot, repeat, a lot of work that should never, ever see daylight, but you'll learn from it.

At the same time, challenge yourself. See if you can write a descriptive scene using only the plainest of words. Take minimalism out for a spin. Sometimes, the most poignant scenes are the ones with only the bare, raw details of what's going on. Chuck Palahniuk does this a lot in his writing and it works surprisingly well.

Edit: In the end, writing is one part organic, one part skill, and one part experience. If you're too busy paying attention to all of the 'rules', you'll never get anything down on the page. Like Joe said, “Write and write and write and then write s'more." Fucking up sometimes is the best teacher you'll ever have.

 

^Truth in words right there. Read and see what works. (Though, for the love of God, be a little choosey. Example, no Twilight. Or Kevin J Anderson or Frank Herbert's son.)

As for music. That actually really doesn't work for me at all. I tried it years ago, had a nice playlist going and I would start writing. Had N-SYNC going(don't ask >.>) and wrote a great love scene. Switched to an action scene and had some Linkin Park on.(That was for a DBZ fanfic at the time.) Sometimes it would work well, fueling me, but overall it didn't work.

I would spend some time trying to find an appropriate song for the scene, sometimes I would become dissatisfied when I couldn't. When I was doing longer scenes, with the POV going from conversation to travel and back again, the music would create an dissonance. Hell, sometimes I'd have an action scene I wanted to go one way, and the music would hijack into another. Very frustrating for me.

As an addendum, instrumental music was not nearly as bad, but still caused me problems.

That said, when I'm not in the mood, I'll search for some AMVs(anime music videos) on youtube, watch them and get into the music and soon my juices are flowing. So finding some way to get yourself kick-started really does help. Swim mentioned editing scenes to get you back in the mood, that helps a lot, too.

Also be aware that works well for one person might not work for all. Just remembering how Andro constructs a scene was a big wake-up call for me. So try out different techniques and find what works best for you.

I'm tempted to try that quote-document-thing; never really heard of that before.

 

Thanks for the ideas; I purchased a droid tablet a little over a week ago for the specific purposes of reading, music, amv's and the occasional class note, I'd love to see the pdf I'll pm you.

Funny about the AMV's I've been on an AMV kick the last few days. Anyways thanks for reminding me about playlists, you too swim. My playlist needs some work...

Alright something more specific just so I don't need another thread I have this fic idea that won't leave me alone; I've written like 10k words already. Harry discovers the wizarding world through a bad accident at age ten, My muse has me stuck at the Hogwarts express and sorting. Mainly because I'm conflicted as to where I want him to go if anywhere at all. Any ideas for kicking my muse's ass?

Harry's first year or two won't be action packed but shouldn't be boring either.

 

I suggest bashing through the first 3 or 4 years in a chapter or two each, if you are planning on either keeping close to canon with only some changes, or simply don't see anything major occurring in them in whatever AU setting you're using.

In all honesty most authors don't write 11 year olds well, nor 12 year olds, nor 13 year olds. Most folk can remember what they were like around 14 a bit better so the writing starts to improve, as authors don't have to force it out. There are exceptions of course, but still.

So for your fic , Harry discovers the wizarding world at age 10, and gets set up etc. Gets his Hogwarts letter and heads off to school age 11. Do you really need conflict on the express? Its not necessarily required. Especially if you aim to speed through the first few years. Cover the journey in a few paragraphs, mention a couple of people he gets on well with, a couple of folk he isn't sure about and 1 or 2 people he decides he doesn't like. In that couple of paragraphs you have set up his friendships, acquaintanceships and enemies...all of which can be given dynamic based on the Sorting.

 

Or have him wake-up in whatever house and make his way to breakfast, just hinting at the express being amazing, but a long ride. As to the house? Whatever fits his personality or converse what friends he's going to associate with.

However, if you're caught-up on the express and sorting, I think you're keeping Canon, or other traditional-starting fics stuck in your head. Of all those, only a few have been completed.

 

Or you start in his fifth year or something. I like fics that don't explain everything that's changed and instead start where it gets interesting and sort of explain the past through the present. You don't have to tell us Harry and Daphne started dating somewhere in the past, when it's clear they're dating in the present.

And we don't have to know everything that's changed in the first four chapters either. It isn't actually a bad thing if we only find out in the tenth chapter through a throw-away comment, that Harry punched Draco in the face in his first year.

 

Lots of good stuff in this thread all ready. I won't repeat what's been said. There's one thing that I can think of that hasn't been said though.

Allow your characters to develop naturally. You should plan, yes. But don't limit your characters to a character profile that you come up with at the beginning of the story. You will find, as you write, that you feel like taking characters in novel directions that you never thought of. Don't resist that urge. That's the way you end up with great characters.

This especially applies to romance plots. The best romance stories are the ones that don't have a ship. Write your characters, and just allow them to end up with whatever feels right. Case in point: Denarian trilogy. It's funny, because this was meant to be an action story, but for me it was the best romance fanfiction of all time. The Harry/Amanda relationship that developed was great. It didn't feel like a ship. It didn't feel planned. It felt like the characters were out of Shezza's hands and were alive, developing in their own directions, and that this relationship was the right way to go.

If I can write a romance plot half as good as that I'll be proud.

 

I'm re-working it telling most of what I had in the previous scenes in the manner of short tidbits of omniscient narration as Harry nervously awaits the sorting (which he doesn't know what is about to happen).

I agree with Taure and the others, however, I'm going to try my hand at character development for an eleven year old.

The way I see it even if it winds up bad or unpopular it'll be a learning experience, and I suppose I have to have my quota of mistakes.

Oh yeah almost forgot, does anyone know of a good anagram maker? I'll need it a bit later in the story and wanna play around with the anagram so it gives the right sort of impression.