: Re: How to not change my mind (Sorry if this isn't the best title.) I've been writing for about 6 months now. And everything I write I feel as if it isn't good enough, or it was just a bad

@Margaret427

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I'm going to go against the grain. I'm going to give you some advice that you probably won't want to hear.

You say you've only been writing for six months and your mention of 'chapter' indicates you are trying to write a novel. It's a bit early to be obsessing over word choices. When it comes to novel writing word choice is not particularly high up the pecking order. In article and speech writing word choices are important but in novels - not so much.

Attempting write a a novel with only six months experience may not be the best way forward.

I wrote ten chapters of my first novel then (wisely) stopped. I'd learned enough from the experience to understand 'how' I write, my natural style, the components that would ultimately determine my 'voice'.

I then proceed to write short stories. Each one designed to challenge one or more aspects of my writing skills. I wrote from the POV of a US teen, a middle-aged English woman, a Pakistani immigrant, a Mexican immigrant etc. This would build the library of characters I could utilize in any novel.

One 3000 word story contains no dialogue and no descriptions of any inanimate objects. The bulk of the story consisted of two people looking at each other on a train. Another story was written from the POV of a blind woman - subsequently the story could not contain any visual descriptions. Another attempt was to write a children's story. I can't write a kiddie litter but the result taught me plenty. The finished story was about a man reading a bedtime story to his children. This taught me how to seamlessly blend from real-time to flashback.

On returning to original 10 chapters I realised there were a boring chronicle - this happened, then that happened, this happened after, and that happened next. I deleted those then chapters and started again.

I uploaded my novel to a peer-review forum - nobody believed it was my first.

Once you've learned your strong suite(s) and expanded your skill-set you'll know the best way to tell a particular story. The example below is really BAD because it's all TELLING and the grammar is atrocious, however, I heard that story did okay.

Now I know somethin bout idiots. Probly the only thing I do know bout, but I done read up on em -- all the way from that Doy-chee-eveskie guy's idiot, to King Lear's fool, an Faulkner's idiot, Benjie, an even ole Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird -- now he was a serious idiot. The one I like best tho is ole Lennie in Of Mice an Men. Mos of them writer fellers got it straight -- cause their idiots always smarter than people give em credit for. Hell, I'd agree with that. Any idiot would. Hee Hee.

When I was born, my mama name me Forrest, cause of General Nathan Bedford Forrest who fought in the Civil War. Mama always said we was kin to General Forrest's fambly someways. An he was a great man, she say, cept'n he started up the Ku Klux Klan after the war was over an even my grandmama say they's a bunch of no-goods. Which I would tend to agree with, cause down here, the Grand Exalted Pishposh, or whatever he calls hissef, he operate a gun store in town an once, when I was maybe twelve year ole, I were walkin by there and lookin in the winder an he got a big hangman's noose strung up inside. When he seen me watchin, he done thowed it around his own neck an jerk it up like he was hanged an let his tongue stick out an all so's to scare me. I done run off and hid in a parkin lot behin some cars til somebody call the police an they come an take me home to my mama. So whatever else ole General Forrest done, startin up that Klan thing was not a good idea -- any idiot could tell you that. Nonetheless, that's how I got my name.

My mama is a real fine person. Everbody says that. My daddy, he got kilt just after I's born, so I never known him. He worked down to the docks as a longshoreman an one day a crane was takin a big net load of bananas off one of them United Fruit Company boats an somethin broke an the bananas fell down on my daddy an squashed him flat as a pancake. One time I heard some men talkin bout the accident -- say it was a helluva mess, half ton of all them bananas an my daddy squished underneath. I don't care for bananas much myself, cept for banana puddin. I like that all right.

My mama got a little pension from the United Fruit people an she took in boarders at our house, so we got by okay. When I was little, she kep me inside a lot, so as the other kids wouldn't bother me. In the summer afternoons, when it was real hot, she used to put me down in the parlor an pull the shades so it was dark an cool an fix me a pitcher of limeade. Then she'd set there an talk to me, jus talk on an on bout nothin in particular, like a person'll talk to a dog or cat, but I got used to it an liked it cause her voice made me feel real safe an nice.

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