Has today’s technology made the craft of writing easier, or hast it just provided more ways to procrastinate?

I got so bored while I was in Batangas because our computer wasn’t working and I didn’t have my laptop with me. I have to content myself with the television and some old magazines. And when I was supposed to watch “No Other Woman” with my sisters, I just decided to browse old stuff until I stumbled upon a very old issue of Writer’s Digest – dated March 2004.

Wow! What could I learn from an outdated magazine? I felt that I need some refresher course about writing so I braved flipping through the pages. For a start, the Insider’s Stories caught my attention. Lines like “Bring Your Characters to Life” and “The 5 Worst Story Leads” are effective teasers that worked for me.

When I was in college, I dream of publishing my own book and I found the magazine to be really interesting. It is full of tips about getting self-published along with inspiring stories. I wish I could find my three notebooks of unpublished Tagalog romance novels. I’ve written them while I was in high school. Hopeless romantic, as you may say. I wish to find them right now and start revising. I mean, when I wrote those novels I still lacked experience, purely imagination and so little drama. My readers who were my sisters and classmates used to say that I’m good at writing because I made them “so kilig” and in-love. But things are different now. And I think, I have to edit a lot of corny/super cheesy lines. But how do I start if I don’t have the old copies with me? Writing is an art, and I can’t write the same story again… ever. Each masterpiece is so unique that you can’t make an exact replica of your previous creations… just like in drawing and painting. Maybe, I have to go back to square one… create and define new characters, outline events, review storyline and more! I have all the experiences and thoughts that I might need, but the luxury of time… not yet.

Write and write and when you are done, revise, edit and rewrite.

Let me share you what I’ve found out and relearned from what I’ve read:

1. Debut authors have highly successful habits such as:

a. Discipline. Writing is terrifying because it’s solitary while you do it and so public when you think you finally made it. With discipline, you will continue to write and accept feedback. It is about being less defensive and neurotic about what you are trying to accomplish.
b. Patience. Never refuse work and grab every opportunity that comes your way.
c. Consistency. Keep writing. Write and write and when you are done, revise, edit and rewrite.

2. Every character you create on your story will be yourself. Bring characters to life by taking the right approach – create characters who are composites of more than one person. Real life people make colorful fictional characters and you can customize them effectively by taking traits from two or more people.

3. The best story beginnings grab reader from the first sentence. You don’t need gimmicks or tricks to hook readers. The best openings (ledes) spring naturally from your material and you should avoid these too familiar openings:
- Dictionary Dodge (“The dictionary defines…”)
- Stating the obvious (“Let’s face it, pollution…”)
- The “insider” cliché (“Play it as it lays, golfers say…”)
- John Lennon lede (“Imagine…”)
- First-person superfluous (“I want to tell you a story…”)