The Single Most Important Piece Of Writing Advice I Would Give To A Lot Of Amateur Writers Is To Write

The single most important piece of writing advice I would give to a lot of amateur writers is to write less beautifully - or at least to write beautifully less.

I rarely find a piece of writing I can't read because it's too simple, or too concise and to-the-point - not memorable, perhaps, but also not a headache on a page. On the other hand, I see loads of pieces which are effectively unreadable because they're far too rich to swallow, and badly in need of watering down a bit.

The absolute worst culprit is the dialogue tags. I'm a big fan of letting people write in their own style, but I would love it if a lot of writers could please cool it with letting me know every time a character blinks or licks their lips. I don't need to know that, especially if it happens every time they speak.

So many dialogue excerpts look like this:

"So this is how we talk?" he queried quietly, his eyebrows furrowed into knots. "Apparently," she replied with a puzzled grin, bouncing on the balls of her feet with restless energy. "Isn't that... exhausting?" he questioned, a lop-sided smile snaking its way across his lips. "The bouncing?" she asked shyly, her eyelids fluttering in shame. "No, of course not," he told her, his lean arms reached out to pull her closer. He buried his face into the mess of her hair, taking a deep breath of her perfume. "I just feel a little nauseated by all of these actions." "I don't know what you mean," she giggled, brushing the hair back out of her eyes as her cheeks flushed red. "Don't worry," he sighed, rolling his eyes up towards the ceiling.

I'm assuming this is a convention that comes from somewhere, given its ubiquity - perhaps somewhere in the world of fanfiction, where there will be short, intimate pieces entirely focused on the ways in which characters interact with each other. But to me, in an original work, it's so exhausting that I can't make it down the rest of the page.

Dialogue tags may be the worst, or most obvious offenders, but the same principle extends pretty much everywhere else. Each line doesn't have to be some great quote you can hang on your wall, and it's hard to read a whole story written like that.

There's been some recent backlash on here against modern films where every line of dialogue is a quip, at the expense of building an authentic conversation, but that's how a lot of people start out writing - thinking that each sentence should be made as flowery as possible, when too many flowers in the same pot will crowd each other out.

You need to leave some gaps to let the sunlight in, and illuminate the beauty of the occasional flourish you do include. Think of it like vanilla extract, to make a reference that was topical when I started writing this post: you need to add a little for flavour, without which the writing will be too dull, but tip the bottle and I will actually be sick. Write beautifully less. Learn to embrace the prosaic.

This is an awesome take. The district that never quite played the capital's games by the rules, and seeing the whole progression of changes their actions caused due to the capital deing unable to predict what they'd do.

Lucy gray brought the entertainment elements to win people over.

Haymitch brought the rebellion by using their own weapons (the forcefield and whatever else we find out from his story) against them.

Katniss and Petta combined both of these elements and that is what finally brought it all down.

It makes sense to chose the previous district 12 victors when their stories add more context to why Katniss and Petta's games were so revolutionary.

I’m actually compelled by this prequel announcement because it makes a lot of sense to me to finish the stories of all four District 12 victors.

After the opening ceremony in THG

Katniss (*blushing*) : omg, peeta is so pretty and kind and sweet!

Katniss (*squinting*): that conniving, manipulative, cold-hearted killer. Well, two can play at this game.

*Kisses Peeta on the cheek*

Peeta: omg omg omg omg omg omg omg

I know I said I’m not writing rn, but note to self, the Capitol has tribute player cards so children can stage their own hunger games at home.

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