The document provides 10 writing tips that are unconventional. The tips include stopping watching reality TV, avoiding shallow writing by broadening experiences, focusing on story over proper grammar, reading true crime to understand human motivations, appreciating criticism over praise, breaking rules to create breakthroughs, using altered states to influence writing, reading challenging material to learn different perspectives, prioritizing story over structure, and creating situations to develop characters rather than defining them. The document encourages exploring these tips to improve writing skills.

1. 10
writing
tips you
won’t
often
hear

2. TIP 1
STOP WATCHING
REALITY TV
Reality TV affirms the every man can be a
hero.
Strong stories centre around the
reluctant hero.
You simply don’t get the same tension of
a person being pushed by circumstance
when they’ve lined up for 3 days to
participate.
Your writing needs tension, not
producers and zany antics.
REALITY

3. TIP 2
SHALLOW PEOPLE
WRITE SHALLOW
THINGS
No one is going to take your perspective
seriously if you live in a bubble,
especially if that bubble is wallowing in
your own crapulence.
Yes there are universal experiences in
writing, but perpetuating boredom, the
grotesquely self serving, or the generally
inane moments of life should not be one
of them.

4. TIP 3
WRITING IS NOT
A SPELLING
BEE
When people talk, they express emotion
and get the point across. The words
paint a picture.
They don’t use proper grammar or get
awards from the English teacher.
You don’t give a damn about diction and
sentence construction when your arse is
on the line. So why should you
characters?

5. TIP 4
READ TRUE
CRIME
There’s no better place to see human
beings and their motivations than in
crime.
From the abnormal personalities to the
irrational behaviour, the selfless acts up
against the selfish satisfaction, crime is
the great distillation of what is wrong
with humanity.
Understand people at their worst and
the rest will be a piece of cake.

6. TIP 5
APPRECIATE
CRITICISM
Surrounding yourself with ‘yes men’ will
only service your ego. Stop chasing the
spotlight!
Chase what is readable. Not what your
ego can handle cutting.
If someone tells you your stuff sucks like
an Electrolux, listen to them.

7. TIP 6
BURN THE RULE
BOOK
There’s a big difference between
knowing what to do and following the
rules.
Rule followers take comfort in knowing
where the lines are drawn and the
safety of following them provides.
That’s boring.
Create the breakthrough. Not the box
ticker.

8. TIP 7
WRITE IN
ALTERED STATES
You don’t have to be Hunter S.
Thompson to understand altered states.
Changing scenario, taking up a new form
of exercise, suffering from jetlag, being
hungry or any spectrum of emotional
response will influence your perception.
Use these moments when you are
outside of your comfort zone or outside
of yourself to stretch your work.

9. TIP 8
READ CHALLENGING
STUFF
Pick the stuff that doesn’t match your
ethical ideas.
Challenge yourself to deeply understand
the way another person thinks.
Have a friend that has different views to
you who can articulate a sentence.
See the faults in the arguments and the
writing and learn from the holes in it.

10. TIP 9
STORY TRUMPS
STRUCTURE
You can always tweak the structure later
but if the story is boring, you're boned.
The only exception is rhyme. ACTUALLY
make it rhyme.
Near enough is in either case is bullshit.

11. TIP 10
SITUATIONAL
INFLUENCE IS WHERE
ITS AT
People and characters are designed to
buckle under the strain or come through
in difficult situations.
If you create an “evil dude” with no
situation, you’ve got nothing.
If you put an every day dude in a bad
situation, that’s writing.

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PRESENTATION?
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