In six seconds, you will hate me to death.

but in six months, you will become a better writer.

from now on-at least for the next six months-you can't use the verb "think". This includes: feel, know, understand, understand, believe, want, remember, imagine, desire, and other 1 words you like to use.

This list also includes:

Love and hate.

it also includes: yes and yes, but these two will be discussed later.

Until around Christmas, you can't write: Kenny thinks Monica may not like him going out at night ...

Instead, you must break this sentence down into: "Some mornings, Kenny stays out late and misses the last bus until he has to hitchhike or pay for a taxi, and then comes home and finds Monica pretending to sleep, because she never falls asleep so quietly. In those mornings, she just puts her cup of coffee in the microwave oven. Never had his. "

instead of writing about what your character knows, you must now provide details to let readers know those things. Instead of writing what a character wants, you must now describe that thing so that readers want it, too.

Compared with saying, "Adam knows Gwen likes him." You have to say, "Gwen always leans on it when he opens his locker during recess." She would roll her eyes and push herself away with one foot, leaving a black heel print on the painted metal, but she also left her perfume smell. The combination lock and the temperature of her hips. Gwen will lean there again during the next recess. "

in short, there is no shortcut. Only specific sensory details: movements, smells, tastes, sounds, and feelings.

In general, the author always uses these "think" verbs at the beginning of a paragraph (here, you can call them "central sentences", and I will complain about this later). In a sense, they pointed out the intention of the whole paragraph. The following sections explain these intentions in detail.

For example,

"Brenda knows that she can't meet the deadline. She came from the bridge and passed eight or nine exits. Her cell phone is dead. At home, dogs need to go out for a walk, or they will make a mess and need to be cleaned up. Plus, she promised to help her neighbor water the flowers ... "

Do you see how the opening central sentence stole the limelight from the following paragraph? Don't do that.

At least remove the opening remarks and put them after all other sentences. Better yet, change him to another place and read: Brenda can't meet the deadline.

thinking is abstract. Understanding and believing are intangible. If you only show the details of physical activities and roles and let your readers think and understand, as well as love and hate, your story will always be more powerful.

Don't tell your readers "Lisa hates Tom."

instead, argue like a lawyer in court and speak in detail.

show every piece of evidence. For example,

"During the roll call, between the gasps after the teacher called Tom's name and the moment before he answered, Lisa would whisper' pain in the ass'. Just when Tom said' here'. "

One of the most common mistakes made by novice writers is to leave their characters alone. When writing, you can be alone. When reading, your reader can be a person. But your role should be rarely, rarely alone. Because a lonely character will start thinking, worrying, or curious.

For example, "While waiting for the bus, Mark began to worry about how long the journey would take ..."

A better way to show it is: "The timetable says that the bus will arrive at noon, but Mark's watch shows that it is already 11: 57. You can see the end of the road, all the way to the one in the shopping center, and there are no buses. There is no doubt that the driver stopped at the transfer station, at the end of the route, and was taking a nap. The driver was relaxed and fast asleep, and Mark was going to be late. Or earlier, the driver was drinking, so he would stop by the side of the road and charge Mark 75 cents to give him a tragic death in a serious traffic accident ... "

A lonely character must enter fantasy or memory, but even then you can't use the verb" think "or any of its abstract verb relatives.

oh, you can forget the words forget and remember.

You can no longer use this conversion sentence: "Wanda remembers how Nelson used to comb her hair."

say it again, break it down. Don't take shortcuts.

Better yet, let your character meet another character. The sooner the better.

let them stay together and start activities. Let their activities and conversations show their ideas. Don't go into their heads one by one.

when you avoid the verb "think", you should pay special attention to the two ordinary verbs "yes" and "have".

For example,

"Ann's eyes are blue."

"Ann has blue eyes."

"Ann coughed, raised her hand and waved it in front of her, drove the cigarette smoke away from her eyes, blue eyes, and then smiled ...

Instead of using plain" yes "and" yes "statements, try to bury the details of what a character is and what he has in his actions or gestures. Basically, this is about presenting your story, not telling it.

after a long time, once you learn to break down your role, you will hate those lazy authors, who are only satisfied with: "Jim is sitting by the phone and wants to know why Amanda didn't call."

please, at this moment, hate me as much as you want, but don't use the verb "think". After Christmas, you can write whatever you want, but I bet you won't.

......

This month's homework is to read your work and circle every "think" verb. Then, find a way to destroy them. Destroy it by decomposing it.

Then, read some published novels and do the same thing. Don't go easy on me.

"Marty imagined the fish jumping in the moonlight.

"Nancy recalled the taste of the wine.

"Larry knew he was dead.

find them. After that, find a way to rewrite them and make them stronger.

-END-

Introduction to Baidu Encyclopedia:

Chuck Palahniuk (February 21, 1962-) is an American cross-border novelist and freelance journalist. He is best known for his novel Fight Club published in 1996, which won various awards and was later made into a film by American director david fincher. He lives in Portland, Oregon, and once lived in Seattle, Washington.