Kurt Dinan writing tips
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![Page 1: Kurt Dinan writing tips](https://reader030.fdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032613/58ec978d1a28ab14028b46f1/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Insider Writing Tips From
Kurt Dinan
Library Foundation Writer-in-Residence
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Kurt Dinan is the Library Foundation’s
Writer-in-Residence for 2016-2017.
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In between teaching sophomore English and
creative writing at William Mason High School and
being the father of four, he penned his first book
Don’t Get Caught.
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Dinan has a passion for writing and telling
stories. Here are his tips for writers.
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BE WHO YOU ARE
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Write what you know. I’m a high school
teacher and I wrote a book about high
school students because that’s the world
I’m familiar with.
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FIND A PROCESS THAT
WORKS FOR YOU
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Eliminate distractions and daydreams. Find a place to write without foot traffic,
noise pollution and, if possible, away from the Internet.
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Every writer writes differently.
Find what works for you and do it.
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ALLOW YOURSELF A
LOUSY FIRST DRAFT.
WRITE IT, THEN RIGHT IT.
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Writing well takes patience and persistence. And that only comes if you
give yourself permission to be bad at first.
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Don’t give up when frustration hits.
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SURROUND YOURSELF
WITH BRILLIANCE
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Read people who are better than you’ll ever
be. Listen to podcasts by people who are
smarter than you. Engage with people who
intellectually intimidate you.
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UNDERSTAND THAT YOUR
WORDS ARE NOT HOLY TEXT
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Just because you wrote those words, that
paragraph, those pages, doesn’t mean they’re
good. Be willing to cut and revise what
doesn’t work
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SET A WORD COUNT
AND STICK TO IT
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Give yourself a daily word goal.
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If you give yourself a time goal, say an hour, you’ll
write for two minutes then just screw around on
your computer for the next 58 minutes.
Trust me on this.
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FINISH THE THING
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Most first drafts are bad.
But you have to have something to
revise in order to find the real piece.
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For beginning writers, having the success of
finishing a novel is vital. Now that you know
you can do it, you can do it again.
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RAISE ALL BOATS!
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It’s easy to get jealous of other writers and the
successes that inevitably come to them.
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Writing isn’t a competition, and all writers
benefit from books sales. Support your peers!
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SAVE EVERYTHING!
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You never know when an old idea will have new
life breathed into it. Also it’s a good measuring
stick for how you’ve grown as a writer.
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FOR MORE ABOUT THE WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE, VISIT
CincinnatiLibrary.org/WriterinResidence