# Rec a lazy person's beginners guide to writing. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 29, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rec-a-lazy-persons-beginners-guide-to-writing/428208 "2007-11-29T19:02:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rec-a-lazy-persons-beginners-guide-to-writing/428208/1 "2007-11-29T19:02:38Z")
A course or something online that I can follow with ease, to get me started with creative writing. I have a short attention span, not much motivation, but I know that if I could just get started I would not only enjoy writing, and maybe take it to higher levels. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rec-a-lazy-persons-beginners-guide-to-writing/428208/2 "2007-11-29T22:24:39Z")
I’ve a few tips. 1. Stop being lazy. 2. Start writing. 3. Keep writing. 4. Write some more. 5. Stop writing when you have something decent written. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rec-a-lazy-persons-beginners-guide-to-writing/428208/3 "2007-11-29T22:41:19Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] I’ve a few tips. 1. Stop being lazy. 2. Start writing. 3. Keep writing. 4. Write some more. 5. Stop writing when you have something decent written. 🙂 [/QUOTE] So… Keep, just _writing_ even if it isn’t really going anywhere? Rambling? (p.s. New word - ‘anyware’) I’ll give it a go. If an infinite number of Monkeys can write shakespeare then one evolved Ape with an infinite amount of time might be able to achieve something good. ETA:But seriously: I know the world was once intollerante of slackers like myself trying to find a quick-fix route to doingsomething as (forgotten word) as writing. But lately it’s been more tolerant. In the fast paced world we live in there are more facilities to help the terminally apathetic to get started doing something (same forgotten word). \* So I am banking on the possibilities that somebody here on the dope already knows of such a place/facility/course. ETA: ‘Intolerant’ Even. \*ETA: Finish the bloody thought! ---
**Author:** ![RedRosesForMe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/91b2a8/32.png) [@RedRosesForMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedRosesForMe)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rec-a-lazy-persons-beginners-guide-to-writing/428208/4 "2007-11-29T23:29:31Z")
I bought a very fun book several years ago called _Anybody Can Write_. It offers a lot of tips for getting over writer’s block and just putting pencil to paper (or fingers to keyboard, I suppose). It did have some advice very similar to **An Gadai** , i.e. write something, and when you think you can’t write anymore, write one more page. Also had lots of fun exercises to help you get started. The entire idea of the book is that a writer will write, say, 100 million words in his/her lifetime, but maybe 500,000 of them will actually be seen in print. So just get into the habit of writing. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rec-a-lazy-persons-beginners-guide-to-writing/428208/5 "2007-11-29T23:31:59Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] So… Keep, just _writing_ even if it isn’t really going anywhere? Rambling? [/QUOTE] From what I have heard, this is essentially what Steven King does (and then goes back and edits.) ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rec-a-lazy-persons-beginners-guide-to-writing/428208/6 "2007-11-29T23:36:53Z")
Bandname: Terminally Pathetic. ---
**Author:** ![CoBa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f6c823/32.png) [@CoBa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoBa)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rec-a-lazy-persons-beginners-guide-to-writing/428208/7 "2007-11-29T23:40:21Z")
'Course even if you don’t edit, it doesn’t mean that you won’t be renowned for years to come (I’m looking at **you** , Faulkner). ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rec-a-lazy-persons-beginners-guide-to-writing/428208/8 "2007-11-29T23:42:26Z")
Editing I’m good at. I just need something to edit. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rec-a-lazy-persons-beginners-guide-to-writing/428208/9 "2007-11-30T00:56:01Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] Editing I’m good at. I just need something to edit. [/QUOTE] You can have my nanowri book to edit if you really, really want something to edit. I will not however be responsible for any, loss of grammar skills, spelling skills, basic writing skills, implosion of heads, explosions of heads, blindness, boredom, or death. Or any other malady that may befall you upon reading of my crap. ---
**Author:** ![MissGypsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rec-a-lazy-persons-beginners-guide-to-writing/428208/10 "2007-11-30T02:07:54Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] A course or something online that I can follow with ease, to get me started with creative writing. I have a short attention span, not much motivation, but I know that if I could just get started I would not only enjoy writing, and maybe take it to higher levels. [/QUOTE] With a short attention span, perhaps you should start with haiku. Or limericks. Play with words, and see if you really do enjoy writing. Otherwise, sit down and put some words and sentences on a page, either on paper or on computer. Keep doing that. After a few days, go back, read, and edit. Laziness and writing are not very compatible, in my experience. Writing is occasionally fun, but it’s actual work much of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rec-a-lazy-persons-beginners-guide-to-writing/428208/11 "2007-11-30T16:08:05Z")
Try the Kurt Vonnegut approach. He claims to have written Hocus Pocus on napkins and the little foils that line cigarette packs. He also claims not to have known what the bool was about or if it came out right. I love that book and it is certainly a lazy way to go about things. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rec-a-lazy-persons-beginners-guide-to-writing/428208/12 "2007-11-30T16:25:48Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] Editing I’m good at. I just need something to edit. [/QUOTE] Maybe you’d prefer being an editor instead of a writer then. Or try writing some flash fiction or short stories. They aren’t easier than novels, but they take less time to write. Nothing wrong with taking a class, but the truth is, if you can’t be motivated to start on your own, you probably don’t want to do it enough. The only online classes I know of are at Absolute Write, but I don’t know anything about the classes themselves. The messageboard covers pretty much anything I need to know about writing.