Unique Writing Advice From Irvine Welsh

I had a theme song for my last manuscript. It was on loop 70% of the time and I ended up writing the music into the story's climax. Great video btw!

I'm so happy you have put up another video. I'm working on something new that I'm excited about, and it feels so nice to be able to enjoy what i'm writing instead of being frustrated. I hope you have an amazing day.

Great video. 👍

As far as the music goes, book one of my fantasy novel was written entirely to Us and Them - London Philharmonic Orchestra just played on repeat. It got to the point that as soon as I heard the ticking clock at the opening, my mind would instantly switch to "writing mode". Book two however took a dark turn and I found the ambient music of Cryo Chamber (I highly recommend checking out their music here on YouTube) fit the mood well.

I tend to be a pantser, especially where characters are involved. I have general ideas about both them & the plot (or lack thereof), & only really come to know the characters as I write them, finding that at a certain point, they will take over & write themselves (when I hit the zone, I guess), though sometimes I do get frustrated when they start behaving outside of what I had planned for them. The novel I am working on now will have an ever-expanding number of characters, so I am excited about seeing how this plays out. I do listen to a wide variety of music, but usually am more tempo based all depending on the scene I am writing (high action combined with Eastern European gypsy music or Cumbria, whereas slower scenes might be something like Birth of the Cool or Debussy, I do prefer complicated harmonics & melody lines for dialogue). Excellent video & lots to think about.

I usually give to each of my main characters one of my biggest quality paired with one of my worst flaws. It makes it easier for me to "know" them and to write about something I struggle with. Also, I think Tolkien said that Faramir was directly inspired by his own personality. To be honest, it's my favorite character also.

I feel like I'm getting better at changing things after the first draft. It's taken a while bit I've gotten there where I'll happily rewrite and change the whole book. Anxiety inducing tho 😅

respect thank you

If anything, I have way too many. I think it comes down to reading widely, and not just fiction, but history and other non-fiction. I don't write historical fiction, and I make sure to mix and match to avoid making my content derivative, but this helps. Which lead to the next point: mixing and matching ideas. Try to bring many ideas together. And think beyond themes; plot and character and even atmosphere are also part of this. I am working on a novella that I started because of the atmosphere of an album cover by a metal band: The Xun Protectorate by Khonsu. Just be creative.

With regard to authors being reflected in their own stories, I've never been aware of this as I'm reading, but I remember being very surprised to discover after finishing the book that E. M. Forster wrote himself into A Room With A View. He saw himself as the very unappealing, dislikeable Cecil Vyse, and I've read that one or two other famous authors wrote themselves into their books as the most socially awkward character.

All art is a reflection, reaction, or rejection of our life experience, it can't be otherwise. Everything a character does in a story, whether the author would endorse it or not, can only exist in context to their own experiences and moral framework. I think this is what is meant when he says, "every character is a representation of yourself", not that every character is like you, but that every character, no matter how much you twist them around, ultimately stems from your world view. But it's not about what we commonly think about as a "self-insert". Honestly I don't think it's something to worry about over much, other than by being aware of it gaining more control over how we bend, twist, spindle, or mutilate our worldview in service of a character. Ultimately though, we'll always be chained to ourselves, the best we can do is lengthen the chain by broadening our experiences.

I listen to all kinds of music when I'm writing my novel. I'm terrible and connecting music to the novel itself though, so I go for character lists.

I am currently working on a draft of my story for 2.5 months. It's a story I have been thinking of writing about since 2017. And it's based on a true story that happened in my life. I guess I just would like to know your thoughts on writing story that's based on true story and life experiences and what would I have to pay more attention/what would be challenging in doing this kind of writing

About advice number three and authors putting themselves into their characters - how many of Stephen King's main characters are writers? 🤣