![smoking-918884_640.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmVApSQeRAMBQkniCF7TEBYfYGFuQmjpQEpWoRXvqYfHRa/smoking-918884_640.jpg)

# Write about the unnatural
A story is nothing but a series of strange occurrences. Otherwise, it’s just an itinerary. If you write, “John got up and brushed his teeth, toothpaste mingling with the bristles,” this tells me absolutely nothing. Every time someone brushes their teeth, toothpaste mingles with the bristles. If you’re going to mention John brushing his teeth at all, it should be strange enough to warrant mention. Maybe John can’t feel his teeth when he brushes them, or he brushes his teeth with battery acid, or when he picks up the brush it’s full of hairs from his dead mother’s head. And if John brushing his teeth doesn’t contribute in some significant way to the story, leave it out.

# Write in details 
Give me writing that snaps its jaws when I touch its spine. Don’t say that you're angry, jump on your ex-girlfriend’s car while wearing a bear mask and boots made out of her cat’s skin. Don’t say that she looked pretty, touch her hair and her skin and tell me that she plays like a  cigar case dulcimer. For the most part, we’re concrete thinkers. Our worlds are object oriented. We like to pick up pomegranate seeds and drink hazelnut coffee and compare love to a man carrying trash over a river. When readers look back on your story, they will remember the details better than any abstract, metaphysical, or vague parts about love or something equally ridiculous.

# Destroy yourself. 

Writers, we are the masochists of the world. The way to not be a boring writer is to not be boring. The way to not be boring is to do interesting things, and not wait for interesting things to happen to you. In whatever you do, push yourself to the boundaries of what is comfortable.

Whether this is traveling across the country or sleeping outside in the backyard because it’s a little colder than you’re used to. Say something you never meant, lie to see if you can get away with it, become a romantic for one afternoon. Get out of the car and lock your keys inside. Lure them into the woods. Put rocks in your pocket and see who pulls you up when you throw yourself into the river.

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![tumblr_o3fvsjD8tw1qmvvt6o1_1280.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmQjrrhx5qYfjSJPBCVMGcZiaRf3Zm5MTc17BLjnd4Qcw3/tumblr_o3fvsjD8tw1qmvvt6o1_1280.png)

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