This is potentially going to be one of the more vague ‘writing tips’ but the more I think about it, the more important it probably is. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t have any degrees or ‘qualifications’ in writing, nor did I do very well at school, I’m not that flash at knowing all the grammatical rules and I don’t even read that much.

There’s very few technical check boxes that I tick to be a ‘writer’, yet I’ve somehow carved out more of a career as one than most. All that stuff is great to have, so this is not a slight on any of it, it’s probably an advantage if you do, but the good news for those who also don’t have any of that stuff is that it really doesn’t matter as much as you might think.

Writing became a way for me to find clarity in my chaotic brain. A way of organising the round pinball machine screwed to my neck that someone at the factory decided to permanently set on multi-ball. You often hear people say ‘writing is thinking’, especially now as a way of warning people of leaning too heavily on AI. As far as Im concerned, they’re completely right. I use AI a lot, I’ve coded my own AI, programmed bots, increased the pace of my strategic thinking, as a way of extracting and visualising ideas in my head, but never to do the writing (when it comes to writing and ideas I get AI to prompt me).

Because the writing itself is the unravelling of the mind. It’s the unkinking of the knots, the digging of the subconscious, the panning for gold, (I’m running out of metaphors here, the unshelling of the prawn, the unzipping of the 1992 Charlotte Hornets Starter jacket, ok I’ll stop), and I genuinely don’t often know what I’m going to write until I sit down and let it all out. Even now. I’m just sitting on the deck in the backyard writing this with little agenda other than to see what surfaces. Hopefully it’s not shit. Apologies if so.

I reckon I learnt how to channel my thoughts by taking informal mentorship from people far more talented and clever than I.

I think it’s quite important, then, to pay attention to those you pay attention to. Intelligence and talent aside, there are some who are considerably better at expressing their unravelled thoughts than others. (There are also people who say shit like ‘the windmills are driving the whales crazy’ and ‘they spent 8 million making the mice transgender’ and became President, so I could be totally off the mark here.) I owe more to these ‘great articulators’ of the world, irregardless of vocation, than I perhaps do ‘authors’. (Some are authors, I’m just saying not all.) Think about the people that captivate you when they communicate. Singers, actors, comedians, philosophers, even heaven forbid, politicians (shudder), and the generally interesting and insightful people in whom you find clarity. Those that have a way of scything through the waves of bullshit we’re all forced to endure on a daily basis. If you pay close attention, there’s lessons to be learned from these people purely by osmosis.

These informal mentors are going to be different for everybody, as we all have different brains and different taste and have lived different lives, so you just need to tune into your internal radar and find where you feel the calm. It might be the way Rick Rubin can listen to an expert on any topic from nu metal to thermodynamics to abstract art and then respond with a single sentence that perfectly sums up the last 45 minutes. Anthony Bourdain (someone I dearly miss) can summarise the joy and the beauty of the human experience through sitting on an old plastic chair in a laneway and eating a bowl of soup with a bunch of people who don’t even speak the same language. Ethel Cain can sing from a perspective, of growing up trans in a southern baptist family, that none of us can directly understand yet immediately feel rip through our body. It could be the poise of Barack Obama, the considered genius of RZA, the disarmingly natural delivery of Emma Stone, the rhythmically sardonic melodies of Maynard James Keenan. Or it could simply be the jarring delivery of Jordan Jensen or whimsical storytelling of Billy Connolly. Comedians are great when it comes to delivery.

I suppose what I’m getting at is that writing isn’t simply ‘words on the page’. The words that we write on the page only come to life once they are interpreted by another human’s brain. And the way in which they are delivered can completely alter that interpretation. Part of that process is putting ourselves in our audience’s shoes, but a similarly significant part is how we channel those thoughts through ourselves first. And the world is full of inspiration when it comes to that.

And, for that, the best advice I can give is to pay attention to those you pay attention to.

On a completely unrelated note (or maybe not?), I’ve started up a bit of a side project called ‘Comics I can’t even draw’. Which is basically that. Comics I can’t draw. I’ve always loved single-panel comics, but never been able to draw them they way I’d like. So I’m playing with AI as a way to bring them to life. Maybe one day I’ll try to actually draw them. Who knows. Check it out and chuck a follow.

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^{Writing tip #1} 

^{DON’T CHAIN YOURSELF TO A WHEEL}

^{Writing tip #2} 

^{READ YOUR SHIT OUT LOUD}

^{Writing tip #3} 

^{WRITERS DON’T NEED TO READ} 

^{Writing tip #4} 

^{MANIFESTOS MAKE MILLIONS} 

^{Writing tip #5} 

^{STRAIGHT HEADLINE, TWISTED VISUAL ISN’T JUST FOR PRINT}

^{Writing tip #6}

^{PUT SOME ORDER AROUND YOUR CHAOS}

^{Writing tip #7}

^{BECOME THE BEST PRESENTER IN THE AGENCY}

^{Writing tip #8}

^{CRAFT YOUR SCRIPTS AS YOU WOULD SHARPEN A BLADE}

^{Writing tip #9}

^{CAN YOU BE MORE SPECIFIC?}

^{Writing tip #10}

^{15 SECONDS IS STILL 15 SECONDS}

^{Writing tip #11}

^{NEVER BE CONTENT}

^{Writing tip #12}

^{THINK THE OPPOSITE}

^{Writing tip #13}

^{SEE YOUR SCRIPTS FIRST, THEN WRITE}

^{Writing tip #14}

^{MISIDRECTION AND HOW TO PASS LIKE MAGIC}

^{Writing tip #15}

^{TURN A PHRASE INTO YOUR OWN}

^{Writing tip #16}

^{HUMANISE THE PRODUCT}

^{Writing tip #17}

^{IF THERE’S NO TENSION, IT’S NOT INTERESTING}

^{Writing tip #18}

^{BE MORE LIKE BATMAN}