Supercharge Your Writing Skills
The act of writing is a wonderful thing. It can mean many things for many different people. For some, it might be considered an exercise in stress release. For others, a great way to express certain ideas that they might not be able to verbalize to others. Some people may use it to create fantastical new worlds where anything might be possible. Whatever the reason for writing, it is an amazing outlet that can be used in many different ways. As a writer myself, I want to explain some of the tips that I use to increase my own productivity and continue to build my drive to continue writing.
Every Day
First up, there is a tip that I have heard in many different places before. It might sound like a cliché piece of advice, but it is absolutely true. Practice writing every day. I believe that writing is like a muscle: the more you use it, the stronger it will be; the more you write, the better your writing will become.
One of the best tools I have found to accomplish this is writing something every single day. Even if what you write is something very small, it is very important that you exercise your mind each day and expand upon your story. If you can manage to write every day, the little pieces will begin adding up very quickly. I won’t say that I have managed to do this consistently myself, but it is still one of the best pieces of advice that I would give. And practice makes perfect!
You Know More than You Think
Write what you know, and you know more than you think you do. This is perhaps a lesser-known bit of advice that not everyone uses, but I find it’s quite useful to my own style of writing. I have been told before to write about things that you know. This can be very useful as it gives you real life experiences to draw on when creating new characters, new worlds or new situations.
If you, my readers, have experienced something in person it is much easier to write about it then if you only heard about it from someone else. In the act of the experience, I believe that you gain a deeper understanding of the situation and then you can always apply that to a similar situation within the story.
Edit Too Soon?
Next in our lineup of writing tips, we come to something that I have struggled with doing myself for several years. The advice is to write things first and edit them later. It can be terribly tempting to go back and re-edit everything wrong or inconsistent the moment you see it. However, if you attempt to write a long-form story in this way you will end up significantly increasing the time it takes to complete your work. It is always very important to get the initial first draft completed before going back and making edits.
A resource that I have found to be useful are beta readers; I’ve even been one myself. These are people you know who will give you an honest opinion about your story. It’s always smart to use a second pair of eyes. They will offer you constructive criticism on what can be improved and often catch minor mistakes you didn’t see yourself. In this way, you are effectively building the best version of your story you can before sending it to a potential publisher for printing.
Ideas?
The Internet itself can be an amazing source for writers. However, there is one aspect that I really like what I am writing. There are many websites out there that will provide you with writing prompts if you are lacking in initial idea. One thing I always enjoy doing is taking two or even three writing prompts. I normally shift pieces of them around until I come up with my own original writing prompt. I believe it’s very important that if you are writing something you are writing it first and foremost because you want to. Taking the best bits from different prompts allows you to come up with a truly unique starting point for whatever story you are trying to create.
What are you Waiting For?
Writing is an enormous field on which to perform, and the audience will always want more stories. Whether you are a professional author, writing just for fun or simply want to express yourself, there is something in writing for everyone. Pick up your pens, sit down at your keyboard, and jump-start your minds. Happy writing, everyone.
