Writing can be one of the most freeing or enslaving tasks one might take upon themselves. If you are writing a blog post, novel, or paper, it can go from being enjoyable to torturous pretty quick. While I am still growing in my abilities to write, there are a few tips that I believe changed the way I viewed writing. The more you can grow in your ability to write, hopefully the more enjoyable writing will become. Here the the Top Five Tips to grow in your writing skills.
Tip #1: Start Right Now
Don’t sit around and think, you will have time for that later. If you have a burning thought or idea, just start getting out on paper or on a word document. Too often people expect to write a master piece on the first draft, but that never happens. Some of the best ideas happen when we are willing to write them down and then let them slowly develop. So if you have an idea for even one scene of a novel or one paragraph of a blog post, just start writing.
Tip #2: Follow
This one has to be my favorite tip because you never know where you may end up. This tip is particular applicable to writing a novel or fictional piece. When you are writing about a character, just follow them. Imagine yourself as a fly on the wall simply watching your character (or characters). You want to let them be themselves and try you best not to interfere. I know that may sound crazy, but it has help me a lot to begin to make my characters seem believable, even to me.
Tip #3: Show Don’t Tell
This may be the most common piece of advice ever given. It comes down to this: You want your reader to see, hear, smell, taste, and feel, not just read. You goal is to draw them into your story. You want them to feel the pain that the character feels, cry their tears, laugh their laughs. It is easy to tell a story, but when someone witnesses it, its a entirely different experience. Doing this takes time and extreme effort, and I am still learning how. Great ways to start doing this is by describing scenes and situations with sensory images. (Examples: “The air tasted dusty”, “my ears rung from the blast”, “her eyes watered from the smell”, “he felt the warmth of blood begin to swell under his armor”.) Those are some really basic ways to begin “showing” and not “telling”.
Tip #4: Have A Vision
You should have some big idea that you want to accomplish. It does not always have to be 100% clear, but you should be able to have at least one main goal for your piece of writing. If it’s a novel, you should have the main message of the book in mind, or maybe the climatic scene in mind, or even the conclusion of the book in mind. If it is a blog post, have maybe your title, or you main paragraph in mind. Why do this? Because if you have at least one concrete summary idea for your story or post, it keeps you grounded when writing all your details surrounding that great moment, subject, or ending. Also, you should like your vision. If you do not like the big idea or moment for you post or novel, then I highly suggest re-thinking you vision.
Tip #5: Never Give Up
This one could have gone unsaid, but I believe it is the one tip that we seldom remember. Regardless of how accomplished you are in your writing, there may always be that temptation to give up. Let me clarify, giving up means to stop all together, so starting over on a project is not giving up. Do not be afraid to start over, but do be afraid of giving up all-together. Writing takes time, effort, humility, and patience. If you are unwilling to devote those things, then really think about why you are writing in the first place. A master piece is a master piece when you can tell someone put blood, sweat, and tears into their work.
I conclusion, I really believe these five tips have greatly helped me and my writing. They have given me hope, and kept me learning. If you have any other great tips for writing, feel free to leave them in the comments below, and they may be on the next “Writing” blog post!
This is Daniel James, Signing Out
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