Writing is hard, it is not easy at all. It’s easy to say that writers are just putting words on paper or just typing on a keyboard. If you go backstage of how writers write, it’s not about telling a story, it’s about how good you are at telling a story. But many people who want to be writers struggle with writers’ bock. Stephen King and JK Rowling, describe their struggles of overcoming writer’s block. Many times, writers face difficulties to get started with writing. And Sometimes they think they are not good writers when they are unable to write one good line on paper.
Writing is not a skill, it’s a habit. It is developed over time.No one is born with special skills, we learn them later in our life. To become a writer, you have to go through a lot of phases: Writing the first draft, rewriting, editing, cutting, and repeating.
These are some of the tips for writers who want to become a writer or want to improve their writing skills or polish their writing style and tone. All humans observe and think in different ways. Imagination, thoughts, and strong observations of the surrounding environment make us an artist and writers is one of them. There are bad writers and there are good writers. But there is always room for improvement.
And what Truman Capote said is enough to motivate nanny bad writers in the world.
It takes a lot of bad writing to get to good writing.
Read, read and read:
Have you ever been blown away with the idea of how writers can write that good story that left you surprised at his/her writing skills? All writers are great readers. Anyone can write, but not everyone is a good writer. Some writers write trash, some writers are exceptional when they write. Stephen King, JK Rowling, Ann Handley, Shakespeare, all were great writers because they were avid readers.
Reading new books will help you craft new and unique ideas that broaden and expand your mind’s imagination. Learning new words, critical analysis of how good scenes impact you and the power of thinking will ll add up and will eventually make you a good writer.
Stephen Kings, one of the greatest writers said:
If you want to be a good writer you must do two things above all others: Read a plot and write a lot.”
It’s okay if your first draft is crappy:
You wrote the first draft and it looks awful and pathetic, you deleted the whole text or throw the paper in the bin and your inner self told you that you are not a good writer. You believe it and you just decided to give up writing. Don’t be too quick to judge yourself. Writing is all about practice. It takes a lot of effort to reach a good draft.
When you are writing, just close your eyes, and do not look at what you are writing, just write sentences as it comes to your mind and how the sentences come in your mind, whether you are writing on paper or online, just vomit your thoughts.
Once you are done with all the writing, take your time to look at your draft, see how it looks, make some edits to it. Edit your draft with an eagle eye and keep looking where that sentence is not making sense. Do I need to replace words? Do the tone and style look good with the context? Ask yourself these questions, it will make your writing better than the previous one.
“The first rule of writing is to write. The second rule of writing is to rewrite. The third rule of writing is the same as the second.” ~Paul Raymond Martin
Practice, practice and do some more practice:
If you are an aspiring writer, there is one thing that you should know, a good writer is not made in one day or few weeks. You crammed a few writing rules from a book or you took a course to improve your writing skills.
Can you solve maths questions just by looking at your answers? Will you be able to answer all the questions? You may not be able to answer a single question. You can only master maths by practicing it. The same is with writing, you cannot master the art of writing unless you practice it like crazy. You need to be more consistent as a writer. Shakespeare wrote 500 plays, but only a few of his plays are exceptionally good. No doubt he was a great writer, but he wrote some bad plays that got a lot of hatred.
Practice writing every day, the way you don’t forget to eat food three times a day. No, You don’t have to write three times a day, practice seven days weeks and six will also be okay. And if you are wondering what to write about. Write about how you spend your day, what are your plans for future life, or some funny memory or anything you want to write, even about your favorite pet or favorite show. The purpose is to show up every day. Wite and practice every day. Anything done with keen interest and zeal will make your story better than the previous one. And if you practice this habit for a long time, you will not believe yourself what you were as a writer on the first day and now.
Have one person to read your story:
Have you ever come across a quote: Write for your audience. It means to write for one person only, don’t write for everyone. Once you are done with your writing, have someone around you who can read your story and can give an honest review of what he actually felt while reading your book. His review will help you determine whether your story is worth sharing with the rest of the world.
Stephen King used to write a story and then for feedback, he asks his wife to read the story, his wife will read his story and give him honest feedback, by telling which sentence or scene in the story doesn’t make sense, and where he found the story boring. His wife was the first reader of his many books. If you have someone in your circle whom you trust and can share your story with, give him/her a copy of your story and believe in his/her review. If one person likes your story the rest of the world will too.
Conclusion:
The writing rules are not limited to specific numbers, the list can be as long as you can stretch it. Different writers have different writing rules, and some rules might differ from each other. These are some of the tips from this writing desk of famous writers who have spent their whole life writing stories and these tips are good for aspiring writers who want to polish their writing skills or have a future goal to do magic writing stories for the world.
