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Nov. 20, 2010 Writing is a very difficult thing to do, but rewarding on many levels. Some of us do it for monetary profit or personal development—some do it for both. Whatever the reasons may be, at one point we were all aspiring to be writers. If you’re still in the ‘aspiring’ stage, as I am, here are twelve tips and tricks I picked up along the way. No. 1: Use a Writer’s Notebook This is a very fun and useful thing to do. Go out and buy yourself a nice journal or notebook that you carry with you everywhere. I have a pocket-sized one for when I’m out and about without a bag. If ideas come to you, pull it out and write the idea down. Draw inspiration from life around you. Pay attention to everything: people talking, sounds you hear, things you see, anything at all. Inspiration can come from the places you would least expect. You want to be able to have a way to capture the essence of the idea before it fades away. No. 2: Write Every Day: Writers write. That’s just how it is. We are disciplined, and we don’t give up—the passionate ones, anyway. If you don’t write, you’re not a writer. You’re just one of those people who think they are. No. 3: Think of Yourself as a Product: You and your writing are the product, or the service, if you will. Remember M.P.R: Market, Promote, Repeat. Build a name for yourself. Gain respect. Become known for your writing. No. 4: Gain Experience: You can’t progress if you don’t have experience. But… you can’t get experience if you don’t progress. Wonderful little paradox, isn’t it? Don’t worry though. There’s a way through this gruelling part of one’s writing career. When I say experience, I mean any at all. Do some volunteer writing for publications like IndyKids, a free newspaper that is distributed to more than 200 schools in New York. Write articles that will help people, like this one for example, and submit it to places like EzineArticles, Hubpages, or Useless Knowledge. This is free publicity, and there’s a chance somebody will like what you have to offer and contact you for something bigger. Remember M.P.R? Once you have some experience, you are already on your way. No. 5: Read as Much as You Can: This is like the Holy Grail of tips for a writer—even successful ones. Read in all genres, but especially the one you want to write in. You know how artists have the “Artist’s Eye”? Well, writer’s are blessed with the “Writer’s Eye”. It allows us to critically analyze writing to extract vital information that we can use to our advantage (sounds kind of Sci-Fi). Notice how the author begins the very first chapter, how he deploys details about the setting or the protagonist, and when. These are just a few suggestions. Read bad writing, too, so that you know how not to write (just scour any writing forum and there’s bound to be some pretty poor writing available for your learning benefit). I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the writers who supply us with poorly written prose for our benefit. Without you, we aspiring writers wouldn’t have as much of a chance. No. 6: Develop an Online Presence This helps with No. 3. It’s very important, especially with how active the internet is. Start a blog or website, or become an avid Twitterer. Join You-Tube and become a You-Tuber. Start a fan page on Facebook as a hub for links and announcements to all of these other things. Join writing forums and critique others work (no.5, 2nd par, anybody?), and be sure to put a link to your fan page or website or whatever you want in the signature the forum tags to every post you make. Update your fans often with new work or something to tide them over until you have new work ready. Join Twiends, an online community-developer, to gain followers (Twitter) or hits and views for your blog, website, you-tube channel, or fan page. No. 7: Do Tons of Research on the Craft: Read anything to do with writing-- especially grammar, punctuation, etc. Buy books on writing. Two suggestions: Stephen King’s “On Writing” and The Writer Magazine. Learn the in’s and out’s of the publishing business, how to craft an effective query letter, and write a book proposal (for non-fiction), etc. The internet also has an incredible wealth of information. Tap into this ocean of knowledge. No. 8: Make Friends with Similar Interests “I get by with a little help from my friends” -The Beatles No. 9: Read Your Work Out Loud Reading it out loud helps you isolate any awkward wording or mistakes. No. 10: It’s Okay if You Seem Influenced by another Writer Of course it is. The only reference you have of writing is from other writers. I admit that I am influenced largely by Nicholas Sparks. I was working on a short story collection called “The Chronicles of Life, Death, and Love”, but I realized that a) it sucked, and b) it reeked of Sparks’ influence. Then again, that’s okay. It’s how we learn. As you write more and more, you develop your own style and voice. As a side note, one of the stories in this collection is called “Everlasting”, and it’s about an elderly couple who kill themselves together to avoid any suffering if one died before the other. This way, they could be together forever. See what I mean? No. 11: If it doesn’t Progress the Plot, Get Rid of It Otherwise it just slows your reader down, making them bored. Cut any unnecessary details, too. Who cares that there were slight gaps in between the books on a bookshelf, unless of course, it progresses the plot. I read something on Joyce Shafer’s Ezine article about tightening up writing: “The present letter is a very long one, simply because I had no leisure to make it shorter.”- Blaise Pascal. No. 12: Develop a diamond-tough skin Rejection comes with the position, as do people who think your writing sucks and aren’t afraid to tell you. Take any advice and criticism for what it is: help you should heed. Think for yourself, though. If someone says a certain scene, or something, just doesn’t work, but you feel it’s crucial to the plot-progression, which really is the most crucial part to keep in mind when you write, don’t get rid of it. What you could do is ask why it doesn’t work for them, and figure out how you could improve it, opposed to cutting it. Links for the Aspiring Writer:
1. http://www.writermag.com
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