Tips for being a good writer

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RosieMoonflower
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Tips for being a good writer

Post by RosieMoonflower »

Hello all, I’m a story teller by nature. I’ve wanted to be an author since I was a child but for one reason or another I never pursued it. But, now in my 30’s I feel it’s time to begin. Maybe I just needed that much life experience so I had some good stories to tell? Anyways, I know I want to write fiction. From there I may branch out into non-fiction, I have some ideas for biographies. If anyone has any tips or advice for new writers, I’d appreciate you sharing it.

Rosie
Last edited by Firebird on Mon Jan 18, 2021 11:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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SpiritTalker
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Re: Tips for being a good writer

Post by SpiritTalker »

Llewellyn used to post a writers guide on their site. There are others available.

Just write the way you'd like to read & enjoy the story yourself. Leave some things to the reader's imagination to personalize scenes & characters but be thorough on the plot.

Characters with quirks are more believable. Real-life not super models.

You can always tell when an author has become bored with their own story when they rush to wrap up the ending.

Back up daily.

Back in my college list of odd-jobs I'd earned change & free coffee manually typing in triplicate for an academic author - colleges breed them. Everything had to be double spaced, 1.5" margins. It made for some hefty manuscripts but allowed for editing. I think computers do it all now. She had an agent & said every author needs one.
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RosieMoonflower
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Re: Tips for being a good writer

Post by RosieMoonflower »

Thanks @Spirittalker! I had hoped I’d get more responses than this but may there aren’t as many active writers who visit the forum daily atm.. I’ve started my first story. Its the story of my friend and I on our first backpacking trip, but writing it as a fiction novel and changing names, lol. Downloaded a little app for writers so I can work on it at random times in the day when I have a few minutes. We’ll see how it turns out, if anything it will be good practice.

Rosie
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moondustandunicorns
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Re: Tips for being a good writer

Post by moondustandunicorns »

Hey Rosie,

I find it easiest when I do an outline for my books. Even if it's a basic one that just follows the three acts. But generally I do a breakdown of each chapter and what will happen in it. Later on I don't have to necessarily stick to everything in the outline if something comes up, but it gives me a guideline so I don't ramble on.

The other thing that is important is that you make time to write every day. Even if you sit in front of your screen and only one or two words work by the end, it's progress. Like anything else, until you start doing it daily, your mind doesn't get in the habit of creating daily.

There are some great writer's forums out there and they will give you feedback on your work. Absolute Writers has a great forum for that. They also have lots of tips and advice for writers.

Also, there is a free event you might be interested in. It takes place every November. It's called National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). You can sign up for it and there are loads of writers there who all try to write 50,000 words in the month of November. It's an absolute blast!

I know I'm coming up to this late, but I hope some of these tips help. :)

AJ
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TwilightDancer
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Re: Tips for being a good writer

Post by TwilightDancer »

moondustandunicorns wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 12:59 pm I find it easiest when I do an outline for my books. Even if it's a basic one that just follows the three acts. But generally I do a breakdown of each chapter and what will happen in it. Later on I don't have to necessarily stick to everything in the outline if something comes up, but it gives me a guideline so I don't ramble on.
Fellow writer here. :fairy:

Just to second what Moondust said, I find outlines very helpful and use them in all of my novels. My layout is usually done bullet-point style with things I'd like to happen in each chapter and having one is immensely helpful with pacing.

Also, beware the white-room syndrome.
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Re: Tips for being a good writer

Post by SapphireRoad »

I'm good at imagination and bad at structure, that's why I'm poor. (although Andre Breton in one of his essays (Amour Fou, Connected Vessels or Nadja - I don't remember which) defined his poverty as ability to not bow down to filthy compromises)

So to foster creativity, one thing to do is live and let things mature a bit, if subject hangs in your mind over a week you will remember it and put your emotions in it and that will establish connection with people.

If you have a feeling like this is time to write or be lazy, just go writing and inspiration will come. Neglecting the urge to write because of laziness is like neglecting work-out - you know you missed what you had to do.

You can either invoke muses for inspiration, or keep doing one kind of art often enough that muses keep hanging around you and then, there is a lot of inspiration coming in.

I guess if you're writing for industry with deadlines you can skip the 100% originality and write only 30% of something new, while filling the rest with a mandatory garbage to keep the machine going.
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Jjapsen
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Re: Tips for being a good writer

Post by Jjapsen »

The best tip that I have gotten so far: Just write. If you are inspired use that inspiration as much as you can and take care of the technicalities later. It's a first draft, not the finished story. Chances are you will edit it at least once anyway, so don`t break your writing flow to correct your grammar or to find just the right phrasing. You can still do that at a later point.
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