As you may know, this month is the tenth anniversary of Romancing the Genres. I’m so proud to be a part of this amazing group of bloggers. Happy anniversary and a big thank you to Judith and Sarah, our fearless leaders!
Since this month’s theme is “10” and we have a lot of followers who are writers, here are my top 10 tips for writers of any age or genre.
1. There are no rules, just guidelines. Never believe anyone who says “always” or “never.” (See what I did there?! 😉) Sometimes guidelines are important; you probably need a plot and characters to write a book. But sometimes they sound like the law when they aren’t; you have my permission to try using adverbs or whatever other “never” you’ve been told to avoid.
2. Write often! Some writers write every day, and some make time in their weekly or monthly calendar. But writing is a practice, and the best way to get better at it is to practice as much as you can. Once you find a schedule that works for you, incorporate it into your regular routine and stick to it.
3. Read often! Reading is fun for many of us, but it also lets you see great examples of writing and notice what works in structure, character, and so on. Read widely and make it part of your writing life.
4. Discover your own writing style. This kind of goes with #1 above, but there’s more than one right answer to the question of how to write. Your writing voice is unique, and your style may be different from your favorite author’s. Don’t feel like you have to copy them to be a good writer.
5. Organize your writing thoughts. If you’re a pantser (write by the seat of your pants), then you’ll want to take notes as things occur to you. If you’re a plotter (plan things out), you’ll want to write down your outline or whatever system you use. Or maybe you do a little of both. At any rate, have a place to keep notes, drafts, and such, whether it’s in a notebook, phone, laptop, etc. It’s frustrating to lose a brilliant idea before you capture it, or not be able to find that piece of paper later.
6. Back up your electronic writing. You don’t want to lose weeks or months of work when your computer dies, so save and back up your writing on a USB drive, on the Cloud, whatever system is easy for you to use.
7. Join a writing group. It might be in a particular genre, like RWA for romance writers or SCBWI for kidlit and YA writers, or it might be a general writing group. But it’s helpful to work with other writers to find fellowship and learn more about the writing craft.
8. Share critiques. One of the best ways to sharpen your writing skills is to critique with a partner or small group. Showing others your work and writing critiques for your peers is an excellent way to refine your writing and help others. (To find a critique partner or group and learn how to give constructive critiques, check with writing groups as mentioned above.)
9. Write-revise-repeat. Keep in mind that most writers make many revisions to turn their messy first drafts into polished prose or poetry. Don’t compare your early draft to what you see on the printed page or on your Kindle. Be prepared to put in many hours of work to get your writing to that stage.
10. Never give up! Most of us write for years before we are published. I worked on my first novel for about three years, and I learned a lot from that project. It’s still unpublished, but that’s okay—that was part of my writing education. My first published novel took seven years from first draft to book in hand. Your mileage may vary, but you should be in it for the long haul. As they say, writing is a marathon, not a sprint. At the same time, it’s worth it. I love what I do, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Keep on writing!
Do you have any questions, or tips to share? Please comment below.
Lynn Lovegreen has lived in Alaska for over fifty years. After twenty years in the classroom, she retired to make more time for writing. She enjoys her friends and family, reading, and volunteering at her local library. Her young adult historical fiction is set in Alaska, a great place for drama, romance, and independent characters. See her website at www.lynnlovegreen.com. You can also find her on Facebook and Instagram.
3 comments:
Lynn, your #1 is so important! Figuring out our own writing process can take (in my case) years! It's one of the reasons it took me so long to finish that first book...once I realized I'm a pantser and write linear and write with minimal description I was able to finish the first draft.
When I'm working on a book I write 3 - 5 hours every day and can finish the first draft in 4 - 6 weeks. I now know my "weaknesses" but ignore them and get that first draft done. When I go back through, I know to put clothes on my characters, furniture in the room, etc. Oh, and watch out for the word "as" one of my very favorites so it can show up multiple times on a page or even a paragraph.
Thanks for sharing your experience, Judith!
Lynn, this is a great list! I loved every one of them and agreed wholeheartedly. One more thing I would add is that your list is not in any specific order. Everyone tackles those 10 steps differently.
For me, I needed some rules when I started. Once I got past the first book or two, I felt confident to get rid of a few of those rules. Also #4- Discover your own writing style (aka Voice) - is something I didn't really learn until book 4 or 5. Fortunately, I had an editor who pointed out I had a writing style of my own (who knew?). But it still took me a while to recognize what it was and capitalize on it.
The final one also really speaks to me. Never give up! There have been times in my life when I didn't give up, but I also didn't write because things were very complicated outside of writing. For many people, the pandemic has been that time as well. But even when I wasn't writing, I was thinking about writing and preparing to write and taking notes for ideas and books and articles and much more.
Always glad to see your posts here, Lynn. Thanks for a great list of ten wonderful writing points.
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