Hello, Visionaries! Today I've got a post for the beginners among us or even just those looking to improve their craft some more. These tips are pretty universal and have helped me a ton!
I hope you guys enjoy today's post!
When you’re first starting out as a writer, all the info can be a little daunting, or maybe you haven’t even got to that part of writing yet. Maybe you just like taking the stories in your head and writing them down. That’s totally okay. Whatever stage of a beginning writer, or advanced writer, you find yourself at, these tips should help!
When I first started writing, I just wrote down my story ideas, and then I shifted and started listening and reading everything I could about writing, which soon led to being overwhelmed. Everyone has a different opinion on how you should write a book, but as Go Teen Writers say in their book, Go Teen Writer: Write Your Novel, “There is no one right way to write a novel.” If there was someone would be a millionaire already. We’d all be successful, and life would be much easier for writers.
But since it doesn’t work like that, let’s look at three ways you can start improving your writing! They may seem obvious, but trust me, they help!
1. Rewrite a Classic
This doesn’t mean you have to rewrite the whole book, just a paragraph or a chapter. Pick your favorite part of a classic and rewrite it in your own words. How would you have written the scene differently?
Then once you do that, try rewriting the scene from a different POV and focus on showing instead of telling. Something you’ll notice with a lot of classics is they tend to do a lot of telling because not so long ago it didn’t matter. But now you have to show, not tell. So try it out.
2. Read with Intention
Read a lot of books, in all different genres. Fantasy, contemporary, classics, thriller, mystery, anything and everything you are comfortable with! Try out Middle-Grade books, Young Adult, New Adult, Children's, and Adult…and read with intention. Notice how the writers describe things differently in different genres and age categories.
Notice the way your favorite author describes the sky or the character's eyes. Read with the intent of learning all you can from the writer. This has helped me learn what I like to write and what I don’t and helped me experiment in my own writing with new styles and voices!
3. Pray Before you Write
I see a real difference in my writing when I pray before I start. I don’t always remember to do it, but when I ask God to guide my writing and to help me write the story He would have me write, the words come so much better!
So, don’t forget to involve your Creator in your creative process!
And that’s 3 tips for improving your craft as a beginning writer! Let me know if that was helpful!