What are good ways to improve as a writer other than writing courses?
As a novice writer to improve my writing I have taken one online course. I want to ask, what are good ways to improve as a writer other than writing courses?
I think you need to distinguish four aspects of writing and focus on the ones that you most want to improve on. They are …
5y ago
Other answers have already covered rather well the benefits you can get from both writing and reading so I won't rehash …
5y ago
How do you learn anything? By practicing it. And no, you don't learn to write by reading. That is a huge misconception. …
5y ago
I will disagree with everyone! The best way to improve as a writer is to analyze how writers you really like, of book …
5y ago
The best way to improve as a writer is to write. Just write. Then write some more. Then look at what you've written crit …
5y ago
Reading! Read for pleasure, and in the field you want to write in. - Sometimes, read strategically, analyzing a paragra …
5y ago
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How do you learn anything? By practicing it.
And no, you don't learn to write by reading. That is a huge misconception. By reading you acquire knowledge about how stories work. And if you read "with a writer's eye," you may pick up a few things about how storytelling works. But you don't learn to write.
You don't learn to play the violin by listening to violin music. You learn rhythm and build an ear for music, but you don't acquire even the bare basic motor skills necessary to press the strings in the right places and move the bow in the right way.
The only way to learn how to write is by writing. The only way to learn to write a novel, for example, is by writing a novel and then...
Write the next novel.
That's what it comes down to. Don't do writing "exercises". Don't spend years polishing that first failure. Simply write the next book. Again and again and again, until you get it right.
I always say this, but it cannot be repeated often enough: The ability to write, i.e. the ability to draw lettershapes to note down language, is not the same as the ability to write, i.e. the ability to narrate a story in an entertaining way. One doesn't have anything to do with the other. You can write something that is not a story; and you can narrate a story without writing text (e.g. verbally or in images such as in a movie or comic book). So it is vitally important to acknowledge that just because you can write text doesn't mean that you can write stories. You cannot. You can't swim just because you can move your arms.
It is interesting how everyone knows that every skill from drawing to speaking a language takes a huge effort and a long time to learn, but at the same time almost all novice writers believe that all they have to do to become bestelling authors is sit down and "write" (meaning 1).
If you want to know how to learn writing, the best perspective is to think of learning the violin. You will need years to learn the very basics, and you will need to write (meaning 2) many works before you get one right.
When you want to learn writing you need diligence, tenacity, and perseverance.
So write a book and then write the next. That's all. Very simple.
One note.
I don't mean to say that you don't need to read to learn to write. Of course you do. You cannot learn to play the violin without listening to music. But you don't learn to play from listening, and you don't learn to write from reading. Reading is a prerequisite to writing, but most readers cannot write. Just as most people who listen to music avidly cannot play an instrument.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47205. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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I think you need to distinguish four aspects of writing and focus on the ones that you most want to improve on. They are:
The mechanics of writing: Sentence structure, punctuation, etc. For this books and/or classes on grammar and composition may be useful.
The craft of writing: This has to do with the mechanics of what a story is, how to create and sustain the interest of readers, etc. There are lots of books and courses available on this. Some courses focus on the craft of writing, and some focus on the mechanics or the art, so if you take one, make sure you get the one you are most interested in. The books and the courses will teach you the basic structures of story and give you a vocabulary for talking about them. (The vocabulary of the hero's journey is particularly valuable in this regard.) Once you have that, you can begin to read with attention, meaning that you look for how the writers you read are using the elements of craft and structure as they build their books.
The art of writing: This has to do with the beauty and the depth of the works you create. Art usually exists on top of the structure created by craft, though some experimental works depart from it (and are seldom read as a consequence). If you take an MFA, you are likely to find a focus on art, as opposed to the focus on craft you would expect to get from something like Writer's Digest. But art cannot really be taught the way craft can. Art is largely a matter of vision, and while vision can be encouraged and fostered by exposure to and discussion of great art, there is no process for vision and therefore no process for art. You don't so much learn art as develop it. But you don't need art to be a successful commercial author. Plenty of authors make good livings, or even millions, on craft alone.
The business of writing: Publishing is a commercial enterprise. It exists to make money for shareholders by selling books, and it focuses on finding and producing the types of books that it can sell at a profit. This means that it looks for books that address certain specific market segments, which, in publishing, are defined by genres. Each genre had a certain set of expectations that readers bring to the books they buy, and certain constraints about length, language, spiciness, etc. Genres and sub-genres and certain themes and subjects within genres go in an out of fashion, so a book that made money last year may not make money next year. Trying to get the industry to accept something that is not addressing current genre tastes, while not impossible, can be very difficult. To learn about the publishing business, look for books and websites on the business side of writing, but also be aware that the business side is in constant flux, so you can't just learn it once and forget it, you have to keep up.
But beyond all that there are the basics: Read a lot. Read with attention. Write a lot. Write with intention. Get as much dispassionate feedback as you can.
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Other answers have already covered rather well the benefits you can get from both writing and reading so I won't rehash those but rather to add another - get feedback.
Join a local writers group or an online one where you can get regular feedback from others on your work. If you keep writing the same way over and over without this all you'll do is keep making the same mistakes over and over.
Ideally you want these people not to come from your family or existing social circles because they will be less likely to be honest about what they didn't like, and if you want to improve you need to know both what people liked about the writing and what they didn't.
I will disagree with everyone!
The best way to improve as a writer is to analyze how writers you really like, of books you really like, accomplished what they did.
Don't just read them, that quickly descends into story immersion and entertainment, you aren't really learning anything. You have to read analytically, you need to pick apart those conversations you love, and try to figure out what makes them work. Not just "you love them," but why you love them.
The same thing for exposition, or descriptions. How much did the author really say? Do they describe their characters in exhausting detail, or not much at all? How much is "enough" detail?
When they don't describe characters much, how did you get an idea of how they look? Could your notion of that differ from others?
How much do they show in terms of appearance, instead of telling you? For example, I can tell you Jack is very tall, or I can show you Jack is very tall by having him do something only a very tall person can do: Get something off a high shelf without tip-toeing to do it. Reflexively ducking to not hit his head on the door header. Accidentally getting hit in the head by a ceiling fan (I saw that happen).
How does that author start conversations? How do they end them?
How do they open chapters? How much exposition is used to describe a new setting? Count how many details they use. What senses do they appeal to; is it just sight and sound? How often do they appeal to smell, or touch, or the sensing of temperature or humidity?
How long are their chapters? A page is 250-300 words, measure it in pages.
How long are their books?
How long are their scenes?
All these metrics are things you should be thinking about, and should try to internalize and emulate, so when you are writing you are writing like what you already perceive is a great author.
Take notes. You will never learn these things if you just read, read, read for entertainment, because all of these things fly under the radar. You actually have to think about them to notice them, or notice a pattern.
When I first got the urge to write (long ago), I wrote some crap, realized it was crap, and taught myself to write by analytic reading of a handful of authors I thought were fantastic. I remember spending about a month going through just first chapters, trying to figure out how they opened a story. (Online resources did not exist then.)
There are mechanisms, and tricks they use to give readers "just enough" information to aid or trigger the imagination, without getting verbose and boring by giving too much detail.
Any online writing courses or advice you have read on story structure is all great, it can help you to identify those structures being used by your favorite authors. But if they really are good authors they have hidden the machinery of what they are doing, and to notice it you have to approach it with a mindset of looking for that machinery, instead of just enjoying the ride. Understand what is effective, and most importantly, why.
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The best way to improve as a writer is to write. Just write. Then write some more. Then look at what you've written critically, ask others to read and comment, then rewrite and write some more.
Courses are a systematised way of doing the above. If having someone tell you "write!" helps you, go ahead. But you have to understand that at the core of them all is the simple imperative - write.
To be able to look at your piece of writing critically, you also need to read. Try to read critically. Notice the author's choice of words, use of tropes, rhetoric elements. Reread works you have enjoyed, to better notice the pins and cogs that make them work. Break those works apart, see what makes them tick, and where they clang.
Telling stories is not like playing a musical instrument. With a musical instrument, you first need to learn how to get it to make a sound at all, you start from learning the letters, and then combining them into words. None of this is "natural" (making music is natural to humans, or at least ubiquitous across human societies - a particular instrument is not). With stories - you already know the words. You've been telling stories your entire life: every time someone asks you "how was the vacation", or "what are your plans", you're telling a story. So it's just a question of honing your skill to achieve mastery of telling stories.
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Reading! Read for pleasure, and in the field you want to write in.
- Sometimes, read strategically, analyzing a paragraph/sentence/section you really like or dislike.
- Sometimes, try to paraphrase an interesting section several times, to observe what different choices might have led to. (The textbook I got this from, Writing Analytically, suggested doing at least 3 iterations to properly separate from the source material.)
- Sometimes do a deliberate plagiarism or "forgery" (not to sell or display to others, but as a learning experience) - trying to use a similar style/structure/vocabulary as the source material, just as painters would try to first copy a specific work of art, and then try to copy that style about a different subject, and then eventually that becomes another tool in creating their OWN style.
- Read books on writing (often tons at libraries and cheap book sales) and DO THE EXERCISES. See if they build sequentially or if you can do random ones.
- Test parameters -- do you write better with music or without? With coffee, tea, water, nothing? In long bursts or can you make progress 20 minutes? Do you like word-count or time-based goals better, or another type? (Make a list of every strategy you encounter, and devote some time to the testing.)
- Do NaNoWriMo, Camp NaNo, month of blog posts, book-in-a-month (which is actually a set-your-own-goal thing), 750words.com, or any of these time-based "challenges". I know some say that they don't help anyone get better, but I think a lot of writers get in their own way, editing instead of proceding. For those who don't consider themselves "writers" at all, it can definitely boost fluency and comfort. Also, the sense that the writing is "disposable," and that the goal IS merely quantity can encourage you to take risks you wouldn't otherwise take, and can encourage you to feel less "precious" about doing the best thing on the first try. (Quantity leads to not feeling so bad about deleting a ton, because you now KNOW you can generate a ton more.)
I'm sure there are more, but these are some of the first things that came to mind.
Source -- I used to teach English 100 at a local university, and I allowed students a fiction/memoir option for part of it. I also taught some strategic reading strategies for the research portions of the class
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