How to get Better as a Writer: The Truth
There are a few things that worked for every writer
There’s no easy way to become a great writer.
There are ways to get better that have worked for other people.
1. Read in your genre.
You discover what exactly you’re trying to write.
It gives you a rolodex of techniques writers use to accomplish things.
Options you have with plot.
You can start in the middle and tell us the rest.
Start at the end and tell us everything.
Duex Ex Machina
Introduce the character that saves everyone from the beginning.
Describe a characters face.
A.) Have another character describe the protagonist.¹
B.) Wipe the characters memory so they discover their own face alongside you.²
C.) Have the character in a disassociated state looking in the mirror.³
D.) Have them wonder how that face can stand for the complex person they are.⁴
E.) Have a beautiful person describe how sentiments of beauty feel.
they’d tell me how pretty I was — but that comment really said nothing about me — Emma Lindsay
Understand of the rules behind those methods.
Describing a persons face.
Looking in the mirror describes vanity.
Otherwise, set up a situation where it’s natural to think about how you look.
That is the benefit of a writer reading books.
2.) Writing is the purpose of a writer.
There is no better way to get good at something than doing it often and for many years.
Writing is the only thing that will make you a better writer.
3.) Get feedback: the input guiding you how to write.
Writing for yourself has it’s benefits.
Writing for others came be far more rewarding.
Writing in an easily digestible form is impossible without feedback.
You can’t read your own writing without letting bias in.
Getting an interested outside opinion is the easiest way to figure out what you are doing well, and what needs work.
With that information, you can direct your efforts to correct your mistakes and capitalize on your strengths.
Editing your own work is the deliberate practice of a writer.
When you hit 10,000 hours of rewriting, you’ll be a skilled writer — Venkatesh Rao
Editing gets you to see what you’ve written from a position of reflection and optimization.
You see mistakes made and errors missed.
Editing is when you improve and grow.
Editing makes a huge difference. If it doesn’t, you aren’t doing it right.
That’s the writing process.
It has to be repeated again and again throughout your writing journey.
That’s the work of the writer. Used over and over for years and months will make you a great writer.
That’s all there’s to it.
Writing, editing, getting feedback aren’t the hard things.
Doing battle by choosing to write day after day, going on despite the rejection a writer faces, choosing writing above more socially acceptable things, and finishing.
Then starting again.
As much as we want a secret that we are missing, a secret to success — it doesn’t exist without the work of writing.
There’s a caveat here.
Some strategies help make you a better writer.
1.) Write every day.
Writing at least 300 words a day.
Start small.
I will think what to write every single day.
I will write something every single day.
Meeting this goal should be doable, but not too easy as well.
Starting to meet these goals turns writing from something fun you do when you have time into something that’s a required part of your day to feel happy.
2.) Write things you aren’t ready to write.
Some ideas are scary to write out.
A skill, understanding of the world, or writing ability isn’t quite good enough.
That’s where the possibility of growth lies.
Doing something hard puts you in a situation were stagnation means failure.
The only way to succeed is to grow.
Choose something challenging that isn’t so hard it crushes your motivation.
Repeated failure is a motivation crusher.
Success and growth keep you coming back day after day.
It’s hijacking your reward system to work for you instead of being led around by it.
3.) Take breaks from writing.
Writing can’t be forced.
Sit at your desk writing until the ideas stop flowing.
Take a short break.
Check facebook or whatever then return to writing.
Those things make a great writer.
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