Most Important Skills a Writer Needs - In My Opinion
If you’ve read my bio, you’ve probably deduced that I am not working in a writing field/career. I am new on the writing scene, however, I have been writing since a young age. What I do for a living, or rather, what I do that pays the bills, currently, requires a great deal of flexibility, self-management, analytic skills, ability to multitask, manage staff and projects, and a whole laundry list of super amazing skills and abilities. Yes, that’s me tooting my horn for a moment. The skills and high level of responsibility I have at work have really come in handy in my writing. Not everyone is great at multitasking; some downright freeze and become completely useless if given more than one task. I on the other hand, excel and flourish in the chaos of multiple projects, rapidly changing expectations, and unforeseen hiccups in well thought out plans. Give me an easy mundane day and I feel off kilter and slower in my work. Throw ten projects at me, all with unrealistic expectation, and some serious magic happens.
Being a great writer requires flexibility, self-management, ability to analyze, and the ability to multitask. These are probably the least discussed skills a writer should have, but are the most important – in my opinion. Without these, you are going to struggle a great deal in telling the stories itching at your skull to be released. Sure, having a good vocabulary (or a good dictionary and thesaurus if you don’t) and having a good understanding of grammar rules (or a great editor if you can afford one) are both very important in being a successful story teller/writer, but these alone will not get those words on paper.
Turning headcanon into sentences, paragraphs, chapters, and eventually novels takes much more than just having a creative mind.
Flexibility: This applies to everything about the writing process - your time, how you write, story development/changes, etcetera. Schedules and goals are great, but if you get so fixated on the rigidity of them, writers block will eventually hit or you will burn out. Set the goals, but if the words don’t come as easily one day, don’t fret over it. Be more concerned with development than the results. If you are sitting staring at a screen or notebook and the words aren’t flowing, reread what you have already written. Re-familiarize yourself with the progress you’ve made and be content if that is all you accomplish in that sitting. Sometimes, a story needs more time to “marinade” in your mind before its ready to come out. Also, if you write storyboards or notes and feel stuck in trying to materialize them into your story, sometimes your story is trying to go in an unplanned direction. Listen to your imagination and trust it. Be willing to make changes as you go along or in the editing phase. I have written countless plans, notes, and chapters in advance for various stories just to have the story take completely different turns as I am writing and I have completely scrapped entire scenes and chapters in the editing phase as a result of my own review or through the recommendation of a beta reader. You and your story will benefit a great deal in your ability to be flexible.
Self-management: I’m not going to discuss time management or disciplining yourself to actually sit down and write on a regular basis. When I speak of self-management, I am speaking of the time you should be doing anything other than writing. We all have our daily responsibilities and they cannot be ignored. Actually, ignoring your other responsibilities can lead to a feeling a guilt, which will lead to distraction. I have experienced this first hand too many times. So, even though you feel eager to get your story out and feel like you should just sit down and write till your fingers fall off and your eyes are popping out of your head, don’t. If you think you will lose an idea unless you get it down, take some quick notes that will jog your memory later, but do not neglect your other responsibilities. Work, family/friends, household chores, errands, etcetera – anything you are responsible for, you need to balance with your writing. Occasional neglect of these tasks won’t completely kill your inspiration, but if you completely shut yourself off from these for an extended period of time, it’s going to work on your psyche enough that it will affect your productivity and your creativity in very negative way. So, if you are feeling uninspired, look around yourself and see if there is something you should be doing, but are ignoring under the excuse that you need to write.
Multitasking: This is not about your ability to sit in front of your computer typing a few sentences on your novel between checking your Twitter timeline, watching the next episode of your favorite TV show, texting, watching your pet doing something silly under your feet, or trying to remember the lyrics of some new tune you heard on the radio so that you can YouTube the music video. These are all distractions and rarely contribute to the successful formation of a novel. Remember that paragraph on self-management? Multitasking piggy-backs on that. While you are being the responsible person you are and taking care of those necessary chores for the health of your psyche and creativity, you can use a good portion of your brain to work on story development. Build scenes, dialog, backstory, characters, and so forth, all in your mind while you are doing the dishes, or giving the floors a good mopping. Tasks like household chores require little brain power as they are simple tasks you have done many times. So, use your brain for more productive story planning while you get the chores done.
Ability to Analyze: This is my favorite skill that I feel every single writer needs to develop, as this is what helps make your story strong with complex believable characters, narrative, and dialog. Study people in the past and present, nature, building structure, interior design, and animals. Whatever you are writing about, make sure you understand it. If you don’t understand what you are writing about, your readers will know and it will hurt their opinion of the story. For instance, if your character is a doctor/scientist developing a simpler method of cloning animals, you should probably research and have narrative discussing genetic sciences victories and past failures so your reader understands why your character’s work is so important. Using the correct terminology for your subject matter makes your story a real novel instead of just a campfire story. Also, pay attention to how people think, act, and react – it is rare for people to do any of these exactly the same way as each other. Make sure your characters have unique voices in both their dialog and how they behave. Sometimes, this is hard for a writer because often the things a writer wishes he/she could say/do in their real life transforms into their character’s voices and actions. This is where you really need to exercise your ability to be flexible. Just because you feel strongly about that beautiful rant your character just had in front of a large group of people doesn’t mean it should be in your story. This also goes for descriptions. Just because your description of the flower garden outside of the above doctor’s facility is beautiful and poetic doesn’t mean it is necessary. Scene setting and descriptions are important, but only if they add to the story in some way. If they distract you from the meaning of the story, lose them. Don’t allow personal ego stroking or venting to destroy your novel.
Well, that concludes my first “Writing Tips” blog post. I hope it was both helpful and inspiring to you. If it was, please share it with others.
Thank you
