10 Top Tips to Becoming a Better Writer!

There is no definitive guide to becoming a better writer, if there were then we'd all be amazing and making a lot of money...but that's not how it works, writing is a craft, like any other art form. Some people are born with a natural talent, and then there are others who have to learn.




Also, when I say writer, I mean creative writer.


In no particular order, here is my list of tips to help you become a better writer.




1. Write! Write everyday!
This might seem obvious, but there are some people who don't write everyday. The only way you will ever get better at doing something is if you exercise, and writing everyday is THAT exercise and exercising all the skills that you've developed. It could be a blog post for that day, so if you blog daily then you know you're writing everyday! You might want to write poetry or flash fiction.




2. Read! You have to read!
Reading and writing come hand in hand, if you can't write, how can you be expected to read and if you can't read, how can you write? You can't. Read in the genre that you writer and read in different genres, diversify yourself, you can learn a lot about other genres and even incorporate that into your writing.




3. Get the 1st draft done!
Don't stop now, or in a minute, or ever! Just get that first draft done, don't edit it or anything, you need to write everything down and then you can start worrying about how shit it actually is...that's when you NEED to edit.




4. Keep it simple!
This is especially true for a first draft, if you get sidetracked by the fine details and the long metaphors etc. then you're going to start editing it as well. So if you keep everything simple then you can edit it at the end.




5. Write for yourself!
Don't allow anyone to tell you what to write...unless of course it's your muse. And something that Stephen King said, "Don't care too much of what others may think." basically saying that you're not allowed to think 'Oh, but that might be a bit sensitive' because it's often the sensitive issues that bring about the emotion in your reader...and you're not going to write something that is uninteresting.




6. Do your research!
You need to know what you're talking about and you need your reader to believe you. I don't think that you can just write a room into a scene, you have to plan the room, you have to visualise and know about the room before you can write. Sometimes before you even start to write you're going to need to go deeper and research harder.




7. Be Descriptive.
Another point that seems obvious, but by being descriptive I don't mean by saying something like "very nice" or "very nasty" -- I mean strong descriptive words like "furious" and "joyous" also improve your vocabulary with words like these so that when you do come to describing something you're not stumped or keep repeating the word "nice" until you think of another word.




8. Show, Don't Tell!
I'm not saying always show and never tell because that would be stupid. I think that there should be a balance of showing and telling, you will want to show an emotion, while you'd want to tell a the back story of that character. Showing should be one of the most important technique for all you creative writers out there and you must all know how to use it.




9. Read Books on Grammar.
Unless you're going to rely on people hammering you with criticism whenever you post on Facebook or a blog post etc. I'd suggest that you brush up on your grammar. It would also be a part of that reading we talked about.




10. Accept Critique!
Ask people for help! Always ask for feedback! Always, always! If someone doesn't like something then they will have a reason for it, and if they don't or they're really negative then it's probably personal. Don't let it hurt you....if you want to be a good writer you need to have a thick skin and be able to take criticism.



I hope you enjoyed this weeks 10 Top Tips, and I hope that they are helpful! If you have any tips of your own, add them in the comments below, I'd love to hear what you have to say!



-Joseph




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