9 Tips for Beginning Writers:
a guest post by Melisa Marzett
Currently, on various graphomanian resources and
social networks, short lists of tips on how to become a writer are very
popular.
I cannot imagine how miraculously ten paragraphs can make you the
geniuses of a pen and keyboard, but the locomotive has already gained momentum,
so it is a sin not to jump on the steps. What is the reason for the popularity
of such posts? Perhaps a modern person is getting worse and worse off large
amounts of information. Someone will see this as symptoms of clip thinking, and
I do not know. However, for some reason, it is much more convenient for us to
read the post with a dozen tips than an article of the same length, which
only cuts through one of them. Although the benefits of the latter will not be
by far better. Unfortunately, stereotypes still tightly hold us by the neck,
and the new one in half with the complex is perceived very tight, so I will try
to alternate articles for beginners and things with a claim to depth, which
requires a confident outlook and preparation.
1. READ EVERY DAY. THE more, THE
BETTER.
The first and
most important rule (in my opinion, it is even more critical than the certain
rule number two), with which any writer begins. After all, to learn how to
write, you need to learn (obviously), to watch how the masters do it. This
argument lies on the surface: no one can teach you to write except good books.
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| Yuri Efremov, Unsplash |
Reading allows a) you to expand your vocabulary day by day; b) you to get comfortable in the
space of the artistic style, and adopt a peculiar manner of speech, which is very
different from the usual spoken; c) you to notice techniques with accomplished
writers; d) excellent and well spent time.
And, of course,
do not forget to keep a notebook near at hand (see point 3) - suddenly a bright
idea comes to mind, or you want to write a quote.
2. write every day. or edit what you have already written.
The second is a
beneficial and obvious rule. Is it possible to become a writer if you do not
write anything? Well, you understand. Undoubtedly, theory is the essential
part of any craft, but practice is a hundred times more important!
Therefore, the habit of writing daily should become a healthy habit for a young
writer.
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| Andrew Neel, Unsplash |
No matter what - another story or chapter of the novel, a blog entry or
in a personal diary. The main thing is to practice the letter every day. At
worst, you can edit what is written. It is also useful and develops a
sense of the word.
3. get a notebook.
It is incredible
how such a trivial thing, a little mug, can change the life or even the fate of
a person writing! How many brilliant and just good ideas and thoughts come to
our mind in the most inappropriate places? And how many of them then find life
on paper, reach the reader? Not so much, right? It is where a notebook would
come in handy!
Many self-confident young men or women entirely rely on their dynamic
memory - for some reason they believe that they will not miss a single bright
thought, not a unique glimpse that has come to mind away from a desk. Therefore,
they walk lightly with the belief that everything is recorded on the sub fold. However,
it is necessary to sit in front of a clean sheet - all carefully thought,
thoughts suddenly evaporate somewhere! And do not see them. Alternatively,
maybe it never happened? No, they were, just were! On Monday, on the way home,
I thought of something like this! To remember. And the poor young man has to
gnaw a pencil, squeeze lemon juice out of himself, play up, come here and
now because he already sat down at the table and got ready. You have to write with freshness.
"No - I forgot everything completely."
All that is rational, kind,
eternal that so stirred the soul yesterday before dinner still
would! And then you need a notebook.
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| Dana Marin, Unsplash |
Get a notebook,
I am serious. And you will be surprised at how many exciting and important
things are forgotten! The writer is not a word form juggler. A writer is, first
of all, a wise one, a storehouse of life experience. A notepad will be a great
help in your work, and the next time, sitting down at a blank sheet, you will
be puzzled over how to fit on paper all those thoughts that have densely
accumulated in a notebook.
4. travel.
As you know, creativity requires constant emotional
nourishment. Writing without excitement, anguish, or inspiration is hard and
dreary. However, the life of a modern person does not contribute to a
spiritual uplift. In many ways it is boring and monotonous, and the emotions
that it throws up are rarely with a plus sign. Therefore, the surest way to
accumulate a positive charge, shake things up, draw on new impressions is
traveling. Many professional authors who are allowed to finance, often and
willingly romp around the world.
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| Element5 Digital, Unsplash |
Therefore, this
advice is simple: do not deny yourself the pleasure to fly or roll up
somewhere; your creativity will only benefit from it.
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| Ashim D’Silva, Unsplash |
5. watch people.
If you still
think that all the incredibly bright and lively, heroic writers invent from
scratch entirely and completely - my deepest condolences to you. They say that
Santa Claus does not exist, and life is more inventive than any fantasy. Those
images that we are so accustomed to in great literature, which we managed to
fall in love with, are most often collective, and almost always the real person
is the basis of the character. Why be surprised? Do you have no acquaintances
about whom everyone says "do this at least in a movie" (or
"show it at least in a circus")? I will never believe it. Usually, such
people are endowed with bright, unusual features, facets of mind and character, mannerisms, to which not every author will guess. These are not always
cranks or noisy jokes. There are also very entertaining quiet people who still
hide something from everyone. How many interesting people there are!
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| Jacek Dylag, Unsplash |
So do not
hesitate to watch attractive people, write down their catchphrases and pearls
to create a brilliant and charismatic image on this basis.
6. collect interesting stories.
Yes, yes, you
will be surprised, but life is also a terrific playwright and sometimes throws
out such tricks that you cannot imagine on purpose. Inevitably, and with you at
least once happened something out of the ordinary. It happened with other
people. So why not have an inspiring story based on the story? And if she is
stunning at all, write a novel! Do not disappear in the same diamond! For some,
this sounds dubious, for some such an approach will even seem petty, but many
authors do just that. They collect great stories of other people, inspired by
them and also take that as a basis for their books.
7. experiment.
When we are just
starting our way along the path of writing, we often do not appreciate this
wonderful time, and we try to get our hands full quickly, bring all small ideas
to life and finally sit down for a long form, for something fundamental that
you can write half your life. And we are losing valuable opportunities to try
ourselves in different directions. However, we always think: well, we still
have time! And if not? What if tomorrow a contract with the publisher and
further on the thumb: one book in six months and a short month for a break?
What kind of experiments there are!
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| Hannah Olinger, Unsplash |
So, while you are just starting to get used
to this forest, do not hesitate to experiment, try yourself in different genres
and forms. Are you writing science fiction? Try a detective story, or wrap up a
love story, a tragedy, a parody. Used to build a plot in one line? Are there no
options? Ringing, pinpoint and inverse composition, temporary distortions, can
be broken into fragments and mixed left alone dialogues or dispensed with them
all together...
But you never know, after all, the options! And what are we
all in prose, but prose? Try to write a play. Or a script. Yes, God knows what
will come of it, and what talent you may unexpectedly discover. However,
even if it fails, and you return to where you started, you will have
experience. And it means something in our business.
8. search in the darkER areas.
This tip is
somewhat philosophical. Not even advice, but a point of view on creativity and
literature in general. The fact is that writings have been around for more than
one thousand years. And in all this time, people have written millions of
books, come up with millions of stories. Writers of the past have reached such
heights of conciseness and verbal form, they have left such examples of epos,
drama, and lyrics that it is impossible to equal them, to repeat - it is
incredible. Surpassing is virtually impossible. Once upon the mountain - you
can, but to build next to the same, and even higher - unattainable.
Therefore,
since the beginning of the twentieth century, writers and poets have moved in
areas that previously remained hidden. The literature of the past century
(modernism and postmodernism) has revealed to us a new, previously unfamiliar
one - the stream of consciousness, magical realism, intertextuality, experiments with
form and time. Modern authors are in constant discovery. They search everywhere, and
sometimes it seems that even in the closet. The prose of Burroughs, Limonov,
Palahniuk, and Bukowski can cause shock, nausea, and rejection. However, no
matter how you treat them, these authors are looking for, plowing unexplored
dark areas in search of something new.
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| Steve Halama, Unsplash |
I urge you to look for it too! Search
for something of your own, unlike anyone else. Survival by an ordinary
scribbler in a book series is the path of a slave to the galleys, complete
oblivion.
9. do not fancy yourself a talent.
Do not consider yourself
better than others. As soon as you calm down and begin to rest on your laurels
- the level of your work will roll down the lowest of the low. Prepare your
texts angrier than any critic does. Make maximum demands on yourself, compare
yourself with others, find out what they are doing better, take notes and try to
surpass them.
Do not work on the word talent; shy away from it, as if from fire. As
soon as you accept the title of a genius, you end up as a writer.
Guest Blogger Bio
Guest Blogger Bio
Guest Blogger Bio
Sky's the limit is what Melisa Marzett believes in,
which is why she is always in the process of writing. Writing is something she
enjoys doing most of all. Currently working as a freelance writer for http://findwritingservice.com, she spends her time
self-improving in all respects. 
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