Writing is an oft-pursued endeavor, but seldom mastered craft. Being able to effectively communicate your thoughts has many challenges, from being too busy to write to drawing mental blanks when you finally find the time. There are many general tips, though, that can help overcome these hurdles. Just ask C.S. Lewis!
If you’re feeling the urge to put pen to paper, to persuade, to inform, or to engage, then here are a few practical tips to help you begin and stay on track.
Read good literature daily
If you want to write well, it helps to read the works of good writers.
At first, as you are beginning your voyage into the unknown as a writer, you will (and should) be imitating the styles that you read. It’s good to find an author whose works you admire and appreciate, whose style resonates with you, and to imitate it.
Yes, I am telling you to write imitatively. Why? Well, it’s not because you should be a “copycat” or because your own style isn’t good enough. It’s because imitation helps you to find your own style and voice. Imitation should only be a temporary aid to help you “stand on your own two feet” as a writer, and it is not meant to be a lifelong writing crutch.
Ideally, you should be reading voraciously from great works and synthesizing styles, comparing their merits, and seeing which might contain elements worth incorporating into your own style. For instance, Hemingway often wrote in short, uncomplicated sentences. Flannery O’Connor’s works were often immersed in dark, grotesque, but uniquely profound themes. G.K. Chesterton had a knack for witticism and loved to explore paradoxes. Which of these might appeal to you and which might you be inclined to use in your own work?
Define the scope of your work
Fiction is not for everyone. It doesn’t need to be. Whether you have a background in philosophy, or a penchant for technology, or you majored in history, it is helpful to define the scope of your work. In other words, what subject matter do you wish to cover? What topics will comprise the bulk of your works?
This doesn’t mean you need to confine yourself to a cage. But it helps to define what your expertise is – and it helps build your credibility. If you have special knowledge in a certain field, either due to natural interest or because it is your profession, consider leaning into this. Not only does it aid in keeping your work focused, but it also helps establish your credibility as an author – and that is critical!
On a more macro level, consider who your audience is. Are you writing to a group of professionals in a specific industry or a niche audience with a shared hobby? Are you writing for your peers and fellow academics? Knowing who you want to speak to will help define the tone you ought to use.
Additionally, if you are an amateur fiction writer, there is the temptation to let the imagination grow enormous and feel the need to capture it all in a series of books. Instead, I’d suggest you grow into your imagination, so to speak, setting constraints on both your imagination and your book. Keep your story focused. It is more important to focus on the fundamentals of good storytelling, even if the stories are short, than to undertake the herculean task of writing the next Middle Earth legendarium.
Write samples as often as you can
Finding time to write is no easy task, if you’re anything like me. Or, when you have time, you feel unmotivated or uninspired.
Taking the time to sit down and write requires discipline, even for the most enthused writer. We tend to think that we need inspiration first, before we can even consider taking up our pen. But that is not what I have discovered. The mere act of writing, even if what we write is only based on a tiny kernel of an idea, helps stimulate the imagination even further.
Even sitting down to write this piece took some discipline. I didn’t know exactly what I’d be writing or where exactly I’d be going. I only had a general idea of what I know about writing before sitting down and tapping away at my keyboard. Yet, as I tapped along, I found, slowly but surely, what I wanted to say in precise words. And that is the trick. A journey doesn’t begin by looking out the window, but by taking a step out of the door. The same applies to writing.
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