There's No Magic Formula for Becoming a Better Writer

If you're trying to become a better writer, you should know that there is not quick-fix or magic formula that will suddenly transform you into a good writer in three simple steps. Becoming a better writer is obviously a long-term undertaking, but many writers consider that they have a gift that simply has to be unlocked by the same magic key that published, top writers possess.

The simple truth about improving your writing is that you have to practice your craft continually and consistently. Experiment with your writing, do some planning, revision, then revisit what you have been doing. Challenge yourself by establishing deadlines and competitions. Push yourself, find out about your limits and your writing will soon reward you. Try writing something that another writer inspired you, then write a few lines completely your own.

However, you won't improve your writing style by writing in a vacuum. You must also make efforts to improve by reading the works of other writers, be it fiction, nonfiction or poetry. Get acquainted with all writing styles: argumentative or persuasive, informative or biographical, fantastic or scientific. Go through the works of talented, consecrated professionals, and also read those writers who are still finding their style.

Your readings should help you gain confidence and inspiration. They should also sustain you in building your vocabulary and help you learn more writing tricks and techniques. This way you will learn more about the patterns and rhythm of language. Try to understand what makes you different from the other authors you are reading, because by doing this you will soon be able to understand what is your own unique voice.

Becoming a better writer is not a task you can accomplish in a weekend or in a few months. Learning to be a better writer by constant improvement is a life's work. Genuine writers never see their work done. They don't accept their condition and sit back, no matter how good they are. It's true... it will not take you a lifetime to gain professional status, but this shouldn't be your only goal. If you will think in these terms, you will only prevent yourself from becoming the great writer you can be.

For instance, perhaps your writing was not the reason your writing project was rejected. Instead, it could have happened because of the chosen topic, the needs of the publisher, or simply the mood of the editor when she looked over your submission. It's a fact that you cannot control the moment when you reach professional status, but you can influence your progress toward constantly improving your writing. And one is not far from the other, as the more valuable your writing gets, the easier it will be for you to become a better (and published) writer.

Copyright © Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ

About Shery: Shery is the creator of WriteSparks!™- a software that generates over 10 *million* Story Sparkers for Writers. Download WriteSparks!™ Lite for free at http://writesparks.com

Journals can help writers like you

A journal can help you organize your writing activities and at the same time hold you accountable for what you are doing daily. By keeping a journal, you can keep track of your progress.

If it is easy for you to get lost amidst every day tasks, keeping a journal will sustain your efforts to add more discipline to your routine and produce a regular form of writing. When it comes to finding the time to write or just sitting down and writing, many writers become complacent. To be successful in your chosen career, dedication, consistency and persistence are essential traits. A writing journal will certainly help you identify which are the missing elements in your daily routine.

Keeping a journal is by no means a difficult thing to do, nor is it complicated or expensive. If you are a novice writer, keep your writing journal simple to begin with. Get a monthly calendar with plenty of blank spaces so that you can write on it each day. This is an inexpensive method to keep a journal regardless your form of writing, or to make notations concerning your submissions. All you need to do is jot down brief descriptions of your daily writing activities, such as "write 500 words for the novel" or "emailed 2 articles to the Classical Literary Magazine."

Place your writing journal in a visible location so that you can check your daily progress at any time and honestly assess your efforts to get better at your craft. You can review your journal every week or at the end of a month to evaluate your productivity. If there are any blank days, try to understand what kept you from writing something on those days. Your blanks may bother you at first, but they will also serve as a great motivation, and you will soon learn to eliminate them through sustained work.

After making some progress with your writing journal, you will realize that tenacity was what distinguished you from other writers with more published credits. Even if it may seem like a waste of time, having a journal is in fact a way of perfecting your craft. Unless you are disciplined and dedicated, making a profession and a living out of writing is probably not for you. So if you need something to help you maintain a positive attitude, try a writing journal.

Copyright © Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ

About Shery: Shery is the creator of WriteSparks!™- a software that generates over 10 *million* Story Sparkers for Writers. Download WriteSparks!™ Lite for free at http://writesparks.com

WOI Guest Post: 12 Nuggets of Writing Wisdom

1. Work hard to become competent.

Neil Gaiman said, "There's no magic formula. To become a competent writer, you write until you start to sound like you, and then you keep on writing. Finish things you start. Get better."

2. View life from different perspectives.

Douglas Clegg said, "Get out and live and travel and see the world from perspectives other than the one with which you've been saddled. Youth doesn't last very long, and it might be better to participate in life awhile before writing from it."

3. Write one page at a time.

John Steinbeck said, "When I face the desolate impossibility of writing 500 pages, a sick sense of failure falls on me and I know I can never do it. This happens every time. Then gradually I write one page and then another. One day's work is all I can permit myself to contemplate and I eliminate the possibility of ever finishing."

4. Strive for vigorous writing.

William Strunk, Jr. said, "Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts."

5. Be vigilant and ever ready.

Earl Nightingale said, "Ideas are elusive, slippery things. Best to keep a pad of paper and a pencil at your bedside, so you can stab them during the night before they get away."

6. Develop your own writing voice.

Michael Chabon said, "A voice, not merely recognizable, but original, unique, engaging and above all derived from, reflecting, and advancing the meaning of the story itself, is necessary to good and worthwhile literature."

7. Write with confidence.

William Zinsser said, "Don't say you were a bit confused and sort of tired and a little depressed and somewhat annoyed. Be tired. Be confused. Be depressed. Be annoyed. Don't hedge your prose with little timidities. Good writing is lean and confident."

8. Develop a writing habit.

Richard North Patterson said, "Cultivate steady work habits: a schedule that contemplates either regular work hours every week or a certain number of pages. Artistic inspiration is one of the most overrated premises for a writing schedule; a writer should try to get pages done on a regular basis, then work to improve them. If one waits for inspiration, rather than treating writing like a serious task, it becomes much harder to ever finish a book."

9. Write right now.

Jack London said, "You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club."

10. Venture out and attempt to be read and published.

John Campbell said, "The reason 99% of all stories written are not bought by editors is very simple. Editors never buy manuscripts that are left on the closet shelf at home."

11. Rejection is part of the writing life.

Meg Cabot said, "You are not a hundred dollar bill. Not everyone is going to like you or your story. Do not take rejection personally."

12. Write with passion.

Ann Patchett said, "The end result for a writer may be finding a publisher, but publishing is not anywhere near the beginning or the middle of this process. So when we advise young people about writing, it would be best if we could move students away from that kind of thinking and say, 'Write because you're passionate about it. Think of yourself as a glass blower. You don't blow your first glass and take it to Tiffany's. You blow your first glass, and you smash it. You blow it again, and you smash it.'"



Copyright (c) 2004 Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ