8 Ways To Improve Your Writing
8 Ways to Improve Your Writing
I got a great anonymous ask last week from someone who wanted to know how to identify weak spots in their writing. One of the things that comes with time and experience is finding the language to identify, discuss, and address the feeling that something isn’t quite right or that a story is “missing something.” Not knowing them or their writing, of course I couldn’t help them figure out what specifically the problem was. But I did share with them a list of things I’ve done over the years to be able to identify weak spots and improve my writing.
1. Analyze your favorite writers.
Figure out why you like the writing that you like. Ask yourself: What are they doing here? What are they doing that I’m not doing? Why do I love their writing so much? Take notes on their stories. Plot them. Write in the margins. Read them slowly. Read their reviews—both good and bad. Did that writer you love once write something you hated? Great, even better. Figure out why that particular book was different from the others.
2. Analyze your own writing.
Do you have an older story you wrote that you love? Figure out why. What did you do differently in that story that you’re not doing in the current story you’re writing? Make notes. Draw maps. Reverse engineer everything.
3. Develop a language to talk and think about writing.
Read craft books, blogs, anything you can get your hands on. Learn about point of view, conflict, character development, dialogue, story structure, syntax, metaphors. Get your advice from good sources, and don’t believe everything you read. If something doesn’t sit right with you, throw it out. But be open to everything.
4. Journal and write about your writing.
Over time, you will identify consistent weaknesses that you have. Then, in the future, when you feel like “something is missing” from your writing, you can reference your notes and remember, for example, that you often have difficulty with your protagonist’s motivation, with theme, with dialogue, etc., and you’ll have a better idea about where to go looking.
5. Share your writing with someone you trust, ideally a more experienced writer than you or an editor or mentor.
Be very careful about who you share your writing with. Friends and family are not always the best choice. You don’t want someone who’s just going to throw around their uneducated opinion about your work, who has a big ego, or who won’t be honest with you. Remember: “I liked it” or “I didn’t like it” are useless pieces of feedback. You want someone who can read your work and say, “Your protagonist’s passion for music made them really likeable to me. I was dying to know whether they would get into the conservatory or not!” or “My attention wandered on page two, when you described the couch upholstery for three paragraphs.”
6. Analyze the areas of your writing which are commonly problematic for new writers (and writers in general).
In my experience as an editor, the most likely culprits are unclear character motivation and lack of conflict. There are a lot of good resources (books and blogs) about this. Try a Google search for “most common mistakes beginning writers make.”
7. Trust your intuition.
Do you keep coming back to the same page or scene in your story, feeling like it isn’t right? You’re probably onto something.
8. Take time away from your writing.
You’d be amazed how much more clear everything will be after a break. Give yourself at least a week for a short story, 3-4 weeks for a novel. It could also be the case that your ambitions for this particular story don’t yet match your skills, and that you’ll have to wait even longer to successfully finish it. I’ve known writers who have given up on a story only to come back to it months or years later once they’d gained the skills and insight to complete it. And then suddenly writing that story seemed really easy!
//////////////
The Literary Architect is a writing advice blog run by me, Bucket Siler. For more writing help, check out my Free Resource Library or get The Complete Guide to Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. xoxo
More Posts from Lonely-whale-sings and Others
This is so unconventionally sweet and romantic 🌹. Loved it so much 🤗🤗🤗
Too Long; Didn’t Read (M) | KTH
Pairing: Taehyung x Reader | AU: College + Enemies to Lovers AU Genre: Comedy / Smut / Fluff Rating: Explicit / 18+ Summary: This is the story of how you trolled your way into Taehyung’s heart. Word Count: 11.4k CW: explicit sexual content (phone sex, nude photo/sexual video exchange, dirty talk, mutual masturbation, fingering, vibrator use) swearing / other (Y/N calls herself a bitch one time, Y/N and Tae make fun the other’s writing habits but really it’s just me making fun of myself, so don’t feel too offended for either of them lol) A/N: Commissioned by @a-leaf-inthewind. I hope you like it! 💚💚
Keep reading
Palabras de comida en español 🍜
Meat + seafood
La salchicha - sausage
El jamón - ham
El pollo - chicken
El pollo asado - roast chicken
El pollo frito - fried chicken
El pavo - turkey
El salmón - salmon
El cerdo - pork
El cangrejo - crab
La langosta - lobster
El pescado - fish (culinary)
El mejillón - mussel
El jocho, perro caliente - hot dog
La vieira - scallop
La almeja - clam
La trucha - trout
La carne de res - beef
La hamburguesa - hamburger
El camarón - shrimp
El pulpo - octopus
El calamar - squid
El tocino - bacon
Produce
La manzana - apple
La pera - pear
La sandía - watermelon
El durazno - peach
El aguacate - avocado
La lechuga - lettuce
La fresa - strawberry
La frambuesa - raspberry
El arándano - blueberry
La mora - blackberry
La naranja - orange
El apio - celery
La piña - pineapple
La papaya - papaya
La uva - grape
La arveja - pea
El tomate - tomate
La lima - lime
La papa - potato
El arroz - rice
El coco - coconut
El pomelo - grapefruit
El plátano - banana, plantain
El esparrago - asparagus
El mango - mango
El morrón - red pepper
El pimiento - pepper
El pimiento verde - green pepper
El límon - lemon
La col - cabbage
La espinaca - spinach
La berenjena - eggplant
El maíz - corn
El elote - sweet corn
El rabano - radish
El nabo - turnip
El frijol - bean
La zanahoria - carrot
El brócoli - broccoli
La alcachofa - artichoke
La cebolla - onion
El molondrón - okra
El garbanzo - chickpea
Dairy
La leche - milk
La leche condensada - condensed milk
La leche entera - whole milk
La leche descremada - skim milk
La leche en polvo - powdered milk
La leche de soya - soy milk
El batido - milkshake
El queso - cheese
El queso crema - cream cheese
El requesón - cottage cheese
La crema - cream
La crema batida - whipped cream
La crema agria - sour cream
La crema pastelera - pastry cream
La mantequilla - butter
El helado - ice cream
El helado de fresa - strawberry ice cream
El helado de chocolate - chocolate ice cream
El helado de vainilla - vanilla icecream
El yogur - yogurt
El yogur helado - frozen yogurt
Beverages
El agua - water
El agua mineral - mineral water
El agua con gas - sparkling water
El café - coffee
El jugo - juice
El jugo de manzana - apple juice
El jugo de naranja - orange juice
El jugo de uva - grape juice
El jugo de piña - pineapple juice
La limonada - lemonade
El té - tea
El té verde - green tea
El té helado - iced tea
El cóctel - cocktail
El licor - liquor
El aliado - mixed drink
El vino - wine
El cerveza - beer
La mimosa - mimosa
La sidra - cider
El chocolate caliente - hot chocolate
El refresco - soda
El smoothie - smoothie
Condiments
La soja
La mermelada
La salsa picante
La salsa de tomate
La mayonesa - mayonnaise
La mostaza - mustard
La mantequilla de cacahuate - peanut butter
El kétchup - ketchup
Spices + herbs
La canela - cinnamon
El perejil
El ajo -garlic
El romero - rosemary
El tomillo - thyme
La lavanda - lavender
El cebollino - chives
La vainilla - vanilla
La sal - salt
La pimienta - pepper
La paprika - paprika
El orégano - oregano
La albahaca- basil
Tableware
El tenedor - fork
La cuchara - spoon
El cuchillo - knife
La cucharada - tablespoon
La cucharadita - teaspoon
La taza - cup, mug
El vaso - drinking glass
El plato - plate, dish
El bol - bowl
El tarro - jar
El cucharón - ladle
El rallador - grater
El abrelatas - can opener
El batidor - whisk
La paleta - spatula
La servilleta - napkin
Adjectives
Sabroso - tasty
Delicioso - delicious
Rico - rich, tasty
Maduro - ripe
Soso - bland
Amargo - bitter
Dulce - sweet
Azucarado - sugary
Salado - salty
Agrio - tart
Crujiente - crunchy
A la plancha - grilled
A la parrilla - broiled
Quemado - burnt
light it up like dynamite 🧨✨
▬ ᵗᵃᵉʰʸᵘⁿᵍ ’ ᵃʳᵗ ˢᵗᵘᵈᵉⁿᵗ’ ᵐᵒᵒᵈᵇᵒᵃʳᵈ 🎨 for @taescuit happy birthday cutie!!♡ u r a very nice and talented person mmh love uuu baby
⇝please like or reblog if you save/use
⇝don’t repost
ハウルの動く城 | Howl’s Moving Castle — dir. Hayao Miyazaki (2004)
so I got into grad school today with my shitty 2.8 gpa and the moral of the story is reblog those good luck posts for the love of god
“We were only seven but we have you all now”
the devil you know - masterlist
SOCIAL MEDIA AU || You’ve always had the talent of pissing people off, you just didn’t know that it extended to supernatural creatures, specifically the Devil himself.
twitter accounts
chapter one
chapter two
chapter three
chapter four
chapter five
taglist is closed
Keep reading
-
thetjtales liked this · 1 month ago -
words-from-the-stars reblogged this · 3 months ago -
outlawed-to-the-stars liked this · 3 months ago -
infernal-matters liked this · 3 months ago -
frsoutherlandauthor reblogged this · 3 months ago -
teddybear-reads reblogged this · 3 months ago -
despairguitarist reblogged this · 4 months ago -
despairguitarist liked this · 4 months ago
-
merlinsniece reblogged this · 5 months ago -
vanillamidnight-us liked this · 6 months ago -
tenderwarmloving liked this · 7 months ago -
spencerreidisms liked this · 8 months ago -
gentlemansdesiresvisualized liked this · 8 months ago -
newdawnhorizon reblogged this · 8 months ago -
toast-com liked this · 9 months ago -
lustyvoidsandvoidylusts reblogged this · 9 months ago -
writeintrees reblogged this · 9 months ago -
smrttrtl reblogged this · 9 months ago -
smrttrtl liked this · 9 months ago
-
hawlaaktimatpamakitis reblogged this · 9 months ago -
tempestofstarz liked this · 10 months ago -
brrnedoutbrrista liked this · 10 months ago -
twigstarpikachutroll22 reblogged this · 10 months ago -
rainbowraven28 liked this · 10 months ago -
lucifers-favorite-sweater liked this · 10 months ago -
the-anemoi-saga reblogged this · 10 months ago -
hexthespectre liked this · 10 months ago -
nunyverse-scribe liked this · 10 months ago -
lustyvoidsandvoidylusts reblogged this · 10 months ago
-
lustyvoidsandvoidylusts liked this · 10 months ago
-
anothersadtransmasc reblogged this · 10 months ago -
anothersadtransmasc liked this · 10 months ago
-
niamh-jam reblogged this · 10 months ago -
niamh-jam liked this · 10 months ago
-
sophiemess liked this · 10 months ago -
just-patchy liked this · 10 months ago -
shinygemstone reblogged this · 10 months ago -
shinygemstone liked this · 10 months ago
-
twigstarpikachutroll22 liked this · 10 months ago
-
armourwolf reblogged this · 10 months ago -
armourwolf liked this · 10 months ago
-
vibrantcoloursinmyhead reblogged this · 10 months ago -
ghostlyfanparadise liked this · 10 months ago -
kingxgarm liked this · 10 months ago -
oc-culture reblogged this · 10 months ago -
shipaycon reblogged this · 10 months ago -
drumchiksworld reblogged this · 10 months ago -
whycantwegivellove reblogged this · 10 months ago -
scigirl123 liked this · 10 months ago -
heckcareoxytwit reblogged this · 10 months ago
