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Writing Tips

If there were some sort of trick that could turn bare words into a great story, everyone would be doing it, but that sadly isn't the case. There are tricks to keep the reader turning pages or to keep him/her in suspense, but there is no trick to becoming a good writer. It takes work, discipline, and the willingness to spend a lot of time alone with words and your inner self. Of course the art form of writing is a talent, which one hopes can be honed into a skill, but talent is another discussion altogether.

I decided on a short list of things I believe should help any beginning writer, whether they want to write essays, fiction, or whatever.

READ: Before you develop good writing habits or skills, you must have good reading habits. There is no way around this. Anyone who wants to write, but doesn't want to read will never be a writer. You can't play an instrument without listening to music; you can't write without reading. Read as widely as possible, even the things for which you have only a passing interest. Eventually, you'll be able to see the best and worst techniques that published writers use. It is through reading that we learn our lessons; our writing is where we apply them.

VOCABULARY: Forget those impressive-looking mile-long words. They may look nice and feel superior to common words, but impressive for the reader (or editor) they are not. It's irritating to anyone when a dictionary is needed to read a piece of writing. Go for what sounds natural. Expanding your vocabulary, I believe, can be a good thing, but don't go overboard with it; you'll learn as you read.

GRAMMAR/PUNCTUATION: Make the extra effort to learn the basics of grammar and punctuation. It makes your piece more readable, more sensible, and it goes a long way toward getting it published. We all can speak from experience when it comes to this: getting lost in a sentence because of poor grammar and/or punctuation, feeling confused because of this even though the wording and structure may be simple. Run-on sentences are annoying; dangling modifiers look as bad in a novel as they do in a school essay.

ORIGINALITY: For the beginning writer, it's perfectly fine and even rewarding to emulate the style of his/her favorite author, though the writer, one hopes, will move beyond that with practice and develop his/her own voice. Whatever you're writing, though, should come out with your words, your feeling or the feeling of your character, for it comes from your mind, not anyone

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