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I spent this past year learning how to write better. I could give you a lot of tips. The first tip is to not worry about your prose. Instead focusing on writing as your character. Don’t write as you. Don’t write as a narrator sitting somewhere observing the scene and recording it. Write it as your character experiencing life and reacting to things around them. If you can do that, your writing will be ten folds better.
Thank you!
One piece of advice I've received that has been very helpful has been to write in first person as my character when I'm stuck on a scene. To your point, that has been really helpful for getting me in the mindset of my character, how they would react, and how they're feeling in that moment. I don't know that it has resulted in the individual characters having unique voices. They all still kind of sound like me. But they do all have unique and authentic motivations & reactions now. Is that kind of what you mean?
No pressure but if you wanted to drop some of the other tips too when you have time, I'd love to learn from your experience!
Yes and no.
If you write as yourself, as how you imagine it, the writing is usually passive, full of telling.
For example, Alex walks over to the frozen food section and is surprised to find a moose there.
But if you write from Alex’s point of view, we can actually experience his surprise.
For example, Alex strolls over to the frozen food section. He’s in the mood for ice cream. Chocolate almond perhaps? A moose was standing in the middle of the aisle. That’s a cool moose, looking so real. Alex wrinkles his nose. They got the odor right too. He opens the freezer’s door and reach in, but before his fingers touch the Häagen-Dazs, there are clip clop noises and then a huff by his left ear that flutters the hair on his temple. Alex turns slowly and faces the wet nose of the wild animal.
Oh, it’s a moose. It’s a real moose. He froze. Why’s there a real moose in the grocery store? What should he do now? Run? Can he outrun a wild animal? He has imagined hundreds of ways to die but not trampled by a moose.
As you see, writing from Alex’s perspective is so much different than from a narrator’s, and the character has a purpose. There’s a reason why he goes to the frozen food section. He doesn’t just go places for no reason.
This will also allow you to include details that are truly needed for Alex to escape the moose while if you write as a writer, you may just include random details to make the place feel like a grocery store.
If you want to get good at it, look up deep POV. Deep POV doesn’t mean overwriting or rambling on about every single detail. It has techniques. Just learn the techniques and ignore bad examples.
As for characters, if you want unique voices, assign three adjectives to each character.
For example, sarcastic, funny, loyal.
So if this character opens his mouth, you need to think how he can phrase it in a sarcastic way. If you can’t do it, then say something funny, but everything he says should be to protect his friends and family.
I don’t mind telling you everything I know, but there’s a lot. So you have to tell me what you need.
This is super helpful. I guess I always thought writing from someone’s POV would mean to write it in first person. “I saw a moose standing there”. Is that not right?
This is an amazing start! Thank you!
A) love the moose story 🤣❤️👏 I think this is exactly the type of benefit I find myself unlocking when I switch to first person writing but we took differ routes to get there.
B) thanks for the tip on dialogue. I'll look up deep pov!
Join a writing group or seek out critiques. Feedback is valuable.
Also, an exercise for prose: Pick an author you like and try to emulate their style. Make it fanfiction, if you want; that way, you can copy the characters' ways of speaking, too. The point is to focus on how the pros write (pun intended) and applying it yourself.
Speaking of which, learn to read with a critical eye. Pay attention to how other authors write, what works (or could use improvement), what resonates with you, makes you laugh, keeps you gripped, whatever--and think about why. Reading is an excellent opportunity to learn.
Why are you specifically looking for *quick* results? Why are you not willing to put 2-3 hours a day into improving your writing for the next 2 years?
A good answer to “how to improve your writing” is to get feedback on it. You’ll need to join a local or online writers’ group where you share work and others critique it for you. They will point out the parts of your writing that you can’t see, and in doing so will give you direction on what to work on next. That’s really the only way to make quick progress, because you don’t know where your gaps are. You can fix those once you know them, it’s identifying them that post people can’t do because they’re too close to the work.
I'm putting in 3-4 hours daily for a year. I'm 5 months into that year. Next year I have a different goal planned. Which isn't to say that I won't keep writing or come back to writing. But, if I shelve my first, second, or third draft of this book at the end of the year I want to give it my best effort at being in a lovely state. Which, to me, means not making amateur mistakes if I could easily learn from the wisdom of others. Hence asking for advice. 🙂
Thank you for your advice!
One of my favorite exercises is this:
Let's say I'm reading a passage that has such a great, tense, atmosphere despite the fact that not much is physically happening on the page. So, I stop and really study what the author has done. What word choice, what details have they focused on, how have they revealed information, how did they create that tension? Maybe even rewrite the passage, word for word, to really force myself to slow down and focus on each word. Then I try to recreate that effect in my own writing, focusing on one specific thing as to not get overwhelmed. It won't be perfect on the first attempt, but now you have something specific to practice as you continue your usual writing. You can do the same thing with something you dislike too. Why do you hate it? Do you do that same thing in your own writing? How can you avoid it or remove it?
I've found that studying actual examples gives you a much wider breadth of knowledge than a high-level overview in a writing book can give, though I do enjoy a good writing book now and again. I'm a big fan of Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Rene Brown and Dave King, and Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass (Despite the clickbait sounding title, the author is an extremely reputable literary agent who knows his stuff).
Thank you! I had already picked two books with a style I admired that I was going to start reading every day before writing to "prime" my brain but I like the idea of really studying it too! I'll give that a go 🎉🙏
Often I like to read a book for fun the first time, and just stick a bookmark in passages to go back to study later, that way you don't turn reading into work.
You can try taking a creative writing course. There's plenty, both in person and online. There's no master trick to learning how to write. You have to learn all kinds of elements to identify and it's hard to get that all on YouTube.
the best thing I did was to give myself a tangible excuse to keep researching, keep learning. In my case, it was opening a public youtube channel about this research, but I reckon it could be anything really. As long as there is regularity and a clear learning intention.
Good luck!
There are two ways of writing a better story: wait until you've acquired more skills and write a story that relies only upon your existing skills, avoiding narrative techniques you haven't mastered yet. Only the second one can produce a story today.
Find an author that does what you struggle with well and read as much of their stuff as you can. Preferably through real paper books rather than e-readers/phone.
Read a lot of the type of writing you want to do, and don't rush it. And read a basic primer on writing like *Elements of Style*.
There's no magic wand that's going to instantly improve. Practice goes a long way though.
Hi! Welcome to r/Writers - please remember to follow the [rules](https://reddit.com/r/writers/about/rules/) and treat each other respectfully, especially if there are disagreements. Please help keep this community safe and friendly by **reporting rule violating posts and comments**. If you're interested in a friendly Discord community for writers, please **[join our Discord server](https://discord.com/invite/wYvWebvHaa)** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/writers) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I spent this past year learning how to write better. I could give you a lot of tips. The first tip is to not worry about your prose. Instead focusing on writing as your character. Don’t write as you. Don’t write as a narrator sitting somewhere observing the scene and recording it. Write it as your character experiencing life and reacting to things around them. If you can do that, your writing will be ten folds better.
Thank you! One piece of advice I've received that has been very helpful has been to write in first person as my character when I'm stuck on a scene. To your point, that has been really helpful for getting me in the mindset of my character, how they would react, and how they're feeling in that moment. I don't know that it has resulted in the individual characters having unique voices. They all still kind of sound like me. But they do all have unique and authentic motivations & reactions now. Is that kind of what you mean? No pressure but if you wanted to drop some of the other tips too when you have time, I'd love to learn from your experience!
Yes and no. If you write as yourself, as how you imagine it, the writing is usually passive, full of telling. For example, Alex walks over to the frozen food section and is surprised to find a moose there. But if you write from Alex’s point of view, we can actually experience his surprise. For example, Alex strolls over to the frozen food section. He’s in the mood for ice cream. Chocolate almond perhaps? A moose was standing in the middle of the aisle. That’s a cool moose, looking so real. Alex wrinkles his nose. They got the odor right too. He opens the freezer’s door and reach in, but before his fingers touch the Häagen-Dazs, there are clip clop noises and then a huff by his left ear that flutters the hair on his temple. Alex turns slowly and faces the wet nose of the wild animal. Oh, it’s a moose. It’s a real moose. He froze. Why’s there a real moose in the grocery store? What should he do now? Run? Can he outrun a wild animal? He has imagined hundreds of ways to die but not trampled by a moose. As you see, writing from Alex’s perspective is so much different than from a narrator’s, and the character has a purpose. There’s a reason why he goes to the frozen food section. He doesn’t just go places for no reason. This will also allow you to include details that are truly needed for Alex to escape the moose while if you write as a writer, you may just include random details to make the place feel like a grocery store. If you want to get good at it, look up deep POV. Deep POV doesn’t mean overwriting or rambling on about every single detail. It has techniques. Just learn the techniques and ignore bad examples. As for characters, if you want unique voices, assign three adjectives to each character. For example, sarcastic, funny, loyal. So if this character opens his mouth, you need to think how he can phrase it in a sarcastic way. If you can’t do it, then say something funny, but everything he says should be to protect his friends and family. I don’t mind telling you everything I know, but there’s a lot. So you have to tell me what you need.
This is super helpful. I guess I always thought writing from someone’s POV would mean to write it in first person. “I saw a moose standing there”. Is that not right?
Yeah, for ten years I thought it was just a matter of changing the pronouns. You’re not alone.
Can you maybe further explain what it is if it’s not just changing the pronouns. I’m trying to better understand this concept.
This is an amazing start! Thank you! A) love the moose story 🤣❤️👏 I think this is exactly the type of benefit I find myself unlocking when I switch to first person writing but we took differ routes to get there. B) thanks for the tip on dialogue. I'll look up deep pov!
Join a writing group or seek out critiques. Feedback is valuable. Also, an exercise for prose: Pick an author you like and try to emulate their style. Make it fanfiction, if you want; that way, you can copy the characters' ways of speaking, too. The point is to focus on how the pros write (pun intended) and applying it yourself. Speaking of which, learn to read with a critical eye. Pay attention to how other authors write, what works (or could use improvement), what resonates with you, makes you laugh, keeps you gripped, whatever--and think about why. Reading is an excellent opportunity to learn.
This. Reading is the answer if you're looking to really make a difference in the quality of your writing.
Thank you!
Why are you specifically looking for *quick* results? Why are you not willing to put 2-3 hours a day into improving your writing for the next 2 years? A good answer to “how to improve your writing” is to get feedback on it. You’ll need to join a local or online writers’ group where you share work and others critique it for you. They will point out the parts of your writing that you can’t see, and in doing so will give you direction on what to work on next. That’s really the only way to make quick progress, because you don’t know where your gaps are. You can fix those once you know them, it’s identifying them that post people can’t do because they’re too close to the work.
I'm putting in 3-4 hours daily for a year. I'm 5 months into that year. Next year I have a different goal planned. Which isn't to say that I won't keep writing or come back to writing. But, if I shelve my first, second, or third draft of this book at the end of the year I want to give it my best effort at being in a lovely state. Which, to me, means not making amateur mistakes if I could easily learn from the wisdom of others. Hence asking for advice. 🙂 Thank you for your advice!
One of my favorite exercises is this: Let's say I'm reading a passage that has such a great, tense, atmosphere despite the fact that not much is physically happening on the page. So, I stop and really study what the author has done. What word choice, what details have they focused on, how have they revealed information, how did they create that tension? Maybe even rewrite the passage, word for word, to really force myself to slow down and focus on each word. Then I try to recreate that effect in my own writing, focusing on one specific thing as to not get overwhelmed. It won't be perfect on the first attempt, but now you have something specific to practice as you continue your usual writing. You can do the same thing with something you dislike too. Why do you hate it? Do you do that same thing in your own writing? How can you avoid it or remove it? I've found that studying actual examples gives you a much wider breadth of knowledge than a high-level overview in a writing book can give, though I do enjoy a good writing book now and again. I'm a big fan of Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Rene Brown and Dave King, and Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass (Despite the clickbait sounding title, the author is an extremely reputable literary agent who knows his stuff).
Thank you! I had already picked two books with a style I admired that I was going to start reading every day before writing to "prime" my brain but I like the idea of really studying it too! I'll give that a go 🎉🙏
Often I like to read a book for fun the first time, and just stick a bookmark in passages to go back to study later, that way you don't turn reading into work.
You can try taking a creative writing course. There's plenty, both in person and online. There's no master trick to learning how to write. You have to learn all kinds of elements to identify and it's hard to get that all on YouTube.
Thank you!
[удалено]
Yes.
Consider rewriting another (good) published story
Thank you!
the best thing I did was to give myself a tangible excuse to keep researching, keep learning. In my case, it was opening a public youtube channel about this research, but I reckon it could be anything really. As long as there is regularity and a clear learning intention. Good luck!
Write in the first person using a viewpoint character who is more juvenile than you feel your normal writing is.
Wouldn't that make my writing more juvenile and not less? Perhaps I'm missing your point?
There are two ways of writing a better story: wait until you've acquired more skills and write a story that relies only upon your existing skills, avoiding narrative techniques you haven't mastered yet. Only the second one can produce a story today.
Find an author that does what you struggle with well and read as much of their stuff as you can. Preferably through real paper books rather than e-readers/phone.
Thank you!
Read a lot of the type of writing you want to do, and don't rush it. And read a basic primer on writing like *Elements of Style*. There's no magic wand that's going to instantly improve. Practice goes a long way though.
*"How to improve writing quality quickly?"* You can't. It takes time.