wriiting technique advice

[Gumboot]

As everyone else has already said, write a lot of fiction, read a lot of fiction. We might sound like a broken record but it's honestly that simple.

 

[Coragem]

Briefly:

** Don't feel down. Learning to write is like learning a language or learning to play the piano. It takes YEARS. You wouldn't pay to listen to a piano recital by someone who'd only been playing a couple of years.

** The best advice is to read and write, but there is a little more to it. Find authors you admire and study their work. Notice every detail in what you're reading. How does the author use verbs and manage flashbacks and structure dialogue, etc. This will be a billion times more useful than reading "how to write" books.

** Writing is very hard at times. This is a personal opinion, but I don't think you're doing it right if you aren't struggling. If you aren't struggling you aren't pushing beyond your comfort zone; you aren't stretching yourself.

Good luck!

Coragem.

 

[abraves247]

I felt the same way you did when I first started writing as a hobby. When I reread the stuff i'd written I could tell it wasn't very good. After several re-writes I could feel my writing skills improving. I still have a long way to go but I am much better than When I first started.

Also I gave some of my stuff to friends to read and have them tell me what they would have done different if they had written it. That helped seeing it from someone else's perspective.

 

[mosaix]

Armed with this new knowledge i wrote a few short stories - which have been universally mocked and laughed at.

John, when you've got enough posts then post some stuff in the crits section here on Chrons. What won't happen is mockery and laughter. You'll get some sound advice from a really great bunch of people.

 

[Tyburn]

I second that totally. I've only been here a few weeks and feel like I've found a community of people who know and understand what I'm trying to say (even when I don't)

(In fact, I felt so welcome here after my first few posts I still haven't got round to doing an introduction thread, though I think at this time it may be a bit of a moot point)

 

[Chel]

Also, go back to your older work after a good while and read it with fresh eyes. You may be surprised at how much you don't even remember having written! Some of it will make you cringe, which is good - those parts need more work. But some parts will make you go "Wow! Did I really write this? This is great!" Those parts will need more work too, but less so than those cringe-worthy ones.
Even if you can't (yet!) tell why something is cringe-worthy or wow-inducing, you've already learned to notice when something is wrong.

As has been said many times already in this thread, reading is very important for us who write. This is, in my opinion, one of the reasons we want to help each other. We want to have good stuff to read in the future as well!

 

[mosaix]

Also, go back to your older work after a good while and read it with fresh eyes.

This is excellent advice.

When you read recently written work you read what you intended to write. When you read older work you read what you actually wrote.

Sounds odd but it's true.

 

[prizzley]

Keep your eyes open for short and cheap local creative writing courses. Check out local writing groups. And don't be shy, we've all been new and nervous.