Best way to practice writing?

[GDobkins]

No such thing as practice writing.

Either write or don't write

practice--get squished like grape.

 

[Boaz]

@RandomSimpEvent You probably like sipping your tea... but this is more like drinking straight from a fire hose. Enjoy your stay at the Chrons.

 

[Bren G]

Hey guys, just wanted to say thanks for the warm welcomes as well as the feedback. I read all of your comments and found them very insightful, but there are a few things I want to address/clarify.

First off, yeah I should've put this in the writing forum, my bad.

Second, I'll totally take your advice and start looking at those challenges.

Finally, just wanted to clear up that I wasn't looking for shortcuts with this thread, rather it was to avoid practice methods that would create bad habits or ultimately get me nowhere. A lot of you seemed to say that writing prompts(besides the challenges of course) were not the way to go, as they would just cause burn-out, and I agree. So I ask, would it be a good idea to just try my hand at my novel idea, and improve it as I learn, or do you recommend to start with something smaller(kind of why I asked about prompts) like a short story or two before tackling a novel.

I mean this in the most honest and respectful sense of course, but if you are undecided between writing novel or practicing writing, then I would say, practice your writing. Why? If there is even a consideration between the two, it may indicate that you're either not captivated by your novel yet, or you haven't found the 'bug' - that thing you have to tell the world, that thing that will diminish you over time if you don't share it. Writing a novel is hard work, full of toil, disappointment and trial and error, but if you don't love every minute of it, it is hard to sustain the energy required to manifest it. As Teresa mentions above, you need to be 'possessed' by your story, there needs to be a fire inside to push past the tough spots, to snatch the glimmers of hope when they appear and move towards a day where they flash more frequently. A novel is not made of one thing, it is a composite of layers, like sedimentary rock that builds a mountain, and writing each layer teaches one so so much. As I mentioned above, I started with the simple layers first, and build the more complex ones (like prose) later. This is just my perspective of course, but I chose the novel and I learned so much in doing so. I do not know if I am a good writer yet, but I am a much much better one than when I wrote my first words. A novel gave me purpose, and I don't think I'd have learned so much without purpose. Writing 'to learn', isn't a bad thing at all, and better than doing nothing of course, but wasn't for me.

Good luck RandSimpEvent!

BG

 

[The Judge]

So I ask, would it be a good idea to just try my hand at my novel idea, and improve it as I learn, or do you recommend to start with something smaller(kind of why I asked about prompts) like a short story or two before tackling a novel.

Have you other stories you want to write? Lots of ideas fizzing around in your head waiting for you to get them down on paper/screen?

I've always just written the story that's demanding to be written at the time. But once the story is done for me, it's done. Personally, I couldn't do as Teresa did with umpteen different versions of the same tale while I sought to improve it. I always revise and edit, of course, but because of the way I work (very, very slowly; pantsing for the most part and editing as I go) the revisions are largely taking a machete to word count. I have gone through and changed things in my WiPs, sometimes big things in the first would-be-novel I completed, but I finally get to a point where I shove them in a drawer and get on with something new and shiny. (And if I don't write the new and shiny ideas at once, they sometimes lose their shiny appeal and get dumped in the voluminous Left Luggage dept of my brain.)

So a lot will depend on your temperament. Are you a feckless dilettante like me, doing little butterfly flights always in search of novelty?! If so, then you risk losing the big story you want to write by becoming bored with it as you learn, so working on other things and coming back to it when you feel more confident of your ability might be best. If on the other hand you're diligent and patient and you'll work and work until you get it right, then Teresa's way may well work for you.

But yeah, don't practise for the sake of practising. Write stories that you want to write, whether this big one or a number of little ones.

 

[The Big Peat]

The best projects for improving your writing will vary wildly depending on your temperament, interests, etc.etc.

I don't think there is anything wrong per se with the idea of keeping your favourite project on the backburner because you're unsure of your ability to pull it off right now and don't want to mess it up. I've done that. There is also nothing wrong with deciding to go full steam ahead and learn as you go. You have to do that with something eventually after all.

But whatever you do do must engage your passion and interest. If writing prompts don't grab you, not a great idea. If doing pastiches (or even outright fan fiction) of your favourite authors doesn't grab you... etc.etc.

I think the best halfway house is short stories about things that branch off from your big idea. They're shorter and only tangentially related so you can get feedback quicker and go ahead without fear of ruining things; but because they're related, they should retain your interest.

In any, a list of things that might work

Writing Prompts (I know, I know, but it doesn't have to be long, and you can always relate the prompt to your own ideas - relate your earliest memory? related your character's earliest memory)
Micro-Fiction Contests (here and elsewhere)
Short Story Submission Calls (both for anthologies & magazines)
Style Imitations/Fan Fic
Structure Follows (pick a story, and see how long you can follow along imitating its story beats but with your own idea - got the idea after hearing Bernard Cornwell did it, and surprisingly fun and a good way to see how stories thread together)
Other Novel ideas
Blogging/Non-Fiction Essays - TJ makes a good point about learning clarity from other disciplines. It's not great prose practice, but it's still good writing practice, and it's a good way to mix it up.

But only what works for you.

Note - Just because you try one thing, doesn't mean your'e stuck with it and can't try other things if your mood changes

 

[Dragonlady]

i wrote a first draft as a teenager. Tried to rewrite it recently and found a plot hole of doom. I can already feel differences in the way I write a completely new first draft. I anticipate if I get published it may be the 10th draft of this after having written 6 things in between or something

 

[.matthew.]

Writing Prompts

As a general concept I find them pretty useless, but I recently found some success with them and a writing buddy. We gave each other a prompt (or a choice of a few / some other guidance on what to write) then exchanged them for light critique a few days later.