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If You've Always Wanted To Write A Book, Here's How
There's no one "right" way to write
Some people plan ahead their and outline their novels, others just jump in a wing it.Experiment, start with something and see what works for you.
Try to show up for your characters. It's not important how you do it, as long as you do it.
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Create the conditions to write
- Make the time for writing. We all have those absent-minded moments in our day when we're not doing anything. If we use that time to write, we can actually get a lot done.
- Lower the bar of writing. To overcome perfectionism, set a a goal and a deadline; this will help you get your words out without the need to have them perfect from the beginning.
There's no one "right" way to write
Some people plan ahead their and outline their novels, others just jump in a wing it.Experiment, start with something and see what works for you.
Try to show up for your characters. It's not important how you do it, as long as you do it.
Find your people
When you feel a bit stuck, and walking the dog or organizing the closet doesn't help, speak to a friend with a different way of thinking. Or talk to a friend who's writing a book.aaa
You don't just have to stick to friends. Reach out to other writers who can talk through any issue you're having with your book.
Read to refine your voice
Reading helps you find out what you like and enables you to refine your own voice.
Reading will influence you, but your voice will always be your own.
Learn to accept criticism with grace and humility
Having an accountability partner can be helpful to provide a different perspective and tell you when you've gotten something wrong.
Maybe your prose is clunky, or perhaps your characters are stereotypical. If you're writing outside of your experience, you should know why you're doing it. Even if you do the research, discussion, bringing other people into your work, you might still get something wrong.
The Real Writer mindset
If you write, you're a real writer. Whether you write poetry, fanfiction, letters to yourself, a description of experience - if you tell a story, you are the real deal.
Just write, and you'll find yourself writing a book.
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Common errors
Most writing mistakes are widespread, but good writers just get better at spotting them. Some things you'll learn to watch for are:
- Overuse of jargon and business-speak, like "utilize" or "endeavor" instead of "use" or "try."
- Clichés are stale phrases that have lost their impact and novelty through overuse. If you are used to seeing it in print, don't use it.
- The passive voice. The subject of the sentence should be the person or thing taking action, not the thing being acted on. "Harry wrote this article," is better than "This article was written by Harry."
- Rambling. When you are not sure what you want to say, it is easy to phrase it in three or four different ways. A single concise sentence is generally better.
Give it some space
When you write something, you get very close to it. It is nearly impossible to distance yourself from it straight away to edit properly.
The longer you can leave a draft before editing, the better. Half an hour to two days is enough of a break to edit well. When you do edit, read your work out loud. You'll catch more problems and get a better feel for how everything flows.
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Writing And Priorities
If you feel too overwhelmed for writing, list your goals in order of importance. Maybe writing is not your top goal and you are wasting energy thinking you should do it because you haven’t r...
Write For Just Fifteen Minutes
Professional writers rarely write for more than five or so hours a day because writing is mentally exhausting. This means you can get a lot done in a short amount of time.
You might not have five hours to write, but almost everyone has fifteen minutes. To keep yourself focused as you write, consider writing with a timer.
Stop Checking Email
Many use email as a to-do list, which leaves them reacting to life instead of living it according to goals.
It’s difficult to write when you’re checking email every five minutes. Don’t check emails during your daily writing time.
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