writing tips

Writing Tip #5

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Consume what you love!

This sounds weird right off the bat!

But, I’m not meaning it in any kind of weird, possessive, bad kind of way.

I mean it in the – if you love young adult books, and you want to write young adult books – then read a lot of young adult books, and watch a lot of young adult movies and tv shows.

If you love Sci-Fi – then read and watch a ton of Sci-Fi! If you want to write children’s books, then read a lot of children’s books, if you want to write a cookbook, then study as many different cookbooks as you can (and also, you know, cook and bake and stuff!).

If you love movies, and you want to write screenplays – then watch a bunch of movies, critically. Study them, pay attention to the angles and the lighting and the placement of objects and the dialogue, etc. etc. While also, reading scripts, studying scripts, familiarizing yourself with the format, etc.

Writing is just like anything, and everything else, it gets better with practice and study.

Basically, figure out your genre, your type, your niche that you want to write – and then consume as much of that genre, type, niche as you can. The more you read mystery, the better you’ll get at writing mystery. The more you watch action movies, the better you’ll be at writing action movies. The more you bake, the better you’ll be at baking.

But, the biggest part of this advice is, the first time you’re reading or watching something – just enjoy it! Enjoy it that first time, don’t pay attention to the commas, or the allegory, or the whatever other big literary word you can think of, just enjoy it.

Enjoy it and DO pay attention to the way it makes you feel, remember the moments it made you laugh or cry, remember the times it blindsided you with a twist. Then, the second, third, and fifteenth time you read/watch it you’ll notice HOW they made you feel/think those things without even having to try.

Oh also, a note about picking a genre, type, or niche – don’t stress about that part. I know, me personally I write what I love, but then when I try to define it I get bogged down in the “aaagh, it’s too many things! It’s horror, it’s fantasy, it’s romance, it’s comedy, it’s ya, it’s sci-fi, it’s contemporary, aaaagh I don’t know!!” So, yeah, don’t get stressed about that part.

Just read/watch what you love, enjoy it, read/watch it again, study it, write it, and before you know it – boom! You’ll have a book/script written!

I hope this was coherent!😆 If it wasn’t, I apologize!

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Writing tip # 3

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Listen to music!!!

This one ties in with some of the previous tips I’ve given – but, it’s my ride or die tip!

I cannot write without music!

Ok, obviously I can – but, I really don’t like to.

Even right now, while I’m writing this blogpost, I’ve got a Kpop playlist going on in the background. It’s awesome! I love it!!

Again, I said it before and I’ll say it again – writing is all about the mood.

BUT – you CAN’T WAIT for the MOOD to strike YOU!

YOU have to STRIKE the MOOD!!

And music is the best, easiest, fastest, most-fun way (that I know of!) to get you in the mood. 😉

So, pop on a playlist and go get writing!

Good luck ❤

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Writing tip #2

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Have a Special Place.

This is one that I read from a writing advice book several years ago (I forget the name), and it’s a good one (but it can go wrong too, and I’ll explain how).

A lot of writing is emotional and “vibe-al”, so if the mood isn’t right – well then, that character that we were planning on killing off might just marry the main love interest, or the whole thing might turn into an expose on the private lives of apples.

So, maintaining the right mood is crucial to maintaining the proper flow of the story.

This one messed me up a bit too though, because it made me very inflexible. I had developed the habit of writing out at cafe’s – well, when a global pandemic strikes that can really disrupt your flow.

Even without a pandemic though, if you’re writing in public maybe somebody took that window seat that you really like, or the barista’s are out of the syrup that you always take in your coffee, or that spicy food you ate earlier is just really not sitting right with you and you have to keep packing everything up to use the public restroom.

So, keep your writing space special – but be flexible too. 😀

Ta-ta! 🙂

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Writing Tip #1

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Limit yourself.

Wait, don’t click away yet! This is a really good genuine tip, I promise! Without this tip you won’t be able to accomplish the #1 writing rule.

I’m not saying ‘limit yourself’ as in ‘limit your imagination’ or ‘limit how good your are/can be’.

No.

I mean – Limit Yourself.

Give yourself a SET TIME.

A certain amount of pages.

A minimum (and maximum!) daily word count.

Set. A. Limit. (you can make it the sky if you want!)

Trust me, with this tip you will be able to achieve the #1 writing rule of WRITE EVERY DAY.

Cause, let’s face it – writing every day sounds easy enough (you know, even getting a few words down on the page is good work), but what about when we’re reeeeeally tired? Or, we’ve got too much laundry to do? Or the ideas just aren’t coming?

Well, if you LIMIT YOURSELF – telling yourself that you’ll only write for 20 minutes a day, or 1 page a day, or 500 words a day – then suddenly, that daunting task of putting pen to paper (or fingers to keys) becomes a doable feat.

Even is you only write for 5 minutes, or a single sentence, that’s something and it keeps the momentum going so that when the muse strikes – it will strike a lot sooner and more often if you’ve kept up the daily habit.

Also though – limit yourself on stopping after reaching your maximum word count, page number, time limit. You’ll get a lot more done if you write a little something every day then if you burn out in one intense night (just like with working out, eating right, praying daily or any other habit).

So – let’s make it a HABIT and remember – WRITE DAILY – LIMIT YO’ SELF! 😉

bye 🙂

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