By Mary Jaksch
A couple of weeks ago I asked you, “What helps you to become a better writer?” You put forward 73 tips. Then I went to Copyblogger and showed the Write to Done list of tips to their readers. I called the post 73 Way to Become a Better Writer. Folks over there were pretty enthusiastic about the list and started adding to it. 981 Tweets later the list had grown to 176.
Today I’m bringing it back to Write to Done. Can we grow it to 200?
1. Become a blogger.
2. Use self-imposed word limits.
3. Accept all forms of criticism and learn to grow from it.
4. Read what you’ve written over and over, until I can’t find any more problems.
5. Show what you write to a trusted friend for feedback
6. Outline. And then write to that outline
7. Edit, and edit again
8. Live with passion.
9. Be open, curious, present, and engaged.
10. Take a break between writing and editing.
11. Learn a new word a day.
12. Get the pen and fingers moving
13. Write in different genres: blog posts, poems, short stories, essays.
14. Read grammar books.
15. Write without distractions.
16. Challenge yourself: write in a crowded cafe, write on the toilet, write for 24 hours straight.
17. Take a trip. Road trips, beach trips, bus trips, plane trips.
18. Watch movies. Can you write the story better?
19. Write. And then write more.
20. Read, think, read, write, ponder, write – and read some more.
21. Read your stuff aloud to anyone who can stand it – including the cat.
22. Go back and cut 10% from your word count.
23. Talk to people.
24. Listen to how people talk.
25. Read many books. The good and the shitty ones.
26. Make notes of your (fleeting) brilliant ideas.
27. Start your writing ahead of time – not hours before a deadline.
28. Listen to podcasts on writing tips
29. Use simple, declarative sentences.
30. Avoid passive voice.
31. Limit your use of adjectives and adverbs.
32. When in doubt, cut it out.
33. Kill clunky sentences.
34. Be inspired by other art forms – music, dance, sculpture, painting.
35. Read your old stuff and acknowledge how far you’ve come – and how far you have to go.
36. Write for publication, even if it’s only for the local newsletter or a small blog.
37. Make writing your priority in the morning
38. Keep squeezing words out even if when you feel uninspired.
39. Say to everyone: “I’m a writer.”
40. Recognize your fear and overcome it.
41. Let your articles rest and then return to them with fresh eyes.
42. Comment on your favorite blogs.
43. Keep a journal to keep the writing juices flowing.
44. Use a journal to sort out your thoughts and feelings.
45. Keep it simple.
46. Practice monotasking. Set a timer for uninterrupted writing.
47. Watch people.
48. Get to know someone different from you and reflect on the experience.
49. Try new ideas or hobbies – the more variety you have in your life, the more likely you are to keep on generating good ideas on the page.
50. Read works from different cultures. It helps keep your writing from tasting stale in the mouths of your readers.
51. Rethink what is ‘normal’.
52. Work on brilliant headlines.
53. Check if your assumptions are right.
54. Join a writing group. If you can’t find one, form one.
55. Write during your most productive hours of the day.
56. Designate time to research.
57. Take time to muse and mindmap.
58. Map out a writing schedule for your project and stick to it.
59. Ask someone else to proofread.
60. Read Zinsser’s “On Writing Well” at least once a year.
61. Break out of your comfort zone.
62. Write at the scene. If you want to write about a beach, get a picnic rug and go write by the sea.
63. Go to the supermarket, the ball game, the class room, the building site. Make notes of the sensuous details, the atmosphere, the people.
64. Start with metaphors and stories.
65. Approach writing with gratitude, not just with a ‘must do this’ attitude.
66. Deconstruct and analyze books and articles you enjoy.
67. Know about story architecture. Many writers don’t. Which is like doing heart surgery or flying and airliner by intuition. Survival rates are low.
68. Socialize with other writers.
69. Stretch or exercise in between writing.
70. Make a note of ideas for further development before you leave a piece for tomorrow.
71.Use mindmaps for inspiration.
72. Take risks – don’t be afraid to shock. You are not who you think you are.
73 Read Stepen King’s “On Writing”
74 Keep a copy of ‘Strunk and White’ within arm’s reach.
75 Keep a journal specially for work, for analyzing your progress and doing writing practice
76 Always think of your reader
77 Expose yourself to as many new experiences in a short amount of time as possible.
78 Learn to LOVE writing and reading
79 Write like you’re on your first date
80 Write everything down. Don’t trust your memory when you have a good idea, especially at night.
81 Set a time limit on each writing session, along with a goal for what you will finish in that time.
82 Simply leet things be what they are.
83 Read fiction
84 Write for different media
85 Don’t be afraid to cut out a line that seemed brilliant when you wrote it but really doesn’t add much.
86 Stop following links and write! Right now.
87 Hire someone else to write for you
88 Read Copyblogger
89 Trying to convey a certain emotion but not sure how? Listen to music that conveys a certain emotion in you while writing.
90 Set a timer and force yourself (even if it’s not your best work) to write a story within a designated amount of time.
91 Devour ‘Stein on Writing’ regularly.
92 Subscribe to Write to Done.
93 Read great writing
94 Write the opening sentence or headline last
95 Read your own writing out aloud
96 Read ‘Reading Like a Writer’ by Francine Prose
97 Write to agitate the mind and the nerves.
98 Find your unique voice
99 Love your words when you write them, hold them in suspicion when you edit them.
100 Write solely from the heart and shun copying others.
101 Cure for Writer’s Block: Read a great article from a favorite author or publication.
102 Use a voice recorder (or iPhone) when the right words come to you – but not in the shower.
103 Write a For and Against article for the same issue. This helps to stretch your thinking.
104 Engage strangers in conversation. Then write about it from memory, describing the person, setting, and conversation.
105 Write using a pencil instead of a laptop for more creativity.
106 Write outside
107 Read as much as humanly possible.
108 Remember: if you’re not sure, you don’t know.
109 Know when to walk away – and when to come back.
110 Believe that you’re a writer
111 Never trust your spell checker.
112 Write about what someone else has written
113 Think before you include an expletive
114 Check out the Urban Dictionary for topical inspiration
115 Be current – how do today’s headlines apply to your audience?
116 Ask, “Can it be turned into a list?” Think of at least five things you can list about it.
117 Never take a mundane experience for granted.
118 Bookmark this list and come back when you need to get those creative juices flowing.
119 Buy a small notebook and pen to take with you
120 Read the comments on your blog, treasure the folk who take the time to leave them and gather the seeds to make a great post.
121 Tell the story you most desperately want to read.
122 Always ask the question…”What if…”
123 Dialogue with your characters
124 Study criteria-based writing
125 Write as if you will stand up and present the article to an audience of a thousand people. Would they want to listen or go home?
126 Take up story challenges
127 Write in 101 words
128 Take up Nanowrimo
129 Write about what you want to write, not what you know.
130 Write 15 minutes a day. Every day.
131 Write with a plain text editor
132 Write on ugly paper because it tricks the brain to really believe that it doesn’t have to be perfect.
133 Write in small paragraphs in order to get to the point immediately
134 Look closely how successful writers make sentences.
135 Write when it comes to you
136 Write at the crack of dawn
137 Accept no excuses
138 Write when you’re tired
139 Write when you’re uninspired
140 Use a stack of 3×5 cards to start writing your book. Use on item or idea per card. Stack the card in order and type them in to develop a first draft.
141 Force yourself to disconnect for a while each day – turn off cell phone, Blackberry, iPod, music, email, Twitter, conversation with others.
142 Allow your mind to wander.
143 Try scotch or weed if all else fails…
144 Use ‘clustering’ to free up inspiration.
145 Put on your reviewer hat and write a review of your own article or story.
146 Visualize the person you are communicating with: What do their eyes reflect as they read this? What will the first thing they might say in response?
147 Do what works for you
148 Always call a spade a spade. It’s never a long-handled gardening implement!
149 Check out Richard Lanham’s ‘Parademic Method”
150 Do a ’stream of consciousness’ piece and see where it leads you.
151 Record random thoughts, story ideas, quotes on your phone when you’re out and about.
152 Try writing without accuracy. Not worrying about errors (left brain) allows for easier flow of thought (right brain).
153 Cut the crap
154 When in doubt, cut it out.
155 Write collaboratively
156 Read Dr. Frank Luntz’s “Words that Work”
157 Mean what you write, write what you mean
158 Write at the crack of dawn
159 There is a time for writing, and there is a time for editing. Don’t do both at once otherwise you’ll become too critical about what you wrote.
160 If you have a sense of where you want your piece to wind up, start there instead and see what happens.
161 Steal time for writing wherever and whenever you can find it.
162 Make writing a priority in your life. If you say it’s important to you, then show it in how you spend your time.
163 Tell the truth- that way you don’t need to remember what you wrote.
164 Don’t edit your work to death.
165 Collect words
166 Don’t be afraid to bust out the thesaurus to find a word that fits better in a sentence than the one currently there
167 Give yourself permission to write a crappy first draft
168 Try to eat properly. If you only eat junk your mental capacity diminishes and you can’t write well.
169 If you can’t write a book, write a blog post.
170 If you can’t write a blog post, comment on a post.
171 Love your tools. As St. Bumpersticker says, “My fountain pen can write better than your honor student!”
172 Study nature for simile possibilities. (”as still as oak leaves on a windless summer day,” )
173 Avoid these three weak words – unless absolutely necessary: Ifs, Buts, and Can’ts
173 When you feel blocked, do something mindless, like ironing or going for a quiet walk.
174 Practise condensing. Write a synopsis and then condense that. Précis the condensed synopsis. It helps to get to the bare bones of a story and reveal what it’s really about.
175 Rewrite from memory a good story you’ve read and then compare the two. Evaluate and learn from the differences.
176 Harness the power of your emotions
Please add your writing tips in the comments.
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Mary Jaksch is Chief Editor of Write to Done. You can read more articles by Mary on Goodlife ZEN. Get her free Ebook “Overcome Anything” here or grab a feed.
Learn a foreign language — and learn it well, to the point where you can think in that language, if possible. This will help you learn English grammar better, plus it will teach you the thought patterns and processes of the foreign language, which can expand your mind and modify your own thought processes (not to mention the ideas you might get from exposure to foreign cultures).
171 is my favourite – Love your tools! I also like all the suggestions to condense, to cut down, cut the crap, cut out 10%. There’s an overwriting condition in a lot of writing. Efficient is better than verbose.
This is inspiring.
What about sleep? Not just that getting enough overnight makes you fresher and sharper all round, but a 15 min nap when your mind is getting fuzzy saves a sluggish afternoon.
Another tip: When presenting a list of nearly 200 tips on a subject, add value by using sub-headings to group the tips by theme.
Thank you! Are there any specific podcasts that you would recommend?
A small tip: Be Yourself. No need to get inspired by someone else. Do not copy someone’s writing style. Remember that you are “one of a kind”
Another idea: Use StumbleUpon to find cool websites/tools in your niche and then write about them(may be a round-up post!)
anyone any good tipps on restlessness, not being able to concentrate and tiredness (despite enough sleep)? (all the same problem I guess)
Love the list otherwise!!
Theses are absolutely fabulous tips. I’m always looking for new tips to improve my writing and these are great. Thank you! :)
Great list. I’m a big fan of #131. And #119 as well, I take a notebook everywhere and make sure to use it constantly. It’s a great tool for organizing quick thoughts.
These are some great tips! Though I don’t know if all of them apply to every writer, most of them certainly do. There are times when we can all use an inspiration kick in the pants. This list can definitely help during those times.
AcademicWriter: There are lots of reasons for the maladies you present but one thing that can help with most is meditation or some other disciplining of the mind and body. I use 15 min in the morning where I don’t plan my day or think about anything but take in the morning and mini-meditate on the early morning sky, flowers, cloud formations. Sometimes I’ll light some incense when I hit a “restless-attack” during the day and again instead of FIGHTING the restless drift I’ll ALLOW it and quite often it’s some part of my subconscious brain trying to improve my writing.
And never be far from Strunk & White’s Elements of Style. ;-)
Mow the lawn, take a walk, go for a run…anything that requires the conscious mind to focus so the subconscious is free to create.
With Mary’s permission, allow me to add this note: if you’d like expansion on the majority of these tips, I’ve just published an ebook on the subject: “101 Slightly Unpredictable Tips for Novelists and Screenwriters.”
It’s available through my site: http://www.storyfix.com. Or here: http://storyfix.com/101-slightly-unpredictable-tips-for-novelists-and-screenwriters
The more tips, the better. The better explained and applied, the more effective they are.
Read Graham Wallas’ The Art of Thought
Participate in Group Writing projects
Enter writing competitions
Write your own life story. Lok back on your own life, pick out the key moments and create inspirational stories for others by reflecting on your learnings and life changing “aha moments”.
Another tip – work your way through “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. This will really get your inner artist going and also get you into the habit of writing early every morning.
’73 Read Stepen King’s “On Writing”’:
Isn’t the first name Stephen?
My tip:
read old books and journals for resource.
Get a journal and write about what happen to you on a daily basis.
Mary thank you for posting this information.
Learn the neurological origins of writer’s block and other forms of resistance. When you know what’s causing it, you can respond effectively. (feel free to link to my blog, which is all about resolving resistance, or not)
Destroy something regularly. Picasso said “Every act of creation is first of all an action of destruction.” Do your destruction intentionally and you won’t end up doing it unconsciously (sabotaging yourself, missing deadlines, getting sick, etc.).
Embrace your shadow. Discover what traits and characteristics you don’t want to express (stupid, boring, self-important, etc.), admit you have these traits despite your denial and explore how what you are denying in yourself could help you grow (stupid = willing to learn, boring = stable and serene, self-important = confident, etc.)
Work on writing whole stories in just a few lines. example: Check out storypeople.com. and see how Brian Andreas does it. His work is brilliant, insightfull, and full of feeling… in just a few sentences.
Keep the flow going. If it’s clicking for you, keep writing and don’t be derailed by the urge to stop and deliberate the choice of one word versus another or search-search-search for the perfect phrase. You know the sense of what you’re writing, so just skip over it. Leave a blank of several spaces or (my way) empty brackets.
You have your own writing/work style. Go with it. It’s a kind of rhythm, the way your mind works. If you feel a consistent beat, great, but you’re in the tiny minority. If you feel it only on Mondays between 2 and 6 a.m., that’s good, too; so work with that.
Keep not only your physical desktop organized and uncluttered, but the entire room in which you work. Clutter is chaotic and works against concentration. Even when it’s out of sight, you know it’s there. Trust me on this.
I love this! I’m so glad I stumbled upon your blog! Thank you!
Fantastic – and a couple to add:
Re-examine every word that’s three syllables or longer and see whether it could be replaced by a simpler word.
Get Scrivener – and if you’re not a Mac user, become one and get Scrivener!
On resources:
- Please read Trimble’s Writing with Style
- Keep a definitive grammar book nearby, like the writer’s resource or soemthing more definitive.
- Listen to Grammar girl’s podcast
- personally, I didn’t like Stephen King’s book, and Zissner was ok.
Tips:
- Make every word you write intentional. Know why you used that word, if it is necessary, and the meaning it imparts.
- The mini-skirt rule: Make it long enough to cover everything, but short enough to keep it interesting.
Super great list! I don’t think I could anything that hasn’t been said except Never Give UP!! and Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. I know I have done both of these things as times with my writing! Keep up the great posts!!
Ultimate resource indeed!
I haven’t resorted to #143 yet. However, my peers are encouraging it.
Be nice. And do not write bit too short comments.
Be nice and don’t write bit too short comments:)
Excellent compilation! It has something for everyone. Thank you.
When I want to slow down and connect to writing introspectively, I write on paper with the opposite hand. The awkwardness and level of difficulty create time for more thoughts to enter your head before the pen moves on. Yep, it takes patience, too.
136 and 158 are the same :)
Don’t wait for ideas. Find them everywhere.
Before writing, remember Obama’s motto: you can :)
Tough act to follow, but we’ll try to post 177th tip next. Yet that still won’t change the SEO, will it?
My contribution: “If you can’t write, just type.”
Don’t write about Main Street. Don’t write about a building on Main Street. Write about the 3rd brick in on the left between the first and second floors of 1011 Main Street. Then get detailed. (Pirsig)
I love the range of tips you’ve offered here! Breadth and depth all rolled into one gorgeous list!
When you grow your list back up to 200 tips, it would be great if you could add links to the tips with specific references – books, websites, and the like. Then it would really become a go-to resources for writers!
Trick yourself into starting – you only need to commit to writing 15 minutes a day – but don’t make excuses to do less.
When you think you’re done with a written piece, go back and see how many words you can cut out. Force yourself to cut out at least 20 percent.
The very best lawyers taught me to write three sentence letters. Quick and to the point. Allways read too.
Great tips, but I think it would be more valuable if, instead of growing the list, we shrunk it to the most important 10. Any takers?
Barb — you’re on:
Write mission-driven scenes.
Enter your scenes at the last possible moment.
Go easy on descriptive narrative (settings, people, etc.) — we know what
things look like.
Sure, show don’t tell… unless its backstory.
Know the difference between outlining and story architecture.
Ask yourself this: at any given moment, what or who is my reader
rooting for, and why?
Never rescue your hero.
Don’t use your drafts as exploratory exercises.
Develop a unique writing voice that’s easy on the purple.
Make sure you understand the most basic defintion of the word
“story” — too many writers don’t.
All these and 91 more are revealed and discussed at length in my ebook, “101 Slightly Unpredictable Tips for Novelists and Screenwriters.” (And if you think that’s too self-promotional, Mary, the lady who runs this site, liked the book and suggested I promote it here).
You can get it through http://www.storyfix.com.
While I disagree with Barb about shrinking the list to the ten most important, I agree that it would be valuable to have a top ten. Problem with this is that what is essential to one writer may not be to another. And the topic contains several distinct subtopics that could be broken out, each with, say, a top five. Sounds complicated but it’s not. A survey of “most important” could be done but there would have to be a high threshold of returns for the survey to be valid.
There are probably 1,000 more tips you could add to this list.
This is obviously a giant topic and of great importance to many.
I strongly suggest gathering it under subtopics; otherwise it will be a huge slushpile of stuff. I agree with Charity that there could be a thousand more tips you could add. All of this is so spot-on to the blog’s mission that it’s worth considering asking people to comment on individual subtopics and letting this spin out for a while. No, it won’t get ridiculously difficult. Will just take some eventual condensation and editing. Call me if you need help, Mary!
If you can’t figure out the lead to your piece, start in the middle and go back to the beginning later. This has prevented much writer’s block for me.
I like no. 11 very much. Learn a new word a day is what I do everyday. Just open up the dictionary and you get yourself more words than you can learn in your whole life.
Read. Learn. Grow. Write. Repeat.
Use some opera as background music or any kind of music with a story. If it’s in a language you don’t understand, even better.
Unmatchable list…thanks!
A writer/blogger may try http://glocalwriters.com
They offer a get paid to write opportunity with an upfront payment option.
@academicwriter I suggest that you look into improving your sleep hygiene, and also visit a doctor for a routine checkup with bloodwork, where you specifically ask about fatigue and concentration issues.
I have struggled with the symptoms you mention, and discovered three health issues overlapping to interfere with my writing: low blood iron, poor sleep hygiene, and mild ADD.
There are great suggestions and regimen to improve your sleeping habits, just google sleep hygiene. For the other two you’ll need a doctor’s help, but maybe not a prescription: it may be possible to improve your energy levels and concentration through supplements; I use iron pills, multivitamins, and ginseng to bring my energy and focus back.
I would never have expected such simple things to change my experience of the world, but they have, and I hope your solutions will be simple, too. Good luck!
there are multiple grammatical errors in this article. i know it’s online and few are very concerned with grammar and spelling in the online community, BUT THIS WAS AN ARTICLE ABOUT WRITING!
Hilarious! I like # 87 best!