Writing Blog Number 2

20230113 Writing Advice

Writing Advice

I am often asked for what advice I would give novice writers. This has not changed in years, and so I will give the advice I always give, and then explain myself.

Advice:
1) Read. Read some more. When you’re done, keep reading.
2) Write. Write some more. When you’re done, keep writing.
3) Get your technical aspects down.

That’s it. Nothing else.

Now… to explain.

1) By read, I mean read a lot, but also a lot of different stuff. If you want to write horror, for example, don’t just read horror. Read science fiction to see how technology can be utilized. Read romance to see how character relationships can be improved. Read non-fiction to give you “what if…?” questions. Read widely and often.

2) The old adage is practice makes perfect. However, there is a caveat – perfect practice makes perfect. You need to make sure what you are writing is as good as it can be. And the only way to do that is to write, and write a lot. Simple.

3) This one is contentious nowadays, as the online narrative is that it is elitist and ableist. The idea is that story is all that matters and the rest is window dressing. My counter to that is if you do not have the basics of spelling, grammar and punctuation down, no-one is going to understand you. This does NOT mean if you do not have these, do not write. Far from it. Write away. But you should be prepared to gain these skills and improve them. It would be like a plumber who doesn’t know how to use a wrench, a basic tool. Sure, he can still do plumbing work, but without that tool at his disposal, he is not going to be effective. So he simple learns to use it. Same with the tools of writing. If you do not know how to use commas, how to spell, fine. Do not let that stop you writing. But also do not accept it as your limit and take the time to learn.

I guess nowadays, I might add little extra things like don’t plagiarise, don’t use AI, Grammarly and the like suck… but they’re not really rules so much as things I have come to realise, and I think everyone needs to realise these things on their own.

And that’s my rules!

Feel free to abuse me.