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Tips for new and emerging writers by Adela Belin
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Tips for new and emerging writers |
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Self Improvement,Writing,Career
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“Read good books… Be by yourself as often as you can.” Trust Jane Kenyon on this. You should reduce or even eliminate all those things that subdue your writing creativity or distract your research ability. I reduce my TV time to one episode of something that I enjoy watching at the moment. Although some writing assignments will require spending more time on the internet, I disconnect my computer from the internet whenever I am writing. I isolate myself from distractions and read a lot of different materials and with varying styles of writing. The variety of content helps to expand my vocabulary and extend knowledge. Reading a lot also helps me to mimic the writing styles of my favorite authors, while modifying them to define my style. Isolation helps you to build your ability to concentrate and be disciplined. Live in the moment, try to practice active meditation. This is a fantastic tool that you can incorporate into your writing routine that can help to concentrate and produce high-quality writing. Ritualize writing Write, write, write and read, read, read! Great writers make writing a habit. You should write something every day as much as possible because practice makes perfect. I’ve practiced every day, and now I can write an error-free 275- 00-word article in just under 30 minutes. I normally write 10 pages a day. Three of them are part of the best exercise for writing. I wake up, and the first thing that I do is sit down and write three pages. It can be anything. It is so liberating to allow yourself write anything you want. I would highly suggest reading “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. It has a lot of useful information and exercises that you can do every day or once a week to become the writer you’ve always wanted to become. For now just write, the writing does not have to be objective or necessitated by an assignment. Try writing such things that make you feel naked (figuratively speaking) and exposed. Write about difficult topics, sometimes I lack enough knowledge or appropriate words to describe them. However, my writing always improves whenever I find words to describe something like a supernova. I am not concerned with the quality of my writing as long as I churn out my thoughts. However, I review my journal entries at the end of the week to edit them. Outline Outlining is one of the oldest tricks especially when writing more than 350 words. A general outline should contain an idea and corresponding subtopics, details, and examples. The number of words determines the number of the elements described above. For example, a 350 – 750 words article will need 2- 3 subtopics, three details for each subtopic, and 1 or 2 examples for each fact. An article with 800- 1250 words will have the same requirements except for 1- 3 examples for each point. Subsequently an article that has more than 1250 words will need 3 or more elements. Ignore the grammar first Writing should always be seductive rather than precise. Don’t mind the grammar or structure of the first draft until all your ideas have been noted down. I’m not grammar-savvy myself, but I always strive to become better. The more you’ll practice and learn from your mistakes, the better you’ll get at writing, nothing new here. I started working for a custom writing service almost two years ago and one of the best tips that I learned from writers who work there was this: if you are not sure about any rule, get on Google and research this topic thoroughly. Become an expert in that and share your knowledge. So whenever in doubt, I go to my favorite search engine and research that rule, that’s how you become an expert. Nevertheless, I don’t mind it because the fear of making mistakes during writing can contribute to writer’s block. The hardest part of the writing process is usually editing. Therefore, save it for the last. Also, the length of the paper should not be a priority either. Concentrating on the word count rather than finding valuable ideas is not a winning situation. Have a lead Great writing entails hooking the readers with detail, emotion, and color. The lead of any piece of writing should either appeal to the readers’ curiosity and/or emotions. Readers’ interest is evoked by an intriguing question, a surprising statement, or a paradox (two contradictory statements). Remember to back up these elements elsewhere in the piece of writing. Readers’ emotions can be aroused by anecdotes that are mildly dramatic. Anecdotes are suitable for articles that have more than 400 words. Assessing the effectiveness of any piece of writing is easily done by simply deleting the first and the last paragraphs. Be original A good writer needs to have original ideas or present things in a unique way. I come up with original ideas using two approaches; maybe there are more. I have already mentioned one; this is when you approach an old topic in a new way. Secondly, one can combine two or more ideas that have not been previously combined. It’s important to have a central idea and a secondary idea. Readers should remember your primary idea after reading an article or any other piece of writing. An idea must be defensible. Question your ideas or traditional points of view. Nevertheless, minimize adverbs and long paragraphs in your writing. Have a consistent structure A good writer typically employs the three-level writing formula. Start with a general statement followed by concrete facts and examples for each fact. Logically move from easy information to complex information when explaining ideas. It is also important to group similar ideas together. Remember, these good writing questions when writing an article: what, who, where, when, why, and how. However, a reasonable article should answer one more important question – so what? This question affirms the importance of understanding a writer’s idea and its answer should be smartly incorporated in the introduction. Most of the readers are interested in how a piece of writing affects them. Consequently, I usually switch between the first person, the second person, and the third person narratives. The choice of narrative point of view depends on the type of your writing assignment. If you want to read more about point of view please check out free resources, in the past, I’ve stumbled upon many great articles. Personally I love writing from the first person narrative, it really helps me to show my voice. Editing Most novice writers disregard editing. However, it is the most important part of any writing. Editing helps you to identify your writing style, inconsistencies, and common mistakes. In fact, delegate some of your time to read a variety of articles with the intention of editing them. I like writing in silence and when I am alone. After I finish writing an article, I read through the whole text and correct errors. After that I ran the piece through Grammarly. Now the time comes to do something different and distract myself from the text. After an hour or so I come back to the text and read it through again, correcting any new mistakes that I find. Done. Have a second reader If you have anyone who can help you edit your piece of writing or just read it through, send it over to them after you do your reading and editing. Preferably, that person should be a professional writer or editor. Don’t get discouraged if another person finds a lot of mistakes learn from them and try again with another article. Have a break Relaxing is equally important for building creativity. Most people procrastinate because they stress about writing, forgetting to have fun. So “don’t worry, be happy.” Just take some time off and do anything that takes your mind off writing. I like to play “Brain Wars” on my IPhone or take a stroll if the weather allows it. Find couple of fun activities that you will enjoy doing. And as Carl Sandburg said: “Beware of advice - even this.”
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