Writing Tips

There are already a lot of writing tips out there on the internet and I find myself using them as a means of procrastination. There are days where I convince myself that my own methods for getting words down onto a page are not sufficient and I’m doing something wrong. Looking through tips from other writers is probably not very helpful, but I’m a little nosy and love to see how other people deal with writer’s block or struggling with perfectionism. 

Through trial and error, I have found myself following a sort of ritual when I sit down to write anything. I could be writing a blog post or a chapter or even an email and I’ll find myself using the same methods. I don’t think these methods are going to work for everyone, they might only work for me but that’s okay, writing would be boring if everyone followed the same recipe.

There are obviously some things that I do that are subjective to what I am writing or are just common sense (like being organised). However, these are the seven things I find apply to almost everything I’ve written.

Be comfortable

Before you even start to write for a substantial period of time, make sure you are comfortable. I tend to swap my jeans for pyjamas, leggings or sweats. Jumpers and fluffy socks are also a requirement. I will put some music on, loud enough that it blocks out most other distracting sounds, but no enough that it will distract me. Once that’s all set up, I’m ready to start writing.

Don’t start with a blank page

I struggle with finding where to start and staring at a blank, white page is a little intimidating. It’s a little trick I picked up whilst trying to force myself to write essays at school. Before I start a new project, I go into the settings of the document and change the page colour. This post was written on lilac pages, my current writing project is on dark blue and the one before was a light green. Each colour sort of becomes a crucial part of what I’m writing, so much so that changing it to something else halfway through feels wrong. Although I know it’s still a blank page in a different colour, it’s not as intimidating as a blank white space.

Routine

I’ve tried writing when the words come to me and I’ve tried setting myself a daily goal. For me, forcing myself to write a certain number of words every day is what works for me. 

Take breaks

I think this might be the most important thing on this list. Take breaks. If I’m really struggling with writer’s block, I’ll take a break, close down the document and do a completely different task, maybe watch the next episode of whatever show I’m watching. After that, I come back to the document and usually, it’s cleared the cobwebs and I can continue. It’s also important to take breaks whilst you are writing. I write one thousand words a day. When I reach five hundred words, I take a short twenty-minute, half an hour break before continuing on to the second five hundred words. It’s something you have to work out for yourself how often you need to take a break whilst writing, but it’s important to do so. 

First drafts

The first draft shouldn’t be perfect, it’s your way of getting your initial ideas down on paper. The first draft is there for you to make mistakes and to see what works and what doesn’t. The idea of a first draft is that you are going to change things, reword things maybe even completely rewrite things and that’s completely normal, if not expected.

Get others to read your work

Your best friends are probably the best people for this, they’re going to be honest with you and not lie to you to spare your feelings. Once you’ve got to a point you are comfortable with it being more than just your baby, let others read it. This is good for so many different reasons; one, you miss mistakes when you’ve read over the same passage many times. Two, things that might make sense to you, may not make sense to someone who doesn’t know all the little details about your characters. Three, they’ll tell you what’s good and what doesn’t work. Four, sometimes your best friends want to know what you’re interested in and are impatient for you to finish a draft so they can read it. 

Trust your gut

This one may seem a little obvious but I think every writer needs to be reminded of it, no matter what they are writing. If you don’t trust your gut, you’re going to keep reworking your writing until it becomes something unrecognisable from the first idea that you liked enough to write. I have to trust my gut when I write my book reviews because otherwise, I will reevaluate every reaction I’ve had and convince myself that’s not the case. Sometimes you need to trust yourself and go for it even if it means rejection.

C🌙