My guide to better writing

I’ve decided to start this page with a few ideas that I have on how to become a better writer.

I’ll start by telling you that I am no where near close to being a great writer.  I don’t even consider myself a good writer.  I do however, consider myself to be somewhat competent and I have every confidence in myself and my abilities as a writer.

My first attempts at writing left me angry and disappointed.  It was like I was trying to paint the Mona Lisa with a bucket of shit. My spelling and grammar was atrocious and my ideas lacked even the most common of building blocks.  The stories I wrote were confusing and vague, my characters were nothing more than two dimensional generic automatons and my settings were very poorly written.

Over time however, I continued writing and eventually found myself getting better.  I was able to create interesting plot lines and story arcs.  My characters started to come to life and had depth and personality and I finally managed to competently describe settings.

Another thing I did at the same time was read.  I have always had a voracious, insatiable appetite for reading.  A passion that helped with my writing because it allowed me to ‘see’ how other writers managed in their craft.  Reading a large cross section of different genre helped me become more confident in decided what worked or didn’t work in a story.

If I could give one piece of advice to another person hoping to become a writer then it would have to be this:

Read and write everything anything and everything you can!  It won’t kill you and if something doesn’t kill you then it will only make you stronger.

Until next time…

Write on!