5 Writing Tips from Best Selling Authors

Toni Morrison (1931–2019)

American novelist

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”

This is always my favorite advice when it comes to writing, just because of how true it is. Writers shouldn’t be writing to an audience. They should be writing the story that they’ve been searching for on every bookshelf, but they haven’t been able to find it. Writers are first and foremost readers. By the time your book reaches publication you are going to have read it so many times you may never want to even look at it again so make it a story that is worth reading. For you.

William Faulkner (1897–1962)

American writer

“Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window.”

This advice was given by so many authors it was hard to narrow it down to just one to include. Authors such as Stephen King and Jane Austen say that you cannot write without also reading. Reading improves your writing and your mind which in turn strengthens your writing even more.

The magic about this advice is that you can read anything, it doesn’t have to be what you write.

Romance books will teach you about building relationships.

Thriller books will teach you to keep the reader on the edge of their seat.

All books will help you learn sentence structure, flow, and pacing.

Ray Bradbury (1920–2012)

American Author

“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”

If you haven’t yet read Zen in the Art of Writing I highly recommend it. In the collection of essays, Bradbury gives his love of writing on every page and puts you in such a trance that you fall in love with the idea of writing all over again.

When you first set out to write there's an almost euphoric feeling about writing a novel, actually creating something with nothing but the powers of your mind. Over time this feeling starts to diminish as you reach parts of the story that may not have come to you yet, the pressure from fans or a looming deadline.

Push all of that under a floorboard somewhere and try to ignore the sound of it banging beneath your feet. Stress does not equal good writing or a happy writer. When you sit down to write for the day remember why you are there, it’s not for the money, it’s for the words and the love of leaving them upon the page.

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926)

Austrian poet

“Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depth of your heart; confess to yourself you would have to die if you were forbidden to write.”

Although most of us write in the hopes of making an income this isn’t what we should be putting first. First comes the love and the passion for creating stories. The pay is just a bonus.

If you have to drag your feet to your computer to put words down onto the page… why are you torturing yourself? Writing should be a deep passion for you, maybe even your favorite part of the day.

This isn’t to say that some days writing may be the last thing you want to do because we all reach that point on occasion. However, writing should be something that resides within you that you need to let out such as a singer with the voice of an angle, they sing first for themselves before they ever set foot on a stage.

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963)

American poet

“Everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

Do you have an amazing story idea, but you’re afraid that nobody else will like it?

You need to ignore that little voice inside that’s feeding you this negativity. If you want to write a story about monkeys that turn into cats to save the planet from space dogs go ahead and write it. There is always someone out there that will appreciate it and fall in love with the story as you have.

The world is full of millions of people, there are readers out there for every type of story and you won’t know until you try.

So cast that self-doubt away and put your words to the page if anything you wrote for yourself and that’s still an amazing accomplishment.

No matter what, keep writing and when you’ve finished…

Write some more.

With Love,

B.K.