Top Ten Tips to Being A Great Writer

Here are the most important tips you will get for becoming a better writer. Hopefully, they will help you.

10) Take acting classes. It may sound weird, but having the ability to role-play characters is a major advantage, and doing it by getting into the character’s mind is an even greater advantage. Acting classes are a great way to learn how to do it. About the only better way is to take up role-playing games as a hobby, but that can get expensive.

9) Study script-writing. Look at more than just the format; consider pacing, beats, and why the three-act structure works, as well as proper escalation. There are a lot of really great books focused on scripts that have applications to writing in general that can make for some interesting reading, like “Save The Cat.”

8) Take some journalism classes. As a writer, you need to learn that less is more, and this is probably the best way to do it. Better yet, spend some time on the school paper; this is great for learning how to edit (a useful sill in and of itself) as well as seeing how others do things differently with the same limits.

7) Spend some time in a bar or a park. You want somewhere busy, where people are talking to one another, so the busier the better. The idea is that you’re going to need to learn conversation from real people, and where better to learn than where people do a lot of talking? There’s a reason so many writers have a reputation for being drunks, so heed that as a warning against spending too much time “doing research.”

6) Learn to kill your darlings. If something is cool, but it doesn’t fit with what you are doing, then don’t be afraid to not use it: That “cool scene” may end up being the albatross that kills whatever you’re working on. You copy it to a different file so you can use it later, but don’t feel obligated to use everything you write.

5) Remember that Character>Plot. Don’t force your characters into doing things that they wouldn’t do simply for the sake of plot convenience. If your plot requires that your villain make a really stupid mistake, give him a realistic reason for making the mistake, like his girlfriend is breaking up with him or he has some serious bad news to deal with; this not only creates a better villain but it makes him more sympathetic. It also changes potential plot holes into something readers love.

4) Avoid gratuitousness. Don’t use sex, violence, and language unless you have a reason, and shocking people isn’t an acceptable one. John Woo should be your role model, not Quentin Tarantino; the problem here is that if all you do is shock people, they’re going to become immune to it, and you’re going to run out of new ideas at some point. Now, if you’re making something erotic, use all the sex you want, but otherwise try to avoid it.

[However, tip your waitress. Anything you can do to establish and maintain a good relationship with the person serving your food is a good thing, especially if you’re planning to spend a lot of time there, as per point #7.]

3) Read and watch. Any arguments about “but then you don’t have any of your own ideas” are BS. You would be surprised when those bits of trivia come in handy. Also, you need ideas to get your own. And watch the bad as well as the good; you never know what diamonds you’ll find in the mud.

2) Have fun. Don’t do this if you see it as a chore; just remember to take it seriously. This also means to experiment every so often and stretch your artistic muscles; you may find a new way of doing things that even become part of your style.

1) To thine own self be true. If you’re doing this to pick up girls or impress people with your ability to write, this is the wrong place. Write because you need to do as badly as breathe, not because you want to get rich or laid…

These are some pretty simple pieces of advice, and well worth following. Good luck on your path, and remember to have fun!