Six Tips For New Authors
Storytelling in one form or another is as old as mankind. The urge to tell a story seems inbuilt in some, a learned skill for others. To tell a story on the written page requires practice and patience. But where to start if you’re a beginner?
In this article I want to give six tips which will help the want-a-be writer get started and hopefully one day produce that great novel.
1. Observe People.
Next time you’re in a public arena; a shopping mall, work, church, or at the restaurant, watch people. Listen in on their conversations, observe there mannerisms. It will show you how real people act and interact in real life situations
You are not there to pass judgement but to learn about people. Take it all in – put it into a dairy, it will be very useful a little later on.
2. Observe Your Surroundings
Stop and look at what is around you. How would you describe say your local library? Do you know what’s underfoot, what’s overhead? Do you see what is right in front of you?
As an author you’re interested in details, interested in descriptions. Go home tonight and describe your work place and then do the same exercise four weeks from now. You’ll be amazed at what you’ll notice in between.
3. Write Everyday – No Exceptions
Ask any author and they’ll tell you that writing is 90 percent perspiration and only 10 percent inspiration; the purpose of this advice is to get you into the habit of perspiring!
It’s not that important what you write – it could be a shopping list or an overheard conversation – what is important is that you write. Though I suppose if you find yourself writing shopping lists five days a week you might want to reconsider where you are!!
4. Fix A Time.
We all have our own time for doing things. I’m a night owl, I write after 11pm; others I know set their clock to get up two hours earlier in the morning
If you are a morning person then get down to the writing immediately: don’t shower, wear your dressing gown. Maybe while the computer is warming up you can make a cup of coffee. You should be down at your computer five minutes after getting out of bed and for the next five minutes write just what comes into your head.
5. Experiment With Genre.
One mistake new writers tend to make is that they limit themselves to one genre: poetry, prose, dialogue, history.
If you want to write short stories, fine, but for a few hours each week do something different. Write a poem. Put a small play together. It doesn’t have to be to a publishing standard, it just let’s you get a feel for other forms of writing – and you’d be surprised how often people realize that they really do like writing in that medium.
6. My Best Advice
As you begin writing, set yourself a goal. Don’t make it unattainable say promise to write a minimum of 200 words a day – every day. Think of it, that’s almost 1,500 words per week!
Later when you’re used to writing your 200 words, set another goal – finishing a short story every month. By finishing I mean that it has reached publication standard.
Enter competitions. You’ve written a story, a play, a poem now you want people to read it – start entering writing competitions. Again try and enter at least one contest per month. I’ll cut you a little slack on this one because sometimes the contests just aren’t there.
There you have it my tips for the new storytellers and authors.