There’s no way you know everything there is to become an amazing writer. Everyone keeps learning the process as they go along because it is always changing, revolving with time.

Here are 8 ways to grow as a writer and become the writer you always knew you could be.

1.      Read. Read some more. 'If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.’ Quote by one of my favourite authors, Steven King in his book, On Writing. If you haven’t read this, YOU SHOULD.

2.      Take risks. Try not to worry about failing as a writer. Just write, then edit until your fingers bleed. With every round of edits, your writing improves.

3.      Do research. This is important. If you don’t have the knowledge, your readers will know instantly… and unfortunately, they WILL REMEMBER and will never read another book you publish.

4.      Approach people. Don’t be afraid to ask people for information. If you need to know how a gun is properly loaded, don’t fake it. Ask your neighbour who hunts and uses guns often. You’d be surprised at how willing people are to help you with your questions.

5.      Double-check your sources. Nothing ends a writer’s career faster than inaccurate facts or poor note-taking. Be confident that you have the particulars correct.

6.      Just do it. You have to write something and let others actually look at it. This means you need to put yourself out there and prepare for some criticism coming back at you. In the end, the criticism will improve your writing faster than anything else you could imagine.

7.      Accepting Mistakes. I don’t know anyone who is perfect… of course, there are a few who think they are. If you can accept the fact you make mistakes and don’t know everything there is to know on the subject, then you are making progress. A writer who does not own up to his mistakes, never learns anything, therefore, he never grows.

8.      Never give up. There have been many famous writers who have received multiple rejection letters. Steven King had his first novel, Carrie rejected more than a dozen times. J.K. Rowling had Harry Potter rejected by big publishers like Harper Collins and Penguin before getting a small tiny press to print it. Another writer, George Orwell had Animal Farm rejected with this quote, “It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA.” It was an amazing book. So, there are three big authors who never gave up… and neither should you!

So, you now have a subject matter that you feel confident enough to write about. If you don’t, you better read this post on choosing the perfect subject matter before you continue on. You can read it here: 3 Essential Things to Know Before You Start Your Novel

What would the next step be in the process of writing this amazing story down on paper? The hardest part to writing a story is getting started. Here are a few suggestions as to how to start:

1.      That first sentence is brutal. Your mind keeps telling you that it is the most important sentence in the book. I would tend to agree, but, remember your first sentence and in the end, it will be your first page that you will edit about a thousand times. You will decide on a different first line so many times, it is really irrelevant right now, so just throw something down, that makes a little bit of sense. This is a first draft of many.

2.      Find a quiet place to write to avoid interruptions. Sometimes, it is difficult to bounce in and out of your story with kids asking for sandwiches and your husband looking for his golf shirt. It is difficult to just jump back into the story once you have been disrupted. The fewer disruptions the easier it is to write and stay in the moment.

3.      Block your time in large chunks. It is easier for your mind to stay focused on your story if you can devote your time into larger intervals, like two hours of straight writing before the kids get up, as opposed to writing for five to ten minutes at a time and having to reread your last chapter to figure out where your mind was headed at the time.

4.      Return your emails first. If it helps, get your tasks out of the way first. It helps get you in the writing mood and it allows your brain to concentrate on your story and not worrying about all the people waiting for answers on some baseball party you are organizing.

5.      Brainstorm with family or friends. Throw out a piece of your idea and see what they come up with. Sometimes, your best ideas come from feeding off other ideas. It is called the spinning effect. One small tale leads to a large intriguing tale.

6.      Index cards. Use small cards to add your thoughts and ideas. You can later place them across the living room floor and try to organize them into the order that they will appear in your novel.

7.      Use a spider web. Grab a large sheet of blank paper and a pencil or pen. Start with writing your subject in the middle of the page. Shoot arrows out in four directions to start with, indicating your next thought. Write down whatever comes into your head whether it makes some kind of sense or not. Think of it as a scrap piece of paper no one else will see and start scribbling. Use all five senses: sight, touch, smell, hear and taste. This creates great possibilities for a more creative manuscript and it will allow you to think of twists that will surprise the reader. Once you have the page full, number the ideas that are of interest and create a point form list of possibilities.

8.      Freefall writing. This is an easy way to get started. Set a time limit, such as ten minutes. Short spurts are better and before you know it you’ll be writing so fast, that you ignore the time limit. You put your pen to paper and start writing whatever comes into your head without stopping to think about it. Just write. No stopping, until the oven timer buzzes the end! If you are stuck and staring at the blank page, then write these words, “I’m a writer with nothing to say. I see a blank page before me and I need to fill it with words but I can’t think of anything to say.” Before you know it, your page will be full and time will commenced. Don’t worry about grammar, spelling and punctuation. It’s just an idea builder. You take risks. Sometimes, you get amazing ideas that you can run with later.

9.      Use Spider webbing and Freefall writing together if you like. Stare at your web and start writing the first thing you think of when you look at your ideas. It is definitely a quick and easy way to get started when you are stuck. It also helps you break the “I have nothing to say” barrier. You can edit the work later or you can throw it in the garbage. Your choice. Either way, it gets you writing.

10.  Lastly, if all the above is not working for you, try something different... change up your routine. If you are writing in long spurts, change to five-minute spurts or vise-versa. If you write at 5am, like I do, try writing late at night or during your lunch hours at work. Your mind works differently during different times of the day. If you write only on weekends, switch it up to Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

I like to write every day, just to keep me involved with the process of creating something, but it is whatever you can fit into your schedule. Like I said, getting started is the hardest part to tackling a bigger project like writing a novel.

Be calm and get scribbling your ideas down. Can’t wait to hear how that works for you.

A first page is very important. So is the first chapter. Have you ever picked up a book and you found it hard to get through the first page? Words were being used that you’ve never even heard of? Words were misused or misspelled? Obviously, we all know words are important to a writer, so here are 5 ways to make your reader happy and to get them to flip to the next page in your book… and the page after that… right to the very end of the book. 

News flash: That’s what makes the reader happy... a page turner that they want to keep reading and not put down until the story comes to an end. A good example would be Summer on Fire by Kevin Craig. It's a great YA novel that I highly recommend.


1.  Write in an active voice. If you speak in an active voice, you need to be clear and simple with what you are trying to say. Be direct and make it easy for people to understand the concept. “I want an ice cream cone” has a direct meaning that everyone should understand, as opposed to “I’m so feverishly hot that I could only accept something as cold and refreshing as frozen water mixed with low fat milk or yogurt, piled high within a sharp-pointed waffle patterned item made of sugar.” Yeah, that example is a little over the top, but you understand what I’m saying, don’t you? Try not to confuse the reader. Give it to him straight up. Be precise. Say what you really want to say without running around the bush for an hour.

2.  Use words correctly. Nothing jumps out at a reader more than someone using a word incorrectly. I’m after my kids continuously about words such as They’re/Their/There, Two/To/Too, Weather/Whether, Affect/Effect, It’s/Its, Ensure/Insure and you get the idea… proofread your work and catch the words spelled correctly but used incorrectly.

3.  Use familiar words. If a reader doesn’t understand your use of the word, they will just skip over it and quite possibly if you do it often enough in your novel, they will throw the novel under the bed, never to be looked at again! Example: Hippopotomonstrosequippeddaliophobia, why not just say, this person has a fear of long words?

4.  Use a Thesaurus. Don’t use the Thesaurus to pretty up your manuscript with words you wouldn’t normally use in everyday language. Use it to choose words that are similar in meaning. Example: if you search your manuscript for the word “LOOK”, you would be surprised at how many times it shows up. You should replace the word “LOOK” with easy understandable words such as “gaze, stare, glance, glimpse, peep or peek” for nouns, and “observe, watch, see, behold, view, consider, regard, eye and contemplate” for verbs. These are words you already know and use in daily conversation, so use them.

5.  Write at your reader’s level of understanding. To test your writing to see what grade level you write at, gather 150 words from a piece of your writing. Count the number of words that have only one syllable. Take that number and divide by ten. Then subtract your answer from twenty. The final answer is the number of years of education your reader needs in order to understand what you have written without feeling overwhelmed by your words. This is a perfect task to try, if you are writing for Middle Grade or Young Adult genres.

So, you want to write a novel, but you’re not sure where to start. Well, in my opinion there are three very essential things that you must know first, before you put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard:

1.  Know your Subject Matter

So, how well do you know the subject of your next project? Do you know it well enough to explain it to a class of teenagers or a room full of seniors? Could you answer ten minutes of their questions without hesitating and freaking out? Let’s face it, the more you know about the subject in your novel the easier it will be to write… and the more believable it will be to read.

There are many ways to do research into a topic that you only know a little bit about, besides having first-hand knowledge and experience.

Visit your local library. Search out huge sections on your topic, scouring through every book you can get your hands on. The non-fiction section will be bursting with perfect background information for you. Also, don’t forget about the Young Adult section. They have amazing books that break your subject down into easy to read and easy to understand chapters. (i.e. animals, sports, drugs, alcohol, weapons, psychological disorders, Ancient Greece and other destinations, World War II, etc.) These books can give you a quick insight into the subject and help you decide if you want to tackle such a subject in your novel.

Do interviews. This is extremely helpful talking to people who have experienced your topic first-hand, contact them via telephone, email or in-person. Some people interview so many people, that after their novel on their chosen subject is finished and published, they write an accompanying book with all the interviews compiled in one place. It’s a great idea.

Visit the place. Where do you want your novel to be set in? The beach, the mall, prison, police station or a hospital? Just sitting for a few minutes, in the location you’re going to write about, helps your five senses come alive, and you can write a piece that makes the reader feel like he’s right there with you.

People Watch. If you’re writing about teens, visit a mall and eavesdrop on their conversation. Get a feel for how they speak to one another. If you are writing about sports, visit an arena or baseball field and write down what you hear. Specific phrases that are repeated. The smell of the hotdogs and popcorn. The sound of the crowd after a goal is scored. If you’re writing about senior citizens, visit McDonald’s Restaurant at 8:30am. They flock there to enjoy their coffee at the morning coffee club. Or maybe visit a seniors home?
 
2.  Know Your Target Reader

Do you actually know who might pick up your book and read it? Who are you trying to influence with your writing? Here are a few questions to ask yourself, before you decide who you are trying to talk to:

Who is my reader?
What has currently been published that your reader finds intriguing?
What is interesting to this group of readers?
How does my reader feel about this topic?
What does my reader currently know about this subject?
What does the reader need to know?
Can you give the reader a new perspective on the subject?
How does my reader feel about this subject?
What would help a reader understand the subject better?
Do you as the writer, have something new to add to the subject matter that already hasn’t been addressed?
 
3. Know Yourself

You already know you are a writer, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't be here reading this. You also know a writer is someone who takes all the information they gather from doing research, they sort it all from a messy pile to an orderly stacked pile and then proceed to write it all down in clear precise manner that allows the reader to understand something easier. Does that make sense to you?

You, as the writer, need to communicate with your reader in a distinct clear voice that the reader loves. The reader needs to hear your voice stand out from all the other million writers out there. There’s no point in trying to write in a professional boring voice, or try to capture the voice of someone else… if you can write in an exciting unique voice, that is your golden nugget! It has to be a voice that your reader will remember. That is the key to success! You want them to remember your voice and you want them to crave more of your voice, hence, writing book number two… but that’s getting a little ahead of ourselves. 

Good luck on deciding what your subject will be for your next novel.



 

This Thursday, I will be heading to Huntsville with butterflies flapping within my gut and my brain waves pulsing eleven times faster than my uncontrollable heart beat. Thinking… thinking… thinking. That’s what I will be doing… along with 33 other nervous writers! We all will be participating in a 72-hour writing marathon called “Muskoka Novel Marathon” in hopes that we bring awareness to a very important cause… ILLITERACY.

Literacy is not just about reading and writing. There are approximately 47% of adults in Ontario that struggle with reading, writing, comprehensive and simple mathematics skills. This Muskoka event raises money to help individuals with these needs, and I am more than happy to participate. It can have a huge impact on someone’s life.

With that said, I also am doing it for a somewhat selfish reason… I admit it... I love to write. I'm blushing, as now you know my secret. This is a perfect weekend for me to turn my brain off to everything (such as driving kids to sporting events, doing laundry and dishes, cooking for five, sometimes ten people) and to let my brain concentrate on writing a story that someone else may enjoy reading… some day.

So, with the deadline fast approaching, I thought I better make a list of things to take with me, so I won't forget an essential thing like Skittles and M&Ms, oh, and my laptop! So, for other writers heading to a writing retreat or a three-day long writing marathon, here's my quick checklist of what not to forget! Looking at this list, you may need to tow a trailer to hold it all