6 Writing Tips for Beginners

6 Writing Tips for Beginners

6 Writing Tips for Beginners

Every writer wants to improve in their craft. These six tips for beginners will help you grow as a beginning writer.

1. Keep a notebook with details of your characters:

Keeping the essential details about your characters together in one place will help you think better and write faster. You can combine character sheets, timelines, and plot notes into one document that allows you to jot down what happens when while keeping track of who said what. This is known as writing organically.

2. Set a goal for daily writing

Before you know it, your imagination can take control and you find yourself spending hours at a time in front of your computer screen, even though there’s no real inspiration going on in your head. This is something which I have seen happen several times with newcomers – they just don’t know when to stop! You should ideally set a target word or page count each day and then try to complete that every day. Try not to go over this throughout the first draft of your novel.

3. Balancing dialogue throughout your story.

It is important to balance your dialogue so that it doesn’t feel like one side of the story has more weight than another. This can be difficult when you have a long stretch without any speech or thought-provoking moments in between characters’ lines, but this will help keep readers engaged with what they’re reading! The goal for every character in a story should be to make the reader feel what they’re going through. To do this, you need your audience’s imagination on full blast.

4. Don’t be a broken record.

Watch out for repetition because it will make you look like a broken record. Style is a vital part of any story, and each writer has their own unique way to tell the tale. The best way to make your writing more engaging and interesting for the reader is by adding some variety to how you describe things. Avoid using words or phrases that have been repetitively used before because this will only result in a lackluster experience from both sides: readers won’t be able to get sufficiently excited about what they’re reading while writers might feel like their work isn’t worth putting time into anymore due solely on sheer repetition.

5. Writing location.

When you are working on your story, it is important that the environment be one where there aren’t any distractions. A journal or piece of paper at hand can help with ideas for what comes next while also serving as an easy way to note down anything else going through your mind when writing them out later; however, if these things aren’t available then try using a napkin from a restaurant – just make sure not to scrawl over anything! A specific workspace will allow you more peace so don’t worry about getting creative- find something comfortable and cozy in whichever room suits you best.

6. Keep going

Sometimes the words won’t come. You’ll think of something brilliant then an hour later, it’s gone, and you have no idea what was wrong or how to fix it! This happens for many reasons: tiredness from waking early in order to start writing; distractions like social media popping up while trying desperately not to refresh your browser out of fear that this might stop any progress made so far…whatever reason applies – just keep going because eventually, things will improve (or at least I hope). The key here isn’t getting discouraged when faced with challenges such as writer’s block.

Writing Goals and Accountability

Writing Goals and Accountability

When we think of our writing goals, we often focus on what we actually have no control over.

“I want to be a bestselling author.”

“I want to be published with Harper Collins.”

“I want to sign contracts with this agency.”

Those are great dreams and I hope they all come true for us, but honestly, we have no control over what someone else offers us in terms of representation or contracts. We also have no control over our readers purchasing our books. What we can do, however, is set goals based on what we can control:

“I’m going to do x, y, and z marketing strategies to sell a huge number of books.”

“I’m going to send a proposal to Harper Collins.” (Check submission guidelines — this is just an example!)

“I’m going to query this agent.”

Attack your Goals the SMART Way

The SMART method assures that your goals are actually things you can accomplish.

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant, Realistic
Time-based (deadline)

There needs to be room for WOW, so make sure to hold on to your hopes and dreams!

We had several guests pop in and share their writing projects and goals, and I know I found encouragement (and some great ideas) from what they said! Below the replay you’ll find our guests’ goals and some of the action items they’re using. Enjoy!

 Our Awesome Guests

Randy

Goal:

Have a book published at the end of the year.

Action Steps:

Randy segments his day into four different ways: edit, write/rewrite, learn, and plot in a room with no electronics and transcribes them into snowflake. Also writes 1500 words every week to a mentor who critiques it and sends it back.


Jann

Goal:

(1) Working on a book launch with SCWI.

(2) Either start a new series or continue with her current one.

Action Steps:

Market to the parents. Homeschool groups. Maybe write some curriculum.


Vicki

Goals:

(1) finish writing devotions

(2) editing novel

(3) finish writing proposal

Action Steps:

Breaking her day down into 15 minutes and trying to get stuff done; continually editing


Gael

Goals:

Working on four different projects “Serial Launch Program;” Has been a paid writer for over 10 years. Get the writing done.

Action Steps:

Three different guest writing opportunities. Stop calling her work a “project” — spending an hour and a half working with seniors telling their stories. It will be a training program. Been approached by a geriatric center to implement throughout West Virginia. Scheduled out the implementation for individuals, putting it on Udemy, and finishing the system for the facility.


Matt

Goals:

(1) Protect time.

(2) Write a specific letter to a specific person a week.

(3) Main writing goal: have first drafts of book 3 and 4 in my series done.

Action Steps:

(1) Practice saying “no” and choose to do things that are in his gift-set and relying on his congregation to use their gift set. Through the end of the year, not pick up the stuff he’s let go of during the sabbatical. Have margin.

(2) From Lori Roeleveld’s class at Blue Ridge – Write letters of encouragement to younger people in your congregation – and let them be the best writing you do. It blesses someone directly.

(3) Book launch tonight to sign books. Indie publishing. Goal is four books, so will write the next two books together and publish within 4-6 weeks together.