If you've come across this, then you probably just searched "How to be a writer." If you searched for that, then you probably saw advice such as, "Write every day," or "Read regularly." These are fine points. Reading regularly gives you an idea and feel for good writing, and practice always makes better. But the problem is that writing every day isn't helpful if you keep making the same mistakes over and over, and unless you're straight-up copying someone else's work (which is illegal and immoral, so don't do it!), reading a particular author's unique voice doesn't really give you your own voice. So right now, I'm going to give you three practical, hands-on tips that you can begin today to help improve your writing.
#1 Read your work out loud
Honestly, if you do nothing else with my advice, do this. Reading your own work out loud is the most invaluable habit you can form, for a number of reasons. First, it will allow you to find grammar issues (which makes editing the final thing much easier). Consider the following sentence:
"Pizza is my favorite food! I defiantly want that for dinner!"
Did you catch it? If not, go back and read the sentence out loud. The issue jumps out immediately, doesn't it?
"Pizza is my favorite food! I defiantly want that for dinner!"
Imagine being a reader and coming across that in a book. "Arrrrggghhh! I WANT PIZZA, AND I WILL FIGHT ANYONE WHO TRIES TO STOP ME!" It's the kind of error that will ensure you get a negative review. Reading out loud helps you find these types of errors.
Reading out loud also helps you with the flow of your narrative. Whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction, your text needs to move logically and smoothly from one idea to the next, from one sentence to the next, and from one word to the next. Reading out loud will help you find incomplete thoughts and run-on sentences.
For those of you writing fiction, reading your dialogue out lout will help ensure that the conversation between the characters flows and makes sense. Harrison Ford has said many times that he struggled with the dialogue in Star Wars. He famously told George Lucas to move his lips when he wrote, saying, "George, you may be able to type this $h!t, but you sure can't say it."
So I don't care how you do it - maybe you have to wait for your family to go to the store first so they don't think you're crazy - but read your work out loud.
#2 Stop Looking For Your Voice
One piece of advice that is given to beginning writers - and I remember receiving this when I was taking writing classes - is to "find your voice." That's garbage. Don't waste your time looking for something you already have.
Did you know you already have a voice? You do. It's your own. It's how you already think and speak. Your job, as a writer, is to put that voice on the page. This is another place where reading your work out loud comes in handy, because it allows you to turn what you've typed into what you would say. Now, why is this important? Why does your written work need to sound like you were dictating it?
Because if it's how you normally speak, then your word choices and word orders will be natural. This will, in turn, help your manuscript flow better. Here's an exercise for you: write out a description of something in nature you really like. Maybe it was a sunset you saw once, or a flower in your front yard . . . whatever. Now read over it, out loud. Did you stumble over words? Did something sound off? If you were sitting with a friend and describing the same thing, would you have said it differently? If so, then write that description. Write it exactly the way you would say it.
If I were describing some rabbits that we have in our yard, I could focus all my energy on writing it, and it would come out something like this:
"Two rabbits residing in our yard breakfast on clover each morning." Okay . . . it's a little flat, a little dry . . . kind of boring. Now if we were in person, I'd describe it this way:
"We have two rabbits that have moved into our front yard. Every morning, they come out and munch on the clover we have. They're so cute."
While it might not be riveting, it is a bit more engaging. This is the secret to successful and interesting authors. Think about it this way: most people don't have any interest in reading a history textbook, but people flock to read a David McCullough book. One of the most engaging authors is Malcolm Gladwell. He can discuss jarred, retail spaghetti sauce and make it fascinating. Why? Because he writes conversationally.
When you try to force your writing to fit some sort of pre-defined mold that you created in your mind, it will feel forced. That's because it is. And if it's forced, it will - most likely - be uninteresting. But when you allow your writing to flow out of you conversationally - when you write with your own voice - it will naturally sound and read better.
There is one exception to this rule, and that brings us to Rule #3.
#3 Give Your Characters Their Own Voices
So this one really only applies to fiction writers. At least for the most part. I have edited more than a dozen novels, and I can tell you that one of the most common problems I see is that most of the dialogue in these novels is indistinct. There are times where I'm not even sure which characters are talking. Is it the forty-year-old man, or the twelve-year-old girl? Is the mom yelling at the kids, or is it Dad? I can't tell, because everyone speaks the same way - which, not surprisingly, is often exactly how the narrator speaks.
As you develop your story and characters, you're going to need to do the hard work of giving each person a distinct personality. The easiest way to do this is to base your characters on people you know. Your hospital scene has an amicable older nurse? Base her on your loveable Aunt Ida. The antagonist is tormented by PTSD? Base him on your cousin who fought in Afghanistan and was never quite the same when he returned home. When it comes time for that character to speak, ask yourself, "How would so-and-so phrase this? How would she respond to the situation? How would he retort?"
One of the most successful character-building franchises of all time is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Why? Because Tony Stark is both consistent, and nothing at all like Steve Rogers. And Steve and Bruce are both consistent and unique. Even as the characters change and develop over the course of their story arcs, their changes and responses remain consistent with who they are at their cores. Steve is a loyal guy, driven to do the right thing. At first, this means loyalty to the U.S. Government, but as he becomes disenfranchised with that establishment, his loyalties shift. But, listen, even though he's no longer loyal to the government, he's still loyal to his ideals and his friends.
Their dialogue, as well, is consistent. You can expect a sarcastic bite from Tony, and a straight-laced, serious response from Steve. And even when he cracks a joke, Steve still has a bit of gravitas about him. Accomplishing this feat in your writing is a lot of work. It will take a great deal of tweaking and practice - and maybe even some basic understanding of psychology - but trust me, your readers will thank you.
Finally, I'd like to offer one final bonus tip. Once you've written your book and gotten it to the point where you think it's ready, set it aside for a week. Maybe even two. Then, pick it up and read it as if it were a book that you had just checked out from the library. As you read, ask yourself what works and what doesn't. Which characters seem real? Which ones feel flat? If you're writing non-fiction, are there inconsistencies in your argument? Are there holes in your logic? How often do you stray off topic, and how far do you stray?
When (not if) you find issues, fix them. Take the extra hour, day, week, or month to change what needs to be changed. Figure out how to build it back stronger. With self-publishing easy and cheap now, your competition has grown much more fierce, but - lucky for you - it is also flooded with people who don't follow these basic tips. Stand out. Make a mark. Surprise people who expect second-rate books from self-published authors. And while I cannot guarantee you'll have a best-seller, I do know that if you follow these steps, the readers you do have will appreciate it.
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