avatarPoonam Bhatt

Summary

The web content provides seven writing tips from accomplished authors to enhance one's writing process and productivity.

Abstract

The article "Writing Tips From Great Writers" outlines seven key strategies to improve writing skills, as shared by renowned authors. It emphasizes the importance of reading extensively and writing regularly, as advised by Stephen King. The piece suggests establishing a daily routine, including a pre-writing ritual like having a glass of water or tea, to signal the brain that it's time to write. It also advocates for the benefits of walking to clear the mind and stimulate creativity. The article highlights the significance of maintaining a routine, even on unmotivated days, and recommends ending the day with unfinished tasks to ease into the next day's work. It introduces the concept of balancing focused attention (Scribe) with open attention (Muse) for idea incubation and creativity. Lastly, the author suggests outlining ideas in a dedicated notebook to prevent writer's block and ensure a steady flow of content.

Opinions

  • The author believes that reading a lot enhances the thought process and contributes to better writing.
  • A daily routine is considered essential for productivity, especially on days when motivation is low.
  • The article posits that ending the day with a task in progress can make starting work the next day more manageable.
  • Walking is highly recommended as a method to clear the mind and foster new ideas.
  • The concept of two systems at work during writing, Scribe and Muse, is presented as a natural process for generating and refining ideas.
  • The author endorses Austin Kleon's books for guidance and motivation in the writing journey.
  • Outlining ideas is touted as a powerful technique to maintain a continuous stream of writing topics and avoid writer's block.
  • The article suggests that reading "The Writer’s Process: Getting Your Brain in Gear"

Writing Tips From Great Writers

7 Tips From Great Writers: Leveled Up My Writing Game

These can be a game-changer in your writing process

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Writing is my meditation. So does reading a book. I have learned so many great tips about writing by reading books/posts of great writers. That I am going to share in this story. I am sure this story can be of great help to you.

Without delay let’s start with, 7 Tips Of Great Writers That Is Helping Me Tremendously In My Writing Process:

1. Read A Lot & Write A Lot:

Stephen King says, “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut…”.

I follow his advice, so I have my reading and writing routine, due to which I can get so much work done in less time. And reading makes my thought process work better.

2. Start With A Glass Of Water Or A Cup Of Tea/Coffee:

Stephen King says, in his book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, that make some activity a starting point of your writing like having a glass of water, or a cup of coffee/tea. It will single your brain that it is writing time and make your brain ready to write.

3. Go For A Walk:

As mentioned in the book The Boron Letters by Gary Halbert, walking is the best activity for writers. It provides some me time, helps flush off unnecessary thoughts from your mind, makes new ideas emerge, and makes your mind ready to work on writing.

The Boron Letters by Gary Halbert, is a great book to learn learn print media copywriting. It is an interesting read as Gary Halbert is sending letters to his son from prison about copywriting and other great life lessons that he wants his son to understand. You will learn many copywriting lessons and other important advice for life in this book.

I have created a FREE course of 3 days duration, you can register and learn the basics of copywriting. It will be delivered to you via Email. This 3-day copywriting course alone can give you so much clarity on copywriting and in your writing and content creation. Here is the link to the course.

📌 FREE Copywriting Crash Course For Beginners

4. Establish A Daily Routine & Protect It:

In the book Keep Going, Austin Kleon says to have a daily routine for your writing and insist on protecting it in any condition. There are days that are filled with motivation and work gets done without any resistance. However, there are many days that are very dull and you won't be motivated enough to write. Routine can get you through on less productive and dull days and help you make the most of it. It also helps you save time in thinking ‘What to do next?’

A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days.

— Annie Dillard

Austine Kelon is a very famous author of books, Steal Like An Artist, Show Your Work & Keep Going. If you are a writer/artist/content creator, I highly recommend you to read all 3 books. And when you purchase, don’t forget to go for paperback versions of the books as they are really beautiful and you will feel like holding them again and again.

5. Don’t Close The Day With Done Work and Keep Things In The Middle:

Austin Kleon says, don’t finish the task and call for the day. Since when you sit for work next time, you will need more energy to start a new work. Instead, once the task is done, choose your next task in a row and start a little work on it. So the next time you sit to work, you have already figured out the details of the new task and it is no longer the new task, and you will be motivated enough to proceed on it.

I highly recommend you read Austin Kleon’s books. It will fill you with a new kind of motivation and energy. And you will be assured that you are not alone in this tough journey. Rather, his books will work as a guiding light in your journey. From all 3 books, you can start with Show Your Work.

6. Take A Break To Let Ideas Incubate In Your Mind:

As mentioned by Anne H. Janzer in her book The Writer’s Process: Getting Your Brain in Gear, while we write there are two systems at work, Scribe (called focus attention) and Muse (called open attention). Scribe helps to write down each and every detail that is in our mind on paper with attention.

Muse is responsible for creativity, and new ideas, connecting the dots between research material and coming up with new insights into the idea. Muse can bring you ideas when you least expect them to come, like while taking a shower, driving, or cooking, but not while the scribe is at the work on writing.

When you write scribe is at work. When you take a break after the research or initial draft, the muse takes over and works on the unfinished task of material and comes up with a new fantastic perspective to write on the topic or to edit a topic.

I highly recommend you read the book The Writer’s Process: Getting Your Brain in Gear, by Anne H. Janzer. It will help you ease your writing process.

7. Outline The Ideas:

I have learned this tip from a very famous writer Anangsha Alammyan. She tells to outline your ideas or story. (I have my separate notebook for the same called Outline Notebook). She advises creating an outline of any 2 or 3 ideas every day in a notebook. This way you will never run out of writing topics and will never face writer’s block.

This tip has changed my writing game. Whenever I feel like I have a few points ready in my mind for the idea, I open my Outline notebook, give it a title, and write down rough points or rough outlines in my notebook. It is like creating the very first draft of my story but in very raw form and on paper.

Once I finish the outline, the muse takes over and works on the outline of the idea (As mentioned in a previous point). When I finally worked on my story on Medium, I had awesome points to write in it and my story came so well.

Photo by lilartsy on Unsplash

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I hope this story is helpful in your writing journey!

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