Best way to practice writing?

[RandomSimpEvent]

Just wanted to ask for advice on how to learn and improve my writing, particularly in the prose area.

You see, I have ideas for a great story, but don't want to write it without prior experience. While I've studied a lot on the craft of narrative and character, I don't have much experience with prose. There just doesn't seem to be as many resources on prose itself compared to writing good characters and intriguing plots.Writing prompts help a bit, but I feel like I can't give them my all because I'm not really invested in them.

So, that's why I want to ask for help? What do you all think is the best way to improve your writing? Do you just power through writing prompts, or is there other more efficient methods you use?

 

[Boaz]

Welcome to the Chrons. I'm not a writer, but I'm sure you'll get plenty of responses...

 

[ginny]

I find that reading the work of others and participating in review and critique are great ways to hone your skills.
Or just ghosting it here while in reviews as you experiment with how you might improve the other writers work.
Either way seeing other peoples critiques and trying to help edit other works is a great way to find out where you yourself are lacking in knowledge.

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

You know what I remember doing back in my twenties? After reading a book I particularly liked by someone with a distinctive voice, I would write at least a page in that style, like a pastiche. I remember doing that with Raymond Chandler, with William Gibson, and even with James Joyce. (The last one after reading Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.) Oh, also Flaubert. You get to understand how they build sentences, paragraphs -- and later, you learn to build your own.

Also, if you speak a second language, you can try translating a paragraph in that language into yours, and polish it (move words around, shift subordinate clauses, etc) until it doesn't read like a literal translation, but as if it were written originally in your language.

Also also, read this: For Prizewinners. - Free Online Library

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

The best way to practice writing is to do a lot of it, to experiment and experiment and experiment, until you get it right. There is only so far that theory on narrative and character, etc. can get you. Learning that can be a help, don't get me wrong, but after that it comes down to a mixture of talent and hard work. If you are looking for short cuts to writing effective prose, I am afraid there aren't any. You will learn by doing. For most people it takes a long time, and it so it may become tedious and discouraging unless you are writing something you really care about, something you believe in. Putting your own ideas aside to concentrate instead on writing prompts seems like a short cut to losing hope if you ask me. I don't mean that you should ignore writing prompts and other exercises altogether, just that they should not be your main focus. Learning to write well is a long road, and what will keep you going is writing the stories about the ideas and the characters that only you can write.

 

[Bick]

Shouldn't this be in the writing forum? Just sayin'.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

You're quite right. Thanks for pointing it out.

Done.

 

[Steve Harrison]

Just start writing, then keep going for a few decades and you will eventually get a feel for it.

 

[Boneman]

What Teresa said.

No matter how much you study the craft, there are no short cuts to writing prose... except writing prose.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Just wanted to ask for advice on how to learn and improve my writing, particularly in the prose area.

You see, I have ideas for a great story, but don't want to write it without prior experience. While I've studied a lot on the craft of narrative and character, I don't have much experience with prose. There just doesn't seem to be as many resources on prose itself compared to writing good characters and intriguing plots.Writing prompts help a bit, but I feel like I can't give them my all because I'm not really invested in them.

So, that's why I want to ask for help? What do you all think is the best way to improve your writing? Do you just power through writing prompts, or is there other more efficient methods you use?

Welcome and all that.

A fable, shall we say, follows: -

So, I had an idea for a book way back in 2008. I joyfully went at it like a mad rabbit in a warren and got to about 80,000 words. At that point, seeing the end was nigh and feeling pretty pleased with my effort, it occurred to me that I would need to find out how I would get my 10,000,000 best seller to market. Oh wait, I thought, there's that new thing the internet. Surely, I could search for people that could tell me what I needed to do. I discovered that, at the time, you would need an agent. Great thinks I. Find an agent and while he does all the boring stuff of getting my book on the shelves, I would settle down using my enormous book advance to concentrate on curing cancer, world poverty and finding a cure for the common cold. I'd be raking it in.

Then I did a fateful thing. I searched for "science fiction publishing" and noticed in the list of results a site called SFFchronicles. First mistake.

Then I thought, "this looks useful." and Signed up. Second mistake.

Then I read all the posts I could about how to write SFF and fiction in general" Biggest mistake.

After about a week of reading and delving I realised my 80,000 words was, let’s be honest, crap.

It was full of info dump, lack of detail, over colourful descriptions. tense changes (sometimes in the same sentence (How he do that you ask. Sentences that are 40 words long can do a lot). In short, if you get the idea, a complete mess.

Was I discouraged? Damn right I was.

Did I curse the day I found this site? Oh yes, and everyone that posted anything I had read.

Did I calm down? Eventually.

But then I got involved. By far the best thing internet wise I did was to read the critiques section (Now a sad reflection of its former self he bemoaned). I read other people’s opinions of other people’s work. I learned about info dump, dialog, and all the usual stuff. Then I started to creep a few critiques of my own in there. Much to the annoyance of most, but if you have two cents, why not chuck them into the pot?

AND THEN

And this is the moral of the tale.

I got really involved. I found myself in the early hours prowling the threads looking for stuff to comment on. I even started a special chair business with built in drip stands, commodes and crocodile clip eyelid retainers so that other's like me could do the same (catalogue available on request).

In short, I was hooked, addicted. I even started taking my fixes at work.

And of course, all the while I was writing nothing, other than the writing challenges and sometimes extensive posts. By the way I've read some of those posts and even though at the time I thought they were well written (OK they were rushed) quite a few had simple mistakes and words that made no sense.

About five years ago I realised what was going on. Also, at that time Mrs Tein and I went to Eastercon and happened to see the bookstand for a well-known short story publication. The subscription was about £25 for six copies per year. Mrs Tein put her foot down and said

"Only if you submit something to it before the end of the subscription. If you don't, you can forget all this writing nonsense"**

Bugger, thinks I, but the deal was done. My soul held hostage to my own abilities. Write something - only 5000 words - submit it - and even if they rejected it (given we both thought it was worthy), I could carry on. Piece of the proverbial I thought.

Visiting the site had to go. Instead I found a 'dealer' in the form of a writing group. As it happened it was the Manchester Speculative Fiction Group - members still welcome. It’s like a critiques section on coke. You write something, submit it and then at a biweekly group meeting your work gets verbally commented on and often torn to shreds - But it helps immensely. The best part is, that the personal interchange moderates the comments and you can ‘see’ they are made in an attempt to offer genuine help. Plus, its social and you get out and although its writing, you're not sat in the wee hours in blackened room.

SO.

Recommendations: -

1) Limit your time on this site to no more than twenty hours a day.

2) Join in the writing challenges - read the comments on your work.

3) Submit to the critiques section - read voraciously the comments made

4) Join a writing group - If you can make it one that specialises in your particular interest.

5) and not discussed above - I use ProWritingAid (I have no involvement) because Im crup for at spelling, pucKtuation and grimmer. However, if your English is fine then ignore this one.

** I failed to submit to the magazine, but I did get something published (OK longer than the deal stated). It was in: -

Revolutions - An anthology of speculative fiction based around manchester. Still available on Amazon. I write under the name of Sam Tein. To date my only success.

 

[The Judge]

Well, I might as well echo everyone else -- the best way to practise writing is *drum roll and fanfare* to write!

Joshing aside, it really is the only way to find your voice(s). It doesn't surprise me that there aren't a lot of books about the specifics of prose, since it's very much a personal thing, both how we write it and what we most enjoy reading, and what we enjoy reading undoubtedly reflects in how we write. For myself, I've never carried out writing exercises of the type you might find in "How to..." books, since I have a visceral dislike of practising for practising's sake. I want to "do" not pretend to do. In my case, however, there are two strands to my writing -- clear prose and story prose -- which I've tried to incorporate into one voice.

The clear prose arises from my profession. I was a lawyer, which meant learning to write court documents, wills, contracts etc where ambiguity and loose wording can be harshly punished. It also meant writing to clients and having to explain legal concepts in prose that was easily understood. (Contrary to common perception, legal obfuscation isn't deliberate nowadays, it's sloppy workmanship.) It's rather taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut to suggest that all would-be authors train as lawyers, but I do think it's important for everyone to know how to write clearly and concisely -- to understand words and their nuances, to use them properly, to be comfortable with the more important grammatical rules, to write simply and to do one's best to write elegantly. (In my view, elegance is largely dependent on limpid prose.)

Story prose is different in that it can positively embrace ambiguity, but it's also concerned with lyricism and rhythm, for to me story prose also requires an element of the poetic, and what little proficiency I've gained in that has solely arisen from writing stories. I've been scribbling tales since I was a child, but they have always been my stories, ie things I wanted to write, so I was invested in them, which wouldn't have been the case with exercises. As importantly, for the last several years I've taken part in writing competitions including the Challenges here on Chrons. They strike me as far more useful for nailing one's story prose, especially for writers still learning their voice, and for me with my dislike of exercises they've had more concrete advantages -- of three off-Chrons competitions, one eventually became my story in the Distaff anthology (which was longlisted for the BSFA awards), a second, after some tweaking, was published as a short by Kraxon, and the third was expanded into an epilogue for a possible novel which is demanding to be written when I've got the time.

So, write and write and write! And enter as many competitions as you can, most particularly the Challenges here on Chrons. This month's 75 worder -- for this month only, with 85 words! -- ends today, so get your skates on. The quarter's 300-worder still has a week to go, so plenty of time for that. And if after voting is finished you want further feedback, we've specific threads for them where you can get help with your prose and anything else worrying you.

Writing is for the long haul, and there are no shortcuts. But you've found Chrons, so you've a lot of people happy to help you on the journey -- so Hello and Welcome to the Chrons!

 

[Babyeeblu]

Welcome! I am much in the same boat myself. I have the idea but lack the skill to write it. Pretty much everything others have already said. Read lots of work and see what you like and don't like. Practice writing. Do prompts. Read something and then write an extra page or chapter to continue the story. Take a few pages from a work you like and try to rewrite it in your own voice. Take a paragraph from a random short story and craft a story around it, trying to seamlessly incorporate that paragraph. Try writing a basic shoet story and then change the genre or setting or the main character. Write the same story from many different perspectives. The more you write, the more you will find your voice. Its easier when you have the time to devote to it. Be patient. Few people are pros on their first try. The rest of us have to work at it.

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

I'm surprised no one has pointed you in the direction of the challenges

The 300 worder is still running

300-Word Writing Challenge #37 (APRIL 2020) -- VICTORY TO CAT'S CRADLE!

The inspiration image for Challenge #37 is: Image credit: ChrisG THE CHALLENGE: To write a story in 300 words or fewer INSPIRED by the image provided above, in the genre of Science Fiction, Fantasy, or other Speculative Fiction THE RULES: Only one entry per person All stories...

www.sffchronicles.com

And if you are extremely quick, you've still got a few hours left in the 75 85 worder

APRIL 2020 85-Word Story -- VICTORY TO MOUSE!

RULES: Write a story inspired by the chosen theme and genre in no more than 85 words, not including the title ONE entry per person NO links, commentary or extraneous material in the posts, please -- the stories must stand on their own WHEN WRITING YOUR STORY, PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS A...

www.sffchronicles.com

 

[-K2-]

Though I haven't participated but once or twice, @M. Robert Gibson has hit on a great suggestion. We all want to write a great novel. But, a novel is only as good as its chapters>pages>paragraphs>sentences. If you think about it in reverse, a few sentences make a paragraph, which a few of those make a page, and so on. The challenges help you to learn how to apply the most impact, information, and story into each line.

The 75/85 word challenge is nothing more than a few sentences--making a short paragraph that tells a story--or perhaps, gets across a complete idea as brief as possible. The 300 word challenge takes those sentences and paragraphs and makes a page that's concise and has impact. Write 300 of those, and you have a novel. A novel where each and every line is frugal yet complete and contributes to the whole with purpose.

That would be quite a novel

K2

 

[Astro Pen]

Play with it.
Write passages experimentally in different styles. Plain or florid. Not the whole thing just a page or two to see how they feel. There will be "I like thats" and "Nah's" but often pleasant surprises.
Writing modern poetry is also good for pulling yourself out of a stylistic rut.
And join a creative writing group in your area. Churning out a flash fiction on a set topic outside your comfort zone each week and 'test marketing' it with the group is great practice and will expand your palette .
Of course we are all different but those things work for me.

 

[Phyrebrat]

The challenges. Do them.

@TheEndIsNigh - well despite your mistakes you sure can write an outstanding Chrons post

pH

 

[Bren G]

I echo many of the others when they say there is no secret handshake, revelation from the mount or any special sauce to hone your prose other than to write. I won't repeat the sage advice above but will add a few things :

1) Write a Clear Draft : Your first goal in your story is to be understood. Stories can be compelling and fly off the shelves with simple prose. Elmore Leondard comes to mind. He employs simple, straight forward language and dialogue which sell and in my opinion makes it easy for Hollywood screenwriters to adapt. In my journey, like the The Judge described, I come from the corporate world where prose is very direct and clear. It meant my first drafts comprised sentences with few commas and that were very short in length. I also tried to 'flex' my writer's muscle by using big words. But, I used the following steps to improve it. Prose is secondary to a clear, well architected story. If you can manage all three, you've entered into a small cadre of writers. The first two skills are bankable too.

2) Edit, Edit and Edit (and Edit some more) : Army's train and drill 95% of the time and fight in the five left. Writing is similar. Editing time is the disproportionate amount of all writing time. And as a first time author, my editing time is where I am learning to write. Take your draft and edit it with a specific goal in mind. It could be to ensure the plot is filled, or to clarify it, work on the prose, spelling etc. Try not to do all at once. I wrote my first draft in 6 months. I thought it would be polished in 6 more. I was dead wrong. It will be 3 years to the date where I feel I will be ready to publish. I have edited my 120k word manuscript, touching every other line on average each time, at least 7 times. It helps too to have your ereader voice it back to you to hear how it sounds spoken.

3) Take risks : Once you have your clear and simple draft, next, examine (not imitate) others - your style is your own but you have to find it. Start with an author you like and notice how they write and most importantly what rules they break. For us corporates, one revelation is that sentence structure in fiction is much more fluid, and sentences that we would consider as run-on are the mainstay. There are many other rules that you and I were taught in grade school that need not apply, and often, those hold us back from finding good prose. So go head and edit a section of your manuscript taking these risks.

3) Feedback is a gift - BUT...: Feed is a gift. One can't improve without it. So an open mind and thick skin are prerequisites. However two things apply : Not all feedback is good. Hence, I caution to get too much feedback early on. It can confuse you if you haven't developed any hierarchy of values that constitutes the good. So be your own judge for a while. Also, be mindful of who you get feedback from. Are they readers in your genre? Are they readers at all? Your uncle Jimmy who devours non-fiction biographies may not be a good source, neither might your church group who absolutely adore you. I liken it to learning to golf, would you learn how to swing from a group of weekend golfers or do you go to a pro?

4) Learn style : Some rules are made to be broken. Others should be adhere too. Know the difference. I found Youtube was a great resource and the internet of course. There are many famous authors who will give their advice on this topic.

5) Commit to something great : Writing isn't hard. It's sustaining your vim and vigor to work hard to learn it. It's a marathon that takes years. So determine how much you are committed. If you notice the clock ticking while you are writing, find another hobby and come back to it later in life when you're ready. If the clock has advanced 2 hours without you realizing it, then you've found your passion. One other word of advice, find the thing that you know, that you HAVE to tell the world. Writing to your purpose is definitely a means to sustain this journey.

6) Don't listen to too much advice : this applies to this post as well! This can overwhelm and paralyze a new author. You're captaining your own ship so don't be swayed by anything you're not onboard with. You need to look in the mirror and be happy with the work that you produce.

Good luck and hope it helps!

BG

 

[RandomSimpEvent]

Hey guys, just wanted to say thanks for the warm welcomes as well as the feedback. I read all of your comments and found them very insightful, but there are a few things I want to address/clarify.

First off, yeah I should've put this in the writing forum, my bad.

Second, I'll totally take your advice and start looking at those challenges.

Finally, just wanted to clear up that I wasn't looking for shortcuts with this thread, rather it was to avoid practice methods that would create bad habits or ultimately get me nowhere. A lot of you seemed to say that writing prompts(besides the challenges of course) were not the way to go, as they would just cause burn-out, and I agree. So I ask, would it be a good idea to just try my hand at my novel idea, and improve it as I learn, or do you recommend to start with something smaller(kind of why I asked about prompts) like a short story or two before tackling a novel.

 

[Eric Lewis]

Finally, just wanted to clear up that I wasn't looking for shortcuts with this thread, rather it was to avoid practice methods that would create bad habits or ultimately get me nowhere. A lot of you seemed to say that writing prompts(besides the challenges of course) were not the way to go, as they would just cause burn-out, and I agree. So I ask, would it be a good idea to just try my hand at my novel idea, and improve it as I learn, or do you recommend to start with something smaller(kind of why I asked about prompts) like a short story or two before tackling a novel.

Why not take a middle path and try out a short story set in the same world as your novel idea? It can be a great way to worldbuild, and you risk nothing

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

So I ask, would it be a good idea to just try my hand at my novel idea, and improve it as I learn, or do you recommend to start with something smaller(kind of why I asked about prompts) like a short story or two before tackling a novel.

Well, different people will no doubt give you different answers based on their own experiences, but here's mine:

After dabbling with writing on and off as far back as I could remember, I was finally possessed by a story I really wanted to write. The first draft was terrible, so was the second, and third. But I found I was improving each time. I think I would have been discouraged if I did not so much want to write THAT story, and the fact that I could see how much I was learning just from the practice. So I stuck with it for several more drafts. Then I sent it out unagented (you could do that in those days) to a publisher who rejected it, and then to one that bought it.