#new writing project
My writing advice for new writers
@bluebxlle_writer on Instagram
1. Write for yourself
This is the #1 tip I will always give to writers, so you’ve probably heard me say this a few times. Don’t write for others, but write for yourself.
People have different tastes. There will always be some who dislike your book, and some who consider it their favorite. Lots of people hate famous books like Percy Jackson or Six Of Crows, and I’m sure you’ve disliked a popular book before. So instead of writing a book that others would read, start writing a book that you would read.If you end up liking your book, I can assure you that many others will too.
2. Flesh out characters
When you’re excited to write a new WIP, you might delay your character building process and decide to start writing while trying to figure out the characterization on the way. I’ve done this a couple of times, thinking that it would speed up my writing process, but trust me, it did not. It actually slowed down my writing instead.
If you start writing your wip without at least finishing 80% of your character building process, you’ll find yourself getting stuck in scenes, not knowing what your character would say or do, which is very inconvenient.
If you ever get bored of character building and really want to start writing instead, I suggest writing one-shots unrelated to your WIP. By doing this, you don’t have to worry about writing your characters out of character, and its actually useful to their characterization process.
3. Experiment!
If you feel like there’s something off with your writing, or you’re beginning to feel that writing is a chore for you, experiment with different writing techniques. Switch up your genre, time period, plotting method, etc.
For reference, I used to be a pantser who writes plot-driven mystery stories. But now, I’m more comfortable with being a plantser who writes character-driven low fantasy stories! Basically, don’t be afraid of change, because it might help you later.
4. Know your ending
In my opinion, the most important thing to consider while writing a story is your ending - not your beginning or middle. You can rewrite your beginning chapters anytime, and you can always figure out your middle chapters later, noone knows how to write the middle of a story anyway.
But if you don’t know the ending of your story, you’re screwed, buddy. Without knowing how your story ends, you can’t write the events that build up to that ending.
You’re unsure about your novel’s ending at first and decided to throw in a last minute plot twist? That means you’ve been foreshadowing the wrong ending the whole book, and you gotta rewrite. You don’t know how your characters will develop throughout the book? You won’t be able to write the journey of their arc throughout the story. Hassling, right? That’s why, try not to start writing your WIP without having a possible ending in mind.
5. If you write, you’re valid.
Nowadays, the standards of being a writer is that you have to write a full-length novel and be traditionally published. This isn’t true, not even the slightest.
You write poetry? You’re a writer and valid. You’re a screenwriter? Bro, look at the word. ScreenWRITER. valid. You write fanfictions? Valid, and you’re not cringey. You have NO idea how much I worship fanfiction writers for writing what canon won’t give us. You’re writing but don’t want to be published? You’re still valid. As long as you write, you’re valid, because that’s the whole point of being a writer.
6. Don’t follow every single tip
There’s a reason why they’re called writing tips, not rules. You’re not meant to follow every single one of them, they’re only meant to guide you on the way. Some will be useful, some won’t, depending on yourself. So please, don’t be pressured to follow every writing tip you see.
