7 Best Writing Advice Tricks that are Simple Yet Profound
There really is no such thing as “the best writing advice.” If you spent all day looking up writing advice, you’d find a never-ending pile of writing tips. (Believe me. I’ve been doing it for years.)
But there are some tips (some cliché and some not,) that seem to be simple, yet timeless and profound.
Out of the mountain of writing advice you find here on the internet, you will find that some of these “helpful” tips are not helpful to you specifically, while others resonate with you profoundly and you will have them posted on your wall to remember every time you write.
Some of these have really resonated with writers and hopefully, they will with you too.
Please enjoy 🙂
Brandon Sanderson’s get better with every book.
Most writers start out dreaming about the fame and glory that comes with being a famous author. Their goal naturally becomes being a best-selling author.
Sanderson’s advice is to flip this idea on its head.
Instead, just focus on the journey of becoming a better author with every book, and then MAYBE someday you’ll be a best-selling author. It really shouldn’t be your only goal; however, because if it doesn’t happen you’ll continue to feel that you’ve failed in writing. (When in reality, this isn’t a good metric for success as a writer.)
If instead, you focus on just being better every time. You will become very satisfied in your writing process and it’s more likely that you’ll keep writing and one day publish and sell your stories.
If instead you put all your hopes and dreams into one book and it doesn’t turn out to be the next New York Times best-seller, you’ll feel you have failed and more than likely quit writing, which is, in turn, actually failing as a writer.
Niel Gaimen’s “finish things.”
Ugh! It’s like the man peered into my life and poked a deep wound and said, “fix this.”
Most of us are probably notorious for starting something and never finishing it.
We get distracted with the other new shiny things when our first shiny thing takes too long. Then it becomes work and thus we just don’t want to do it anymore.
That’s writing a novel.
Just finishing the thing is one of the most rewarding and one of the most difficult things about writing a story. Actually, finishing can be so hard, but that’s why this advice is so profound for many writers.
When they hear it, they know all too well that it is extremely true and difficult just to finish a thing.
To this, I would say write more short stories. They are easier to start and finish. It helps writers get the ideas out but not feel so overwhelmed.
And it helps writers that struggle with finishing things to feel the reward of finishing a thing and hopefully they’ll want to do it again.
Try these two exercises:
- Join a writers group for accountability.
- Give yourself a deadline.
If You’re are in a writers group, you’ll feel an urge to finish the thing because the embarrassment of not finishing it feels worse than the work of finishing it.
Joining a writers group that sets deadlines and pushes each other to finish things will inevitably help us develop the habit to set our own deadlines and feel the enjoyment of accomplishing them.
Cal Newport’s Get so good that they can’t ignore you.
This is by far, one of my favorite pieces of advice. (From Cal Newport’s Book you can see here.) It’s very powerful and changes the narrative completely in writing and why you do it.
This probably resonates with me on two levels.
One, I’m extremely competitive.
Two, I love the process of learning something and getting very good at it.
This principle is helpful for many things in life, but writing is definitely one of them.
Instead of being focused on becoming successful and famous, which is like saying, “focus on winning the lottery,” your mind can find the feeling of success as you get really REALLY flippin good at writing.
If you get so good at it that everything you write turns into gold, it’s more than likely you’ll find some success along with it, but it’s not to be expected, because after all, that’s the point of the trick.
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Break down writing into its little parts.
This is also generally good life advice.
For most projects that we want to accomplish, we need to learn how to break down the project into small parts. This way we get it done little by little instead of looking at a work in progress as some big scary thing that is daunting and that will, “NEVER EVER END!”
By breaking it down, each part seems more doable and there is a sense of accomplishment with every piece we complete. That very feeling of accomplishment you feel with each piece expounds the way you can feel about a project overall.
You’ll more than likely find that you enjoy projects more if they are broken down as you will feel exponentially more rewarding feelings along the way to completion.
This is why there is so much writing advice about “writing daily.” Is not just cliché, it’s how people finish projects.
Most people aren’t Stephen King or James Paterson. We aren’t going to crank out a book every couple of months. It’s just unrealistic in our lives.
But if we break down the writing process into small daily tasks then after 6 months to a year we will surprise ourselves by holding the first draft in our hands for the first time. Something will click in your brains like, “holy moly…I can actually do this!”
Try this exercise:
Instead of telling yourself, “I have this 15-page paper to write.”
Tell yourself, “I have to write 100-500 words at 7 AM every day.” 100 to 500 words will take you little to no time, and before you know it you’ll be well on your way to finishing your 15-page “monster” project.
When you realize how easy this makes big projects feel, you’ll want to do it over and over again.
Take a walk.
If you don’t already, you should definitely try this one out.
Talking a walk and imagining your scenes is a great way to get ready to write.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a bunch of new great ideas come to your mind easily and you find yourself excited to sit down and write them.
Instead of going to your paper or keyboard, the next time you want to write go walk for a couple minutes first and imagine things and then try to go write.
See if the words don’t fly onto the page.
Read to write.
This is another game-changer.
As soon as we start to read with the intention of writing the world of writing will be reformed for us.
I can’t attest to this more. If I could I’d be screaming it from the rooftops. I might be able to write without reading, but it would be grueling and exhausting.
For me, I don’t even try to write without reading first. I read to write. It’s my process.
Perfection is your enemy, not your ally.
If you are stuck in the trap of trying to make your writing perfect before writing anything down this advice will help you A TON.
I cannot stress it enough. Do not try to make any of your writing perfect at first. Just get something down, anything on the page, and then work on editing what you have to make it great.
Hemingway said the first draft of anything is “trash.” (Family-friendly version.)
Stephen King said, “take a “dump” on your page so that you have something to sculpt…” (again paraphrased.)
While blunt and crass, the advice here is sound. I don’t know how many perfectionists (myself included) have become paralyzed and immobilized in writing because they just can’t stand the thought of it not being perfect the first time anything splats into the page.
This is so unrealistic and no successful writer has ever done it (okay that’s a bit far) but rather let’s say, no successful writer has ever expected that their first draft would be perfect, nor would the common advice be to try.
Instead, people like Hemingway and King just throw words onto a page and then edit the mess out of it.
This is the writing process.
Get words on your page. Get your ideas out. Have something to work with. DO NOT stare at a blank page trying to get the perfect sentence out. Just get something out and then change it later if you need to.
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Want to get paid to write? Check out Writing Paychecks
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- Opportunities can get started in just minutes a day, all from your home couch.
- It’s easy to get started! No previous experience or degree required to start.
- Exclusive job listings for writers, updated daily.
Check out Writing Paychecks to see if you can start getting paid to write today.
Interested in starting a blog of your own? Check out Bluehost.
That’s all for now.
Hope this helps!
Happy writing!
Other Resources You Might Enjoy:
How to Start a Blog in 11 Simple Easy Steps in 2020
How to Write a Book: 32 Tips | Your MASSIVE Guide How to Write a Book
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