Adsactly Literature: GREAT WRITERS TELL YOU HOW TO BECOME A WRITER I
GREAT WRITERS TELL YOU HOW TO BECOME A WRITER I
Hello, dear friends. I hope you are well, despite the falls in the crypto markets. The wise men said that crisis situations can bring out the best in us and make us more creative. And creativity is good because it even makes us write. But what can we write? How do we do it? Today I come to your rescue because I bring you some advice, from 10 great writers, on how to write well.
Many say that writing can only be learned by reading and writing. But I say that literature is an art, and as art, you can learn to do. There we see the painter study some techniques, the photographer, the sculptor. Maybe they were born with certain skills, but perfection is made with study and learning from teachers, from those who know. I must make it clear that this is not a manual to become a great or famous writer, but leave here some tips on how to write and not die in the attempt. Perhaps by reading some of the recommendations you can not only see the faults you are committing, but you can put into practice some of the advice given here to make the creative and writing process less difficult and more productive.
1. Stephen King
We begin with the renowned American writer, famous for his famous horror novels and films based on his books. He advises us:
Write for yourself, don't worry about the audience
With this advice, what the author wants to express is that you should write what you like, what you know how to do, you should not be aware of what sells the most or what readers are looking for the most. Remember that books will bear your name and you don't want to be the author of a story that doesn't identify you or with which you don't agree.
The fear of the blank page
If you haven't stopped in front of the blank page, you haven't begun to write seriously. According to what King says, it is reached with all the fears, apprehensions, burdens and experiences, which is why it is often difficult for us to express ourselves, to begin. We have to be aware of this limitation and turn it into an advantage, a plus point for writing.
If you want to be a writer, you must do two things more than anyone else: read a lot and write a lot
This is perhaps one of the tips that the great writers will give us the most. Inevitably: to write well you must read a lot, be a hungry, punctual reader. You must surround yourself with good books, read daily to know how the great ones do it. After reading, writing, drafts, pages. This is perhaps two of the actions that a person looking to be a good writer will do forever: read and write.
2. Mark Twain
This American writer known for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and his sequel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, recommends us so we can be good writers:
Be patient and persevering
When we write, we can fall into the error of being impatient with ourselves and with history. We talked earlier about the crippling experience of the blank page and it's normal that the story doesn't come out at the first attempt, maybe not at the second or third, but the idea is not to give up, to keep trying. In this attempt you may break a lot of leaves or erase a lot, that doesn't matter. The important thing is that you keep writing and looking for a way to order your story.
Put distance
This may even be a solution to the previous advice. When we write the ideal is to let the texts we have written rest. Let us disaumaticemos the look taking distance. You can, while writing, stop, drink or eat something, get out of the computer, close the computer if you feel that the story is not flowing as you want. This will give another air not only to the mind but also to the gaze. Another way is that after you've written something, save it, let it take flight and then read it after a while. When you return to those lines you have written, there will be a distance between you and the text, and therefore you can be more critical of yourself.
Be concise and direct
Some novice writers make the mistake of writing big words, decorating the language a lot, doing a lot of subordinate, sometimes meaningless and complex sentences. Apparently for a lot of good writing means that nobody understands you. To think so is a mistake. The idea is to keep the language simple, understandable, without shortcuts. Let the words say what you want to say.
3. Edgar Allan Poe
American poet, narrator and critic, one of the best storytellers of all time, gives us some of his secrets that led him to be a great writer:
He knows the end before he begins to write
Here's another piece of advice from many famous writers. When a person begins to write, they should know how their story ends, maybe they don't know how to start it or the first line of the story is difficult, but they should always know the end of their story, because that way they will be able to guide the characters and actions to that great end.
Keep it short
Extension advice may be useful for story or poetry writers, because novel writers must find it difficult to keep a story short. This advice on the one hand thinks of the reader who prefers short texts, but also for the writer because in this way it will be easier to maintain the story, develop the events. If a young writer is doing his first writings, he can't think of starting with very long texts. It is as if a young person without experience and training wants to participate in a marathon.
Choose the musicality or tone
All texts have their own rhythm and tone, and you need to know them before you start writing. If we sit down to write a text of terror, all the marks and actions must be oriented to give us that atmosphere, the same with a comic text, a love text or a police one. According to the tone, we can weave the story and plan how it is going to happen.
4. Margaret Atwood
Her name is a classic in the Nobel pool and she is one of the most prolific and recognized contemporary writers. Her most famous work is "The Handmaid's Tale" (1985), a novel with which she received prizes such as the Arthur C. Clark and the Los Angeles Prize and which has turned into an award winning TV show. She offers us three tips to start being good writers:
Always carry pencil and paper with you
I know many writers who follow this practice. They can't get out of their homes, at the very least, without a booklet and a pencil, as practical as they can be to write down. Then you see him writing down ideas, writing down phrases, which will then be developed and made into great stories. A person who wants to start writing should take with him/her some tool that allows him/her to write down, to capture instantly what has come to mind. Write it all down. Never trust memory.
Find a good beta reader
This one is a bit difficult, but I think it's fundamental. When we write we must find a person who can read what we write and who can correct, criticize and guide our work. My personal experience is that it is better not to be your partner because you may end up fighting. (laughs) Lies. Ideally, they should be able to find an expert and trustworthy person.
Don't sit around waiting
Sometimes when we write and as we said before, we face that blank page, the first thing we do is let the muses come to our salvation, that the inspiration falls from heaven and it is not so. The idea is to write, to force you to write. Writing daily, forcing the writing. Maybe at the beginning you will get a text abortion, but with practice you will correct the defects.
5. Ray Bradbury
He achieved fame with the compilation of his best stories in the volume Crónicas marcianas (1950) and in 1953 he published his first novel, Fahrenheit 451, which was also an important success. This American novelist and storyteller, he tells us:
Get to work
When Bradbury recommends that we work, it is that we do everything we have to do to carry out our story. We can't just sit back and do nothing, as we said before. We must investigate whether it is necessary for our history, take notes, make drafts. May you feel that you are advancing in your work daily. Perhaps it is necessary a planning and a schedule, as in any work, that forces you to do what you have proposed in the day and that at the end of the day you can see part of the work done. You will surely feel satisfied.
Nourish yourself with quality texts
As Stephen King said, if we want to write well, we must read good works, read the classics. You only learn from the masters. Surely you can read one or another second text, because these will help you to know what you do not want to do. Normally some people can start imitating the tone, even versioning great works, and that's valid until they can find their own voice and style. The one who reads a lot and reads quality texts tends to develop a critical eye not only for other authors' texts, but for one's own texts and this is excellent if one wants to perfect oneself as a writer.
Don't think about money
And you will then ask me why we write? People don't write with the idea of becoming famous or earning a lot of money (or at least that shouldn't be the first intention), but they write because they want to and it's even necessary. If we start writing so that we can have money, many of us will suffer disappointments, because money does not come so easily and there are very few writers who live off writing. Here is the case of Steem. Maybe you spend hours writing an excellent story that will only receive a few votes. The fact that it receives little monetary recognition does not mean that you will be disappointed by your work. On the contrary, having made a text almost perfect should fill you with pride and make you want to continue working.
Well, for today we'll leave it at that. Among the recommendations that we can rescue in this post is to read a lot and write a lot if we want to perfect ourselves as writers, take everywhere objects that help us shape our ideas and especially, write with passion, without decay. To write with passion is not only to write every day, every hour, but to write about what you love, believe, amuse you. Because writing is an art, but it is also a feeling.
I hope you liked this post and it is very useful for you. Remember to vote for @adsactly as a witness and to join our server in discord. Until the next smile.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES
http://www.libropatas.com/listas/11-consejos-para-escribir-de-escritores-famosos/
http://noticias.universia.es/actualidad/noticia/2014/11/28/1116028/ray-bradbury-consejos-jovenes-escritores.html
http://www.lecturalia.com/autor/358/stephen-king
https://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/t/twain.htm
https://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/p/poe.htm
http://www.lecturalia.com/autor/5233/margaret-atwood
Written by: @nancybriti
Click on the coin to join our Discord Chat
Witness proposal is here:
Go To Steem Witness Page
In the bottom of the page type: adsactly-witness and press vote.
Use small letters and no "@" sign. Or, click here to vote directly!
Thank you!
Become a great writer is kind of art might be all people don't have. And you given a good might be best writer name in this article which i hardly aware about it. But according to me if person wants to be a great writer then first he/she have to be good reader because becoming a good writer they have to understand the thought of other writer and how they writer and how he/she can improve in this sector and becoming different idol for other people. Over all good one.
Posted using Partiko Android
According to you, @mihirbarot, to be a good writer, first you have to be a good reader. In fact, there are many people who by reading a lot know how difficult and wonderful it is to write and prefer not to try. If you don't read, failure is perhaps certain. Thank you for your comment!
How interesting to know the advice of the great writers you mentioned, @nancybriti. I think that one of the most important tips is the one Stephen King gives us: he reads a lot and writes a lot; this will allow us to develop the skills we have and express what we feel and think through the written word. Evidently this publication is not a manual, but it is an excellent compilation of what the great ones recommend and it is worth trying to follow their orientations to reach the purpose of writing well, first for ourselves and then for those who read. One of the things I put into practice is to always carry with me paper and pencil to write down ideas that come without warning. I will be waiting for the continuation of this publication, thank you @adsactly for sharing it.
That's good practice, @aurodivys! I also use it. Many times, by going out to places where I take almost nothing, the beach for example, I have had ideas for a text and for not writing them down, I forget. It gives me impotence! Thank you for always being aware of @adsactly's posts! Have a nice day.
The recommendations you present to us from these famous writers, @nancybriti, are very significant and appropriate. Most of them I support; others I would relativize a little. Indeed, dedication to writing is one of those fundamental counsels, understood not in extension but in intensity; that is to say, in the development of the work of writing itself, which can have pauses, reposes, reunions with what is written. I agree that reading a lot and reading the best is another key recommendation. I would relativize "writing a lot", if that can only be understood quantitatively. I share the conception expressed by Rainer Maria Rilke that literary creation is a process, not an act; and that its good products are the result of experiences and memories of them, and, even more, of oblivion, which is like distancing, decanting emotions and feelings that one has.
Thank you for offering us this compilation of such high quality and relevance, @nancybriti, all the more so in these times that the easy and the fast are often imposed. Thanks also to @adsactly for publishing it. Greetings.
Yes, @josemalavem! Sometimes it's not quantity, but quality! But I think I understand that the idea of writing can be assumed as the idea that we had of the spelling: the more you exercise, maybe you can have better letter. Writing, as a process, can have moments of abundance and drought. I think that like everything else, you have to prepare yourself for those moments of difficult inspiration. Writing as food that is kept, provisions that accompany you for moments of aridity! Thank you for always being on the lookout for @adsactly posts!
Very nice
I find this post very encouraging even though here on steemit I haven't really felt appreciated but now I'm fired up to put in more efforts in my writing.
Please can you take a minute of your time to read my latest post, thanks in advance @adsactly
Don't give up, @praizychrise one who surrenders loses. Have a nice Saturday!
Thanks @nancybriti, I appreciate your effort to encourage me.
Kindly visit my blog please.
great post, it's important to learn from the best!