Growing as a Writer

In the past year and a half, since I made writing my full-time career, I’ve learned and grown tremendously.

My growth is partly due to the insights and wisdom I’ve gleaned from other writers, some of which I will share at the end of this blog. Along the way, I’ve recognized some of my bad writing habits, and I’ve worked hard to improve.

Here are a few gems I’ve learned:

I’ve learned how to copyedit. In copyediting, you reduce the number of words and try to find the best ones to convey your message. You’re trying to make your writing as reader-friendly and precise as possible.

For example:

“Sally was a strange girl, who would go around picking up lots of seashells on the sandy beaches, and then set up a stand to see if anyone would buy them.”

Becomes:

“Sally sells seashells by the seashore.”

However, sometimes I prefer longer prose, and you can trim your content too much.

Don’t do this:

“Gerald was tired of sitting around and doing nothing all day. He ate, slept, drank some water, and then used his special box. He was longing for adventure in the world he saw beyond the glass, but every time he tried to get there, something got in the way. Usually, it was his owner’s foot.”

Should NOT become:

“Gerald was a cat. He wanted to go outside, but his owner wouldn’t let him.” (It’s much less interesting)

Unless you’re writing a children’s story. If you are, then you want to do that.

I’ve learned to ask myself if something is necessary. Do my readers need to know that the girl’s grandmother’s tablecloth is red, checkered, and over fifty years old? Is it relevant to the plot and characters? Do I need to make a note of every time a character nods or scratches their head?

I also try to ask myself if something is accurate. If I said the lukewarm coffee was refreshing, the reader probably wouldn’t buy that (unless this was a strange quirk of one of my characters). Sometimes it feels cliche to write about the sunlight feeling warm or the rain feeling wet, but we have to write accurately.

I’ve had to cut out endless repetitions. It’s easy when you’re in the zone to say the same statement several times. Even if you’re saying it in different ways, your writing could benefit from trimming some of those.

For example:

“I opened every cupboard in the kitchen, desperately searching in every space. I opened cupboard after cupboard, wrenching the doors open with force. I ran my hand across the shelves, muttering to myself. It had to be there, somewhere.”

I’ve also learned to love Grammarly. I tend to overestimate my grammatical intuition and knowledge, but Grammarly helps to keep me honest. I don’t use the premium option, but I can usually figure out the changes that I need to make based on what’s underlined in yellow.

Below is an excerpt from a piece of nonsense I wrote many years ago that needed serious editing. After using Grammarly, I was able to whip it into decent shape.

Sudden movement beneath him caused him to divert his attention from his minor injuries to the heaving dune. With two great sighs, the land gave way and fell, forming itself into a large pit. Frederick fell gracelessly onto his side. He had forgotten about the irritable landscape on Fardula. One had to tread lightly on the dunes. Otherwise, they collapsed in a self-defensive measure. Then one would have to climb out of the pit, which was next to impossible, Frederick recollected as he attempted to do so.

He attempted to get a foothold in the side of the sand crater, but the sand poured around his foot, mocking him. He tried to dig but only succeeded in getting two large fistfuls of sand. He lay against the side of the almost sixty-degree wall of the inverted dune and pressed into it. How did he get out of the last one? He pushed off and tried to climb, but a great landslide of sand came pouring down.

Frederick lay down in the bottom of the pit, and it came to him. It had been Arena, a native who had dropped in on her spacecraft when she saw his plight. She had laughed at him, speaking in a series of clucks and tsks. Would he be so lucky this time? He decided to stand up and call for help.

“Hello?” he shouted. “I know you probably can’t understand me, but I need help! Do you hear me?” He kicked the wall of the sandpit in anger, and more sand crumbled down. This gave him an idea. He started kicking the wall all around him, causing more sand to fall and collect at the bottom of the pit. He kept this up for an hour but only gained about a foot and a half.

Though the sun was rising on Fardula, he felt exhausted. The strenuous kicking had tired him, and he lay down to have a quick and sandy rest. He awoke to a loud popping noise and felt the ground beneath him surge. The dune shot up again.

Great Resources for Writers

I was such a huge fan of Ella Enchanted when I first read it, and I decided to check out Gail Carson Levine’s website. She has an amazing blog with great conversations and tips on how to improve your writing. Here are some recent posts you might want to check out:

Unboring the boring

What Villains Do

Another great blog to get writing (and publishing) tips from is Story Empire. Here’s their latest on writing dialogue:

https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/97343298/posts/3298309717

Jerry Jenkins (21-time bestselling author) has some great copyediting tips and examples, too:

I hope some of this was helpful to you, fellow writers!

Do you want to share any writing tips or resources?