How did you learn to write well?

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Anacoana
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Re: How did you learn to write well?

Post by Anacoana »

I think there's always something new to learn, but I learn mostly from reading the types of stories I'm working on at that time, any book, or books specifically about writing well. I also write virtually everyday, so constant practice helps a lot.
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Post by Sarah10 »

I've always found writing to feel natural. I read a lot as a kid but not so much that I see it making me great at writing. I'm sure it helped though. I've just always found writing to be very easy but I've put effort into it as a hobby over the past few years, which is a lot of fun. Writing is a skill. I think you can be naturally adept at it and pick it up as if through osmosis if you read a lot or if you subconsciously get good at it for whatever reason but at some point it does take learning writing as a skill to become great at it and improve your writing. So I think it's a mixture of causes really. I've always written well but it does take conscious effort to learn how to continuously grow as a writer and I think that effort has definitely made my reading and writing more productive in improving my own skills.
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Post by Amheiser »

I think writing well comes from reading and reading and writing and writing. When I find a story that grips my attention from the very beginning and is exciting all the way through to the end I try to really pay attention as to why that happened. I think you have to have an imagination and an inquisitive mind but reading a lot helps build the vocabulary to be able to express yourself well. Practice, practice, practice every day and take some courses on writing so you don't have to re-invent the wheel. Other people have already figured out what makes a good story so learn from them. Even if you think you know a lot, I'm always surprised when somebody has a new spin on things that I hadn't thought about.
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Post by Sarah10 »

I'm not a big Stephen King fan but he's right when he says "if someone doesn't have the time to read then they don't have the tools to write" and I think what he meant by that was that everything has been said before. There are no new ideas, just old ideas expressed in a new way. So if you don't read, read, read then you aren't exposing yourself to different styles of writing or different ideas. You can sit down and read a book about writing and understand the logic behind the skill, but until you see that skill in action you aren't going to understand writing on an intuitive level. Buy you're also not going to have any ideas to recycle and make your own outside of your own life experience. If you don't have time to expose yourself to those new ideas then you aren't going to have the tools (the ideas and inspiration) to write. By reading and reading over the years you expose yourself to hundreds and hundreds of ideas and you make your world larger. You collect ideas, styles, words an intuitive grasp of story structure, sentence structure, point of view, characterization. There's the cliche, "All art is theft." And it's true. If you don't steal the stuff you can't use it in your own art. Reading is incredibly important to writing. But you can read all day. If you don't practice writing then you never get any better at it. It's a skill and skills require practice. I'm sure there is some basis to the idea of some people finding writing naturally easier than others, but a child who doesn't find it naturally easier but who reads and writes a great deal more will probably be a better writer than someone who never reads or writes. It's a combination of factors, I think.
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Post by Lei101 »

Im still learning how to write properly. I think the strength in my writing is that i am able to connect things together really well. Hower grammar I struggle with a little.
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martha
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Post by martha »

Exciting and I recommend it, I learned from authors. Writer's Digest home study, I went twice. And when they had it I took a writing class from an author at earthlycharms.
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Post by Shminas1 »

Since childhood I always had the penchant to express my thoughts precisely. Sometimes your sensitive thoughts are best expressed through written words than spoken words..That's how I started developing an interest to writing especially poetry. I love to learn something new everyday and writing helps me achieve this goal.
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Post by Down_the_Rabbit_Hole »

I'm defiantly still learning, but anything that I have learned has come from online writing classes, YouTube tutorials, and comparing my old work to my new.
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Post by zeldas_lullaby »

I was self-motivated in school and tried hard. I was in the advance program, and my report card grades ranged from A's to D's. (I was horrible at science and social studies, despite my best efforts.) In English class, I always read over my papers when they were returned to me and took the teacher's comments to heart. I made mental notes of what they said to do differently. I continued this practice through college. I remember having teachers who explained things like, "Don't be overly wordy. Trim it down." And that sort of thing.
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Post by Jolyon Trevelyan »

I don`t really think i write well.

I have written 5 books and 10 short stories. And out of that i only think that one of them is good. The first story i wrote.

But i don`t write for others to read. I only write for myself. So they don`t really need to be good.
A mistake is simply another way of doing things
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Post by Cee-Jay Aurinko »

We'll, I'm still improving, but I'm far better than I was when I started out. I write everyday, but I do it by taking my time, with absolutely no pressure attached.
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Post by SLKing »

I've been writing for about 6 years and during this time I've completed a writing course for writing for children. I'm also in the middle of a 4 year creative writing course, which covers writing for Television, radio and the stage. I've also published my first children's book for children aged 7 to 10 years (middle grade). I think if you want to write, then that's a good start and if you've a creative imagination and a basic knowledge of English and grammar, then you're half way there - good luck!!
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Post by Lesa »

Before I started writing, I was under the (false) assumption that because I was a (lifelong) avid reader, I would be a good writer. So I wrote my first story, then sat back and admired it. Perfect! (so I thought). And then I joined a critique site and posted my 'perfect' story. I was so proud of it! I thought it would be highly praised as though it were a masterpiece. Ha! I was in for a rude (but MUCH needed) awakening.

The critters tore my baby to shreds ... one after another. Oh, there was an occasional glimmer of hope my darling could be salvaged through hard work, and correction, but overall it was a brutal massacre. My first reaction was denial (How typical? Don't we always?), I mean how could I have been so wrong? I had to take a step back.

I focused on critiquing instead of being critiqued, for a while anyway. Once I started reading other people's critiques over a book I'd just read, I started learning from them. Things I'd never caught before (or even heard of) became apparent to me. (Ah! They've used a run-on sentence here, and redundancy there.)

After a while (and I'd nursed my wounds), I went back to my story and reread the 'offensive' critiques, and I could admit the comments were not only right, but well deserved. And I could SEE my mistakes. So much repetition, overuse of he/she said, where using an action would do, filler words were sprinkled throughout, as well as phrases like- 'was walking' and 'was eating' instead of walked and ate, and so much more.

I went back in with my newly learned skills, and weeded out my many errors. Then I joined the site as a paid member because I knew I needed to learn and grow as a writer. I spent a couple of years there, and I can say it was money and time well spent. Does that mean my story's come out perfect every time? Haha! No, lol. I'm a work in progress. Good grammar does not come naturally to me. But I am a much better writer now, and when I go into editing mode, I'm prepared. I still have my work critiqued and beta read before it goes off to my editor, but I know what I'm doing now, and I'm glad to say my skin has grown (a bit) thicker. :)
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Post by Randomgold »

Honestly, I still don't think I write well. :? But I still try my best. As for learning, it's pretty much what everyone else said. School and practice. Especially that last one. Lots and lots of practice. Even if the things you write aren't very long, it still counts. I do this by writing flash fiction stories once a week. Has that actually helped my writing? I'd like to think it has, but that's just me. Just stick with it and improvement should come eventually.
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Post by +++--- »

I read and try to understand the writing style of various great writer.I feel, reading and imagination are the two pivotal things to comprehend any new plot.Apart from this I read review and blog also.In the field of writing its quite difficult to monitor our performance.
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