To be a better writer...

Posted by DC from p3E9E7D1B.dip.t-dialin.net on October 24, 2000 at 10:07:27:

In Reply to: Any one know of some good writting communities? [nm] posted by the Fiddler on October 19, 2000 at 18:25:28:

Step 1: Improve your grammar. Read related books on being grammatically correct. Practice forming various ways of sentence structure.

Step 2: Enrich your vocabulary. Read the dictionary? It might sound dumb... but leafing in it once or more... REALLY makes you come across many words that you didn't even think existed! Practice: pick a not so often used word and try to form a logical sounding sentence.

Step 3: Read, read and Read. Books. Well, you can leave the mathbooks out. Go to the city library and borrow as many famous books by famous authors (to make it more fun) and read your heart out. OKAY. You don't have to really over do it... but a chapter or more every night before going to bed will SURELY infiltrate your mind someday and develop your literary skills.

Step 4: Practice makes perfect. Carry around a little notebook everywhere you go. Something that won't look too obvious... (not EVERYBODY has to know that you want to be an esteemed writer someday. A bit of humility is never wrong). Write down thoughts in a day.
Like when you are sitting alone somewhere and see a touching scene before you. Describe the whole moment, what you see and what you think. Use various and different adjectives and substitutes for often used words. Try to see it in a tone that sounds above the ordinary. Well don't overdo it... just try to make your short story sound interesting to the ear.

____(to be continued)___

Okay, I could go on and on.. but I don't think everybody here would want to hear this.
Actually it is pretty obvious too on how to develop one's writing skills.
Not everybody is born a writer. Even I can't say of myself that I write good. I know a lot of people who can do a lot better... so good that there is little hope that we'll ever match up to them.
Good writing takes time and much effort. It is not just well-formed sentences and the use of extraordinary words. No. One has to develop his/her own style. One has to catch the readers attention with the way he writes about something. The plot, the description and the whole general idea of a story.

Sometimes I wish there could be a formula to this. Or something you have to drink or eat to be a fabulous writer.
Sometimes I am glad there isn't.

Deirdre.

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