What can I do to Improve my writing?

[Enkhidu]

Go here, buy these, and read them (you can also probably find these at your local library). Each book in this Writer's Digest series is a take by published authors on a specific part of fiction writing (plot, conflict, good story structure, etc). I highly recommend them.

 

[Emperor Valerian]

No matter what books on writing you read, I'd say the two most important ones are (to echo everyone above) read often, and write often. By read often, I mean read anything you can get your hands on, not just fantasy or science fiction... or fiction for that matter. History books, biographies, you name it... every piece of writing has something you can learn from (either something to do, or something not to do). The more you read, the more you will pick up on what readers expect, what gets their attention, etc., and you can start incorporating it into your writing style to create something that's eye-catching and uniquely yours.

Not to mention real events give me some of my evilest ideas as a DM.

 

[ragboy]

All of this is good advice. I'll add a couple of things I've found that help me:

- Have a group of reviewers give you detailed feedback, not just one. When you have five people telling you that certain scenes, characters, or situations are not working, it means a lot more than a handful of random problems from a single person.

- When you proofread, read your work out loud to yourself. This seems silly, but you'll catch a lot of awkward language this way, and tense/POV shifts will be much more apparent. This also helps me when I get feedback like: "All your characters sound like the same person."

- If you're just writing for ENWorld story hours, I wouldn't put a lot of time into reading books on the craft (though On Writing is an entertaining read whether you're a writer/aspiring writer or not).

- If you're looking to move into professional writing, here are the things that helped me (as well as most of what's been suggested previously):

• Take a writing workshop class/group - This type of class or group is not a 'how to write class' but a roundtable where aspiring and professional writers review each other's work. You get more honest feedback from people you're not emotionally tied to (usually).
• Finish every story you start - The more painful this process is the better. If you've written yourself into a corner, keep plugging away until you can call the story done. The painful experience will pay off.
• Try different methods - There are a thousand 'story crafting' methods out there. Try several of them. Try more than one on the same story. Make up your own. Experiment. Try writing at different hours, in different places, and under different conditions. I wrote one story long-hand, and it helped me develop a better editing style, and now I won't use a computer on my first draft. (when I write only on the computer, it's much more difficult for me to effectively edit).
• Send it in - When you've written, edited, incorporated feedback, and written again, send it to a publisher. Ralan.com is a great source for F/SF/H/Humor publishers. There are others. You need those rejection notices to make you better. And if you keep it up, you will be published.
• (Edit - Forgot one!) Advice that I got from On Writing that has paid off: Don't just read the 'good' stuff. Read bad writing at least as much as you read flawless writing. Bad writing teaches you by example what you're not supposed to do...

 

[Angcuru]

As everyone else has already said: read a lot, and write a lot. Then go back and read your own writing. Ask yourself if what you wrote entertains and evokes emotions in you. Pinpoint what doesn't and get rid of that stuff. People read to be entertained, not to keep getting info that while important to the writer, may be junk to a reader. Know that sometimes, less is more. Use a generous amount of detail, but don't go on describing something that the reader just doesn't care about.

Practice, practice, practice.

Give your readers enough information to know what's going on, but don't start rambling on about something that while interesting, does not advance or contribute to the story. Also, don't just say "x happens. y says yadda yadda. z happens". Don't tell, show.

With my first story hour I was more or less taking an idea and putting it into words, got a little feedback, but almost exclusively from people whom I had personally directed to read it.
I spotted weaknesses in my writind, and from that my style evolved. I recently started a new SH based on a PbP game, with an introduction and occasional flashbacks that are all my original stuff. Use your players to see what an entertaining story is, and try to mimic that to an extent. For original non-gaming session based fiction, you have to work a lot harder.

If you can produce something that people enjoy and actually WANT to read, that's when you get feedback. You have to have a good mix of humor, action, character development, and suchlike. At times you can have extremes in a specific area, but most of the time you should have more or less equal amounts.

Cliffhangers help, too.

 

[Herremann the Wise]

...Don't tell, show...

Golden advice in almost any endeavour, whether it be in writing, management, sport or whatever.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Golden advice in almost any endeavour, whether it be in writing, management, sport or whatever.

Golden advice, and advice that is often extremely hard to follow, even for those of us who have been doing this for a while. I've been writing fiction since long before I began writing professionally, I've got a degree in Creative Writing, I've got a published novel, and I still find that I have to be very careful not to fall into this trap.

There's no magic solution for avoiding it, I'm afraid, except--once again--constant practice and feedback.

 

[arwink]

There's no magic solution for avoiding it, I'm afraid, except--once again--constant practice and feedback.

And learning to edit your own work effectively. Learning to set work aside, and how to identify and correct the thematic problems rather than the grammatical problems, is an invaluable skill.

It takes time to learn that though, just as it does to develop the other skills Mouseferatu is talking about.

 

[Angcuru]

Golden advice, and advice that is often extremely hard to follow, even for those of us who have been doing this for a while. I've been writing fiction since long before I began writing professionally, I've got a degree in Creative Writing, I've got a published novel, and I still find that I have to be very careful not to fall into this trap.

There's no magic solution for avoiding it, I'm afraid, except--once again--constant practice and feedback.

Ain't that the truth. I've been writing for about eight years, but only in the past few years have I become confident enough in my writings to show them to others.

It is also helpful to be a perfectionist. Be very critical of yourself, and you'll be more likely to spot weak spots in what you write.

I find that my favored writing style is to know where I want the story to end up, and know a few key events I want to have, and then ad-lib the whole thing from there. For me, this gives the story less predictability. If you have an outline you're following, you'll steer yourself towards the next 'goal', and this will often be obvious to the readers. They don't want to know that happens next, the only want to have an idea of what might be coming. Plus this style lets me write myself into situations that I might have otherwise not thought up.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I find that my favored writing style is to know where I want the story to end up, and know a few key events I want to have, and then ad-lib the whole thing from there. For me, this gives the story less predictability. If you have an outline you're following, you'll steer yourself towards the next 'goal', and this will often be obvious to the readers. They don't want to know that happens next, the only want to have an idea of what might be coming. Plus this style lets me write myself into situations that I might have otherwise not thought up.

I know a lot of people who write like that, and it works for them. Me, if I don't have an outline, I tend to wander about blindly and lose track of what I want to accomplish. I don't think it makes my writing more predictable, though I can see how it could. The trick, for me, is to write the outline specific enough for me to keep track of what I'm doing, but vague enough that I have freedom to maneuver, and to change things if new ideas come to me. In fact, I've had a few instances where I diverged greatly from the outline--but even there, having it helped me get to that point, and work the new ideas into the story as a whole.

Ultimately, I think most of us would agree that there's no one style or technique that's going to work for everyone. (And how dull would it be if there were? ) Anyone who wants to start writing has to just start, to play around with it, and to try new techniques until they find one that works for them.

Or, to put it another way...

You can write part-time, but learning to write is a full-time job.

 

[ragboy]

Ultimately, I think most of us would agree that there's no one style or technique that's going to work for everyone. (And how dull would it be if there were? ) Anyone who wants to start writing has to just start, to play around with it, and to try new techniques until they find one that works for them.

I've also found that I write with different styles and techniques depending on the story I'm writing. Sometimes I need an outline, sometimes I ad lib with nothing in mind (character, story, or ending), sometimes its a scene that becomes a story.... it's always different.

And since mega was mentioning Eberron, and Eberron is pulp-based, I can't hawk Lester Dent's Pulp Master Plot enough. Reading it for entertainment value alone is worth it, but I've also found it useful:

Give it to him in the neck

http://www.miskatonic.org/dent.html