|
Become a better writer?
Hello there..
To start off I use the site Teen Ink and I'm so happy I found that site because I get to publish things I want to speak up on, and I get to publish my story's for comments and good criticism. Well I'm not very good with that, the comments I get are "It's a good story, I really like it but theirs so many spelling errors and grammatical errors, but I should finish it." Okay, I want to because I love the story I'm writing but I get to the point where I don't believe I'm good enough to write a good story.
I'm good in English class, I'm planning taking advanced English next year, but ugh I want to be a good writer I don't know what I should do ..
Any advice? Thanks for reading.. <3
[ ]
Want to answer more questions in the Miscellaneous category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Random Weirdos?
You have persistence and that's a fundamental quality that you need. What you have to do is become patient. Take the time to learn spelling, proper grammar, structure and that will make you better.
I'm not knocking you by saying this but your reader needs the correct spelling and grammar or your ideas are lost because they've given up with it being too hard to read. All you have to do is work on that and it's real simple.
Also, edit your work and keep going back to it to polish it and then post it when you are really satisfied. Don't tell yourself "I can't" write because every writer has to learn these skills to succeed.
It would be in your best interest to buy or special order the following book: The Lively Art Of Writing by Lucille Vaughan Payne" this book will teach you how to write well, and you'll learn structure, grammar and tons of tricks that will benefit you in school. It's like the bible for writers and those who have trouble with essays, stories etc. Get it and stick with it because it's a writer's best friend and I've used it a lot for over 18 years.
]
There are countless ways all writers could be better, but few who try to figure them out. I recently did some writing and had another writer come up from behind to look at the work I'd done in a passage of dialogue.
Their comment was that I had too many paragraphs indented.
Yeah.
I don't know your skillset or strengths, so I'm going to toss out a few common problems I see.
Grammar and spelling are the building blocks to writing something that people can read and understand. To, two, and too are obvious examples of what makes a story easy vs. hard to understand, where there, their and they're are more often mixed up. Learn 'em and love 'em (and all others like them).
After that comes the stuff that makes the story easy to read. Those include indents, capitalization, and punctuation.
Describe what people are doing when they say things:
"I enjoy picking my teeth with this icepick", declared Frank.
vs:
Frank frantically ripped into his gumline with the enormous icepick. "I'm going to have the best teeth ever!"
That's not the best example, but the idea is to show the reader what Frank is doing. It also avoids monotonous he said, she said traps. Spending a letters on description also helps to move the story forward, which readers will appreciate.
Good luck!
]
Never say you're not good enough to do something. It's good to have someone proofread it. Try to focus on these things-
•adjectives that are more colourful ex. gargantuan or towering rather than big.
•grammar- remember proper punctuation, their/there/they're, etc.
•plot- not too ranty but not too little, something new and interesting
•character personalities
•description of atmosphere, setting, etc.
•metaphors and other symbolic crap ;D along with other figurative language
Grammar is probably the least important to the story but it is helpful to meaning and whatnot. Especially with grammar nazis these days :) hope this helps, sorry if it's not what you're looking for. Good luck!
]
More Questions: |