To 10 Tips For New Writers

Hey everyone, welcome back to Coffee n’ Notes, I hope you are all having a nice Tuesday and if you are new to my blog, hi 😀

I got a few questions about this over on Tumblr and in my email, asking me for some tips for new writers. So, I thought I’ll write a post with my top 10 tips for new writers.

I remember how scary it was to start writing and being so overwhelmed about it all, where to start and how. Now we all heard that in order to be a writer you need to read and you need to write every day. Nothing new here, but what can really help a writer that is just starting out with the writing process? Just remember I am in no way an expert on writing, lol, these are just a few things that I’ve learned along the way and that worked well for me.

So, let’s start 🙂

1. Take a deep Breath Yes, starting a new story (or novel) can be intimidating, but just take a deep breath and relax. Remember that this is what you really want to do. Start by writing whatever pops into your mind and I mean, whatever. It can be a word, a paragraph, anything goes. Tomorrow or a few days later try again. When I was a kid I wrote a 3 paragraphs story (with drawings) of a monster that’s trying to kill a dragon and a little girl saved the dragon. We think we imagine and we dream. Whatever you write is perfect and good and no one has to look at it. You will get better over time, but you must start somewhere.
2. Ask Questions, For now, let’s go with the story I wrote when I was a kid. You need to ask yourself once you wrote that word or line or even more, is what’s going to happen next? If you don’t know then ask this… How will the little girl be able to kill a monster? What if she could have a magical power? What if she needs someone to help her? Who would that someone be? What if she couldn’t save the dragon? Keep asking and answering slowly as many questions as you can.
3. Be yourself Don’t write for someone else. Write about the things you would love to read and that genuinely interest you. Readers will know the difference immediately.
4. Outline as much as you can If you want to have some sort of order in your writings than an outline is the best way to go. There are many people that are writing an entire novel without an outline, but I learned that it makes things much easier and you don’t get much “writer’s block” this way. There are so many ways out there to outline and you should find the best way that works for you. But, to just start the outline with the example I gave, you need to find the keywords that will push your story forward. Like: An evil monster. A little girl hero. A beautiful dragon. Forest. Mountains. Magical powers. A helpful big brother. The girl saves the beautiful dragon. and so on… Until you have some sort of an overall picture of your story.
5. Don’t be hard on yourself Writing is hard at the beginning, so take your time, practice and try to enjoy the work of imaginary worlds. Always remember that you love this and want to do this. If you don’t love writing, it is best to move to something else 😉 Remember that not everything you write will be amazing and perfect, but it’s your story so keep writing.
6. Look around with your writer’s hat on I find that looking around me, even when I’m at home can help a lot with my writing. I can always see something that will spark an idea or that perfect name. Everything can be inspiring and if you look and search around you, I promise you will find many good things you can put in your novel. Like: A name. A dialog you heard and changed a bit. A scene in a movie that played out exactly like what you needed, so write it all down and it will help you later with your scenes or plots.
7. Schedule your writing Don’t say I will write tomorrow. Say I will write at 8am till 10am for example. Use your planner or calendar to set some writing time and let people around you know that this is the time where they can’t reach you.
8. Set some writing goals This will keep you accountable for your writing but also help you see the things you need to work on. You can set word count goals, scene goals or any way you choose, but don’t set too many goals for a day/week or a month. Know what you can do and be realistic with your goals (trust me on that).
9. Research the genre you writing Today you can find everything online, you just need to search for it. If you write Science Fiction, search for some pictures that resemble the type of things you want to put in your novel. If you need names or places, research them as well. If you need some science stuff, or weapons (anything), just google it and search. This part can be fun and addictive so don’t forget why are you doing this and don’t procrastinate on that too much 😉
10. Figure out your ending Try to write the ending of your story, even if at first it is just a word or a single line. This will guide your writing to the point you need in order to reach that ending. If you choose to change the ending along the way that’s okay, but still write some sort of ending. 
    

These are my top ten tips for new writers! I hope it wasn’t too long (sorry if it was too long) and I hope that it helped you in any way 🙂

As always, thank you so much for reading ❤

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