How to Improve?

Disobedient Avocado

Disobedient Avocado

Member
I know there are a lot of specific things that we, as writers, would like to improve upon. At least, I know there are things I'm constantly working on. Being more descriptive, being clearer in my writing, working on flow, and personality.

What are the things you do in order to try and improve yourself as a writer?

I know I Google a lot of things. Ended up on this pretty amazing blog that had tips and advice for a lot of different things, some of which I had never considered. I also think just by writing with another person who is more talented than I am, that I will improve. Trying to go outside of my comfort zone, too, has helped me gain skill as a writer, I think. Because I'm forced to pay closer attention to what I'm writing in order to ensure that it is accurate to things that I'm just learning.

The first time I ran my own role play was something that caused vast improvements over a span of a couple months, too. That was a particular experience, I think.

So. What do you do to improve your writing?
 
For me, it's always going to be the language skill first that I need improving all the time, since English isn't my first langauge. I got to pretty far, but actually one-on-one roleplays, where we posted right after one another (so a few minutes apart after each answer), helped me tremendously to learn how to write fast and it made me remember sentence structure and common words better.

Beside that, I always feel like I can't convey emotions very well, I always feel like I tell instead of showing, and for that I've been trying to write whenever I'm in a different mood. It makes a bit easier to understand what I'm missing at those times, and when I'm finished I can look back on these writings. They don't have to be long or perfect, they don't even really have to have a plot, it's just purely for future reference on emotions! :D

Otherwise, practice and writing, and more practice and writing. I find that if I try to write quickly, while the grammar might suffer a bit, the work itself is more honest and flows better. :3 Also, knowing what I want to write beforehand (having a sketch of the scene/chapter/etc...) helps a lot in making the character and their actions make a lot more sense in whatever situation they are in. :D
 
Maybe you can just look up general pictures of different emotions, look at the colors, listen to music, try to listen what instrument they use, etc... Those might help with describing something without saying it? I'm not sure, just an idea :D
 
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