This list of 45 practical tips is from the opening session of the Emerging Writers Festival that was recently held in Melbourne. A panel of five emerging writers shared their advice, and the things they wished they had been told at the start of their careers.
I found them insightful, hopefully you will too.
45 Tips for Emerging Writers
- The quality of the writing is the only thing that matters
- Everything you write or think has already been written and thought and that’s okay
- Ego is the driving engine and your worst enemy
- People read the book they want to write
- People write the book they want to read
- The adverb is not your friend
- Speed is the enemy of a serious writer
- Writing will heal you
- Less is more
- Words can make a difference
- Your heartbreak and torment are the things that will connect you to others
- Write with your body as well as your brain
- Living is more important than writing
- Limit social media notifications
- Know who you are before you write and take responsibility for it
- Honour your heroes
- Writing relieves discomfort
- Risk and sacrifice – give up everything
- Get out of the way
- When it comes get it because it comes and goes
- Listen- writing that listens intensifies the experience for the reader
- Don’t stop, if you give up, the burn will gnaw at you
- Writing is a vocation, a calling and an honour
- Don’t care about getting published
- The reason you write is to question your existence
- Writing can comfort you
- Think only of the writing- what are you writing for?
- Feed the burn- the creative burn to write and investigate
- Don’t underestimate the freedom of not being published
- Write only what you want to write
- Writing is the pursuit of self, but you learn through writing and your connection to the world
- Be humble, have faith, have a true connection
- Be fit, take care of yourself physically
- Don’t underestimate your own paranoia
- Put it all aside and write
- Don’t give it away until you are ready for it
- Don’t let them take it from you until you are ready
- Don’t send it out into the world until it is the best it can be
- Dig deep- apply that rule to great writing
- Look at every sentence and ask yourself is this sentence an original contribution to knowledge
- Writing is hard, and it is a skill
- Sit down and do the work
- Push through your comfort zone, writing is not easy
- Start to write when you can’t stop thinking about it
- It needs to be important- if you don’t care about it, others won’t care about it either
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