Next Level Writing: Four Ways to Improve, by Victoria Pippins

​Next Level Writing: Four Ways to Improve
By Victoria Pippins
 
Ever since I was young, I've had the brain of a writer. I fell so easily in love with books that didn't have sequels—and some that had sequels that I didn't know about—that I began writing my own. I remember the first one, too. As a small child, Diana Wynne Jones' Castle in the Air sparked something inside me that has spent almost two decades manifesting.
 
I wrote constantly, pulling inspiration from every single thing that happened around me. When I was too young to focus on large projects, I wrote short stories that I thought were books. As I got older, I became so absorbed into the worlds of the novels I read and the shows I watched that I wrote an incredibly embarrassing amount of fanfiction—like, an incredibly embarrassing amount. When I hit high school, I finally tried my hand at sitting down to write real novels. I thought I wanted to become an author, but I quickly decided it wasn't for me. Instead, I’ve chosen to use my college years to pursue my passion in a different way: editing and publishing books. I enjoy writing though, and continue to do it for fun.
 
In all these years, I have picked up a tip or two on how to improve your writing. I am definitely no professional, and I have certainly written some bad stuff, but for new writers looking to improve or for college students trying to take their creative writing papers to the next level, here I am, ready to share what I’ve learned over time. From the perspective of a lifetime writer and aspiring editor, here are four important tips that I wish I had known when I first started out all those years ago.
 

1. Become comfortable with grammar

Unless you're writing for children, it's not enough to understand the basics of grammar. While it may sound like a lot of boring work, becoming comfortable with things like sentence structure and punctuation can not only make the writing and editing process much easier on you, but will give you more brain power to focus on the content of your story. In addition, you'll become a better self-editor, which will help ensure what you've written will be better polished for other people to read. This is super important if you plan to submit your writing to school contests or publishers. However, this doesn’t always mean memorizing various grammar rules and rigidly sticking to them. Sometimes, it just means developing and honing an instinct that tells you something just sounds or looks off, and needs adjusting.
 

1. Mindful Practice

The idea of practicing is obvious, and I'm sure you've heard it a thousand times about a thousand different skills. I don't mean that you should just mindlessly write until you get better, though. I wouldn’t completely chuck that method out the window, but what I mean is to sit down and make the conscious effort to improve. Take a look at the books you love, and try to figure out what it is about the writing style that really captured your interest. Was the vocabulary engaging? Were the characters well developed? Did the scenery come with very detailed descriptions? Take note of these types of things, then try writing a few paragraphs using similar methods. When you first start, stick to scenes of people doing everyday tasks like walking across the room to pick something up, making dinner, getting ready for bed, etc. before you move on to the more complex scenes of wizards casting spells or horses galloping through forests.
 

1. Plan like your life depends on it

When inspiration strikes, I always have a difficult time convincing myself to pause long enough to formulate a plan. When I get excited, it feels like I’ll lose that sudden burst of genius if I don’t get my ideas down on paper right now. The problem with this method is maintaining interest in the project long enough to actually complete it. It also means that I sometimes write stories that have one or two choice scenes, but the rest could be considered mediocre at best. While I’ve mostly kicked this habit, I still sometimes realize too late that my idea isn’t fully formed. Taking the time to plan out the setting, characters, and plot has so many advantages, you’ll wonder why you haven’t been doing it all along. It’s always best to over-plan, too. While it may never come up that your main character’s family used to take picnics every Saturday morning, having these kinds of details will help you get in tune with the people you’ve created, which in turn will allow you to truly bring them to life.
 

1. Stick to what’s relevant—if you want it to be relevant, make it so.

Do the details included in the story add to it, or distract from it? Learning to separate what actually brings a scene to life and what clutters up the page can keep your readers interested for the long haul. Another way to think of this is that there’s a time and place for everything. Unless it contributes to the story in some way by showing us what our characters are like, moving the plot along, or helping to develop the scene, don’t spend too much time on it. We don’t need to hear a long, drawn-out story about your main character and her best friend unless it is relevant now, or becomes relevant later. You don’t have to thoroughly describe the barista that makes your character’s coffee unless they interact in an important way, whether it’s now or later. If you’ve decided that a piece of information is worth including, develop a way to make it feel as if it’s occurring naturally. For example, if you for some reason want the audience to know that the love interest can do sick kick-flips, create a scene in which they have a reason to be doing them, like a skateboard competition. Don’t just interject, “Oh yeah, and they can do sick kick-flips too.”
 
Lastly, and probably most importantly, have fun with your writing. Enjoy it, and don’t be afraid to show it to other people. Be patient with yourself, dedicate what time you can, and write what you want to write. Who knows—maybe you, too, will come to love writing the way I do.
 
Edited by Keeley Catarineau