Are you on the right path to becoming a spectacular author?
If you just hit the magical 10,000 hour mark, will you automatically be a good writer?
If you just do enough research, will you become a good writer?
I know authors that write a ton, but still write bad books.
And on the flip side, I know authors who have studied the art of crafting stories and seemed to know every last detail about writing great stories, but they themselves failed to even hit the basic requirements of making a strong, compelling story.
So I did some thinking: “What are the things that good authors do that bad authors don’t do?”
After investigating some of the best authors and trying to find the common denominator that they had that other writers didn’t have, I found three fundamental practices.
Basically, they do what pretty much any person does to master a skill - whether it being drawing, speaking a language, or learning a martial art.
Three steps:
- Knowledge
- Practice
- Feedback
And repeat.
All three very important in their own right, but practicing them together - I found - is the key to set you on the path that will inevitably lead to your dream of becoming an amazing writer.
So let’s dive a little deeper into each of these three actions. You will find out what makes them so essential, how to practically apply them to your writing, and how use them to your advantage.
1. Study the Craft
The first step to creating amazing, meaningful stories is knowing how.
Knowledge about how to make characters full of depth and how to make interesting and natural dialogue. How to write compelling description, conflict, goals, and so on.
What are some ways you can learn more about writing? Let's take a look.
Be an Active Reader
One of my favorite ways to learn how to write is by analyzing books I’m currently reading.
You can learn a lot by reading books with your full attention.
Ask yourself:
Why is this certain aspect of this story good/bad?
Why does this dialogue seem off?
What makes this character so compelling?
Why don’t I care whether or not the main character achieves her goal?
Why am I fascinated by this book so much?
There are hundreds of questions you can ask while reading both good and bad books. And a funny thing happens when you ask questions…you get answers.
To make this even more effective, keep a notebook dedicated to writing lessons nearby while you read. Each time after you read a chapter in a book, write down what was good and bad about the chapter.
What good things did this author do that you could model your writing after?
What bad things did this author do that you should avoid in your story?
What thing would have made this chapter twice as good?
You’ll be amazed about how much you can learn just by asking questions each time you read.
So no more passive reading. Wipe your real or imaginary glasses before you read, and collect all the answers from the book in your hands of what makes a story good or bad.
Soon you’ll have a notebook filled with valuable writing advice. And not only writing advice, but advice that is tailored and practical to your own writing.
Read Books/Articles on Writing
As much as you can learn from being an attentive reader, there are even more things you can learn from others that you wouldn’t have thought of on your own.
If you get a good book on writing, then the authors have probably studied the art of storytelling for years, if not decades. They have put all their years and years of knowledge into a book you can read in mere days.
So instead of having to take all the time they took to learn these things, you can learn the same lessons in a fraction of the time.
Once you reap the lessons from the articles or books, make sure to apply it
A couple of books I recommend are:
Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story, K.M. Weiland
Also, be sure to check out more writing resources from Kingdom Pen's Resource Page!
Learn from Readers
Authors may have a lot of experience with writing, but never underestimate the knowledge of an obsessed book nerd who has read hundreds of stories.
Now, your average reader might not be the most knowledgable about writing, but knowing what readers enjoy is important. Especially while researching your genre.
So check out some book reviews on Youtube or Goodreads and try to understand why they liked or disliked a particular book.
What types of characters did the readers like?
What did they wish to see more of in the book?
What certain elements did they love?
Now, a word of warning before you jump into reading too many reviews: there will be some people who just like to spend their free time tearing apart books and being negative. While they might have some good points, if you don't be careful, they might end up instilling a fear of writing in you, rather than encouraging you.
To avoid this, I recommend focusing more on the positive points they make in their reviews. That way, you will be able to add more good to your novel, rather than just take away.
2. Practice
“Knowledge doesn’t equal Power. Knowledge + Action = Power.”
- Jim Kwik
Although knowledge about writing is very important, if you don’t actually apply and take action on what you learn, then all the knowledge you’ve collected is utterly useless.
I’m not sure about you, but have you ever followed someone online who gives such good writing advice, but when you read their actual books, they do the very things they say not to do and none of the things they advise to do?
This has happened to me more than once.
It became very apparent, that no matter how much a person can know about crafting the best story ever, he could still write an atrocious book.
What you need to do is deliberately implement your writing knowledge.
How do you do this?
Focus on One Thing
Step one of this article (Get Writing Knowledge) is the easy part. Our heads are probably already filled with tons of writing knowledge.
Which is a good thing, but all that knowledge can sometimes make it overwhelming.
When you actually sit down to write, you suddenly are very aware of all boxes you need to check in order to create a good novel.
But don’t fret! There is a simple way to apply what you have learned without becoming overwhelmed.
Focus on ONE thing you want to improve each time you write.
So before you sit down to write, choose one thing you want to improve.
Let's say you choose dialogue. Before you begin writing, read a section from a book that you think has great dialogue, or read an article or video online that explains how to write good dialogue.
Then afterwards, write on a piece of paper how that information you’ve just learned practically and specifically applies to your story and the scene you’re just about to write.
Once you know exactly how your character dialogue is going to be better than it was before, then you can start writing and implementing what you have learned.
Taking a quick 5-15 minutes to do this process before your daily writing session ensures that your writing knowledge isn’t going to waste.
Write. Write. Write. (Then Write Some More.)
Like with any skill, it’s going to take a lot of time and dedication before you can master it.
You're not going to become the next J.R.R Tolkien after writing one or even ten books.
Mastery takes time. If you want to become a great writer, you have to be in it for the long haul.
Your second page may not be much better than your first page, but your one hundredth page most definitely will.
So start obsessing over progress, not perfection.
I get it. Writing consistently is not easy. So that is why we made an entire ebook on how to develop an unbreakable writing habit and write consistently. And it’s totally free!
So if you're struggling with motivation and writing consistently, I highly recommend checking it out. We break down all the things that have helped me and many others to become writers that write hundreds of words every single day.
3. Get Feedback
When it comes to our own writing, we can often be blind to both the good and bad things about it.
If you aren’t getting outside feedback, then I guarantee you there is some crucial elements to your story that you’re missing
Nobody is perfect at catching all the mistakes in a story, so getting honest feedback from others is essential if you want to improve your writing.
You need one- if not multiple- people to be super honest with you and guide you with your stories.
Once you start getting feedback from people, you’ll be surprised at how quickly your writing improves.
So how do you get good honest feedback?
Fully Accept Criticism
The first step to getting good feedback is to actually want it. Both the good, and the bad.
If you get defensive every time someone points out a weakness, then they are less likely to give you their honest thoughts in the future.
So when someone says something they dislike about your story, don’t explain to them why they are wrong, and what they dislike is in the story for a perfectly good reason. Instead, be totally accepting of the criticism. Thank them for their feedback. Even though it might hurt, it will be the honest feedback - not feel-good compliments - that will improve your writing more.
You will become a better writer because of it, which is more important than the little confidence boost from compliments.
I even recommend asking your test readers beforehand to be as picky as possible. And don’t accept an answer that is some variation of,
“It’s pretty good!”
“I enjoyed it!”
“Keep up the good work!”
No. Don’t just smile and say "Thank you!"
Either fire this person for being too nice or tell them to not worry about being offensive. Tell them to honestly tell you what they thought about your story.
Not even the greatest story in the world is perfect. No matter how amazing something is, there is always going to be at least a couple flaws. So be prepared before you give your writing to someone for honest critiques.
Find Many Beta Readers
Having just one test reader is better than none.
But getting many different perspectives will help ensure that nothing is overlooked.
And it also helps make sure that not all your test readers are being too nice and not giving you the criticism you need.
So ask everyone you can. Family, friends, KP forum members, Goodreads Beta Reader Group, etc.
Just do a quick search online on how to find beta readers, and dozens of options will show up.
Take a Break Between the Writing and Editing Phase
Have you ever read your past writing and thought, “Man, If I wrote this story today, it would be so much better!”
This is partly because you have become a better writer since then. But it is also because while you were in the midst of writing, you weren’t able to notice all the little things that could be improved.
When you finish a novel, take a month away from your story. Take some time to clear your head.
Once your vacation is over, and you go back to edit your story, you’ll notice many more mistakes than if you were to jump into editing right after you finished writing the story.
If your break is long enough, then it may even feel like you're reading someone else's story and not yours. And we all know that it’s much easier editing someone else’s writing than your own.
If you take a mini vacation from your story after writing, your story will be fresh in your brain. It will be easier to see where your story could be improved.
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In summary, this is the three-step cycle for improvement: knowledge, practice, feedback, and repeat.
As long as you don’t skip a step, then your writing will dramatically remove each time you repeat the process.
Just make sure you are doing each step.
Because, you may write a ton, but if you don’t know the key aspects to crafting a good story, then your story will fail
You may know a ton about writing, but if you don’t write consistently, then you will never get practice and your story will fail.
You might know a lot about writing and write a lot, but if you are not open to honest feedback, you stay blinded to your faults, and that story, too, will fail.
Most writers are missing one of these key elements. Which is why their books fall short despite hours and hours of work.
But the best authors are practicing all three steps. Day in, and day out.
Are you practicing all three?
Which one do you need to focus more on?
Kathleen Ramm
Kathleen Ramm’s first writing project was a rip-off of the tortoise and the hare. She continues to write because when she was little she tried to enter Narnia multiple times, but they never let her in. Her only other alternative was to create worlds and characters of her own.
Kathleen joined Kingdompen because she was inspired to help writers at any level to write badly so that they can write goodly.
She enjoys writing with her siblings, doing Taekwondo, and sketching. Her greatest accomplishment is getting first place in a Taekwondo tournament (and there was only one other contestant).
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Very nice article; I really enjoy people criticizing my work.
Thanks! And if you like criticism, then you should have my younger brother read your writing. 😉 I know from experience.
Okay, cool; I might look into that sometime. He wouldn’t be into criticising poetry, would he?