Hey, I noticed that writing a novel long story is pretty impossible for someone like me with little to no experience in writing. I used to do some fiction stories a few years back but those stories never had a proper ending since i always run out of ideas on it. I would admit, even though i believe that everything starts little and gets bigger along the way, i went to try bigger things in writing when i haven't even went through the little parts... So i thought, since i would never make a good novel long story in my current skill, i want to know you tips and advice on how to improve my writing skills.. I would get some experience in reading stories and writing short stories which is about 2 to 3 pages for a start. I would also like to know any faster way of gaining more writing experience, not that i would really need it since i need to take my time in learning but i would appreciate your tips and advices.. btw, this post may lack sense and have a few wrong grammars since i'm at school right now and i need to get to class soon... I apologize for that.
Keep a notebook scribble your thoughts and observations. Part of becoming a good writer is developing an eye - and making the mundane beautiful or at least unordinary. Also read poetry, it will help you develope concise visions, use shorter sentences and better verbs.
I don't really understand people who say "Well I don't have the skills to start a novel" - I understand perhaps, "I don't have the patience, the endurance, the diligence, the desire, the passion, the will to start/write a novel". Yes, I understand that, and they are valid. But "I don't have the SKILLS to start"? Come on, what is this nonsense? It's just writing! Write the story you have and you will see when it finishes - and when it does, if it is a novel, it is a novel. If it is not, well never mind, who cares? Would I say I have the skills to write a novel? Not really. Did I have the skills before I started? No. Do I have the skills now? Nah, not really. Now I know better what it takes and what it involves, so I can better mentally prepare myself. But skills? I've been improving all the time, but can I say "Now I am good enough to write a novel"? No! It's not like you must do a certain number of tasks and level up before you can upgrade from short stories to a novel! (short stories, besides, are not easy to write - I find shorts more daunting than novels personally) You know, when I started writing my first novel, I had no idea what it would take, how hard it was gonna be - and now knowing all this, I dare say I'd still do it again (this conclusion, however, took some time to reach. I spent a good few months being quite afraid of doing another novel) What I mean is, if you have a story to tell - tell it. Screw the skills - the skills will come. If you never try, the skills will never come. If it's a novel you wanna write - by all means write with the intention of making a novel - it will be fun to try! As for running out of ideas - that's where planning becomes helpful I finished my novel solely because I planned. So don't let your lack of skill stop you. Take the plunge, if that is what you wanna do. I can assure you that I did not have the skills when I first started - and now editing my current novel and planning the next one, I still don't know how to really write a novel. But what I do know is this - I have a 73,000-word manuscript and I have an awesome idea that must be written - and that is all I care about, screw whether I have the skill. Although of course a part of me obviously does believe I have the skill - I do hope to publish that 73k-word novel. I'd self-publish if I had to - I've put too much into it not to at least give myself that pleasure
"Pretty impossible for someone like me with little to no experience in writing." Pfft, what a load of tosh! I wrote 'novels' since I was about seven, only getting to about two pages and then stopping, before going on to the next one. Okay, that doesn't really count, but the only full pieces of writing I had completed before I wrote my first novel were two short stories, and now I'm nearly nineteen with two novels under my belt! Seriously, all you have to do is say, "right, I will write a novel now." And then you do. It just works, I suppose (although you have to remember that your first novel will not be as good as your fifth novel, for example, because you'll have learnt more things by then). But if you're really not comfortable in writing a full-blown novel yet, I suggest you search online to buy a copy of Iain Pattison's Cracking the Short Story Market, and the newer the edition, the better. This was a fantastic read for me, and I've only written a few short stories. Buy it, and be enlightened!
to learn how to write, you need to READ... read constantly, not only the kinds of things you want to write, but the best writings of the best writers of all times, including today's...
For a beginning writer, take your time and work on developing your skills. I couldn't write a short story because I'm used to writing novels, but I'm sure with enough practice I could. The trick with novels is a combination of plot, characterization, setting/world, subplots and then dialogue. It's a tricky balance to keep them all together, and sometimes I'd say just drop the subplots and worry about the others on the list. Writing a novel is, in some ways, similar to a short story but it allows for greater development on the plot and characters. Let's say you were writing a novel on someone being the only person left on a starship (whether they abandoned of passed away in an accident). In the short story, you'd tell it briefly, show some of their struggles and then end on the climax. In a novel, a writer could delve into what happened to leave that character alone and really go into his/her struggles about being alone. Lot's of things (could there be a robot there, perhaps) could be explored. Delusions of dreams from being alone could be shown..willingness to live or pass away. That's just from a hypothetical example. In some ways, think of it as a longer short story, where there's time to really explore and show what happens. However, the only way your skills will get better at it is to try to write one, then do a second, etc etc. Practice, and hard work, are the key to succeeding in writing-along with having a thick hide to deal with the rejections people give.
