Blog Tour - 8 Things I've Learned About Writing by Sarah Alderson

Thank you Sarah for such an amazing guest post.

I love it and really think all are very true. I definitely love the read one. I think it's so important to read different genres as a writer and a reader. You need to experience different types of books to know what you love.

8 things I’ve learned about writing

Read everything you can get your hands on. Don’t be a snob about what you read. Read across genre, across medium. Read leaflets, newspapers, comics, books, blogs and magazines.

Write. Writing is 99% sweat. To get good at anything requires endless practice. Same with writing. You have to practice writing every day. Keep a journal. Write a blog. Write letters. Just write as frequently as you can.

Commit. If you want to write a book you need to commit. You need to sit down every day and write those pages. Don’t listen to the voice in your head telling you that you can’t or what you are writing is rubbish. Write it anyway. Keep going. Keep going!

Ask ‘what if…’ Whenever I get stuck I ask myself ‘what if…’ and follow that thought until I get something which sparks a little buzz of excitement in me.

Watch TV / Great movies - some of the best writing is happening in TV land right now. Watch good shows - Mad Men, Breaking Bad, True Detective - and see how they build story arcs, tension and characters.

Read aloud. Read back what you have written out loud. This is the only way you can tell if you have the rhythm of your sentences right. Rhythm is so important. It also helps highlight where you’ve repeated yourself or where you are missing a word. It’s also good for getting dialogue to sound right.

Listen to your gut. Keep an ear out for the butterflies. Learn to tap into your instinct. If I get a tingle in my tummy I know I’m writing something good. If I don’t, I stop.

You don’t need to write what you know. I know nothing about mind powers or the military or about security companies or vampires. Wikipedia is your best friend! Google loves your questions. Writing what you know is usually pretty boring. You have an imagination. Use it!

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