4 Things That Made Me a Better Writer

There have been many times in my life (in the past few weeks, actually) where I've found myself in front of my laptop, staring at a document full of words and phrases that I don't like.

Their not good. Like, at all.

It's bad. But I have absolutely no idea how to fix it. 

One of the most frustrating feelings, right?

I did what many of you might have. I went to a trusted source.

I went… to Google.

I started searching terms like 'how to write better descriptions,' or 'how to write better dialogue,' succeeding in one thing: making myself even more frustrated. Yeah, what they said made sense, but none of it was translating into my own writing.

If any of you are like me, this situation might sound familiar. I go through a lot of ups and downs with my writing. Sometimes, I think I might be able to do this writing thing. It's conceivable that I could get published and be the next J. K. Rowling. Then, next day I look at it, it's complete and total crap.

Does that also sound familiar?

Let me give you some assurance, dear writer, even if you can't see it, I'm sure there's improvement.

*cue self-example*

This is something I wrote about six or seven years ago with one of my friends. I am the Irish accent person (*headdesk*), and he wrote for Delta. The parenthesis are my added comments.

My face right now.

A few minutes later Delta finally answered me.
"I don't know," Delta said quietly, "But I know that I'm not going to clean this place for you. I swear the dust is at least an inch thick."He crossed his arms while I smirked and switched over to my Irish accent (what the even heck), while grabbing a broom 
"Fine! OUT WITH YE! OUT! OUT I SAY! OUT!" (I think this is causing me physical pain) I said while poking Delta with the end of my broom. After a few seconds I burst out laughing. Delta laughed slightly at my sudden 'outburst'.

For comparison, here's something I wrote yesterday (which also happens to be two of the opening paragraphs for Stardust).

The hallway around me was enveloped in the blurriness that often accompanies reading far too long into the night, and the plush carpet underneath me appeared to be no more than a gray blob. Dated oil pantings of my parents, faded by time, were almost indistinguishable against the plain white wallpaper and wainscoting, swirling in and out of focus in a haze of unimpressive hues. (Descriptions are fun. <3 )

I squinted at the silver-plated analogue clock mounted above the antique ebony accent table. The numbers danced around the face of the clock like a dozen gerridae bugs skating across a murky pond. (I spent probably five or six minutes on this one sentence and I think I'm in love.)

That's a big difference, and I'll bet that if you go dig up some of your old writing, and compare it to how you write now, there's bound to be improvement.

How did I get from Irish accent outbursts to decent writing? Here are four things I did that you can do too.

1. { Reading }

It's more important than you might think.

One of the biggest reasons I know what I know about good writing is because I've read thousands and thousands of pages of it.

I may not know how to technically construct a complete sentence, but I know how a complete sentence should look because I've seen them over and over again.

I know what good dialogue sounds like, and I know what good prose looks like because I've been exposed to it for years.

2. { One Year Adventure Novel }

One Year Adventure Novel is a program created by Daniel Schwabauer that teaches high school students how to write a novel in a year.

This is the single, most quantifiable thing that made me a better writer. 

OYAN taught me how to write a novel from start to finish. It took me through the entire process, from character creation to the story skeleton. It taught me about how to make my writing stronger, and it taught me how to construct a good story, something that people would want to read.

3. { Workshops }

The next, semi-logical step for me was workshops. OYAN has a Summer Workshop they put on every year for OYAN students that I decided I should probably go to. It was a week long, wonder-filled learning experience that I won't ever forget.

There was probably a couple hundred of us there, all interested in bettering our craft, with amazing speakers like Jeff Gerke, Jill Williamson, Stephanie Morrill, Mark Wilson, and Mr. S himself. I was amazed by how much I learned in just the span of a week.

4. { Critique Groups }

I'm pretty sure this was the most difficult one for me. It was terrifying (like butterflies-in-the-stomach-about-to-throw-up terrifying) to even think about letting other people read my writing. It was embarrassing, and it hurt my pride, when they pointed out something I needed to fix. It was difficult for me not to get defensive and cross my arms and refuse to listen to a thing they said.

Critique groups are rough, especially for those of us who have issues with injured pride, but they will teach you a lot, especially if you let them. If you can make yourself realize that whatever they say isn't a personal attack against you, it will be that much easier. 

The majority of critique groups are there to help you, not to make you feel stupid for missing that adverb. Critique groups can help you see things that you wouldn't have ever noticed on your own.

I hope this has helped, and if not, that you at least got a laugh out of my before and after. What have you guys done to improve your writing?