5 Tips for First-Time Authors
- Bryson Editorial
- Oct 8, 2017
- 2 min read
Beginning an extended writing project, especially if it’s your first, can be intimidating. It might seem like an impossible task to start from nothing and end up with a completed book, short story, or poem. Fortunately, in our work with countless aspiring writers, we’ve discovered the most effective ways to avoid being intimidated by blank pages and stick with it to the end.
1. Keep your language clean and simple.
A sophisticated vocabulary is a great tool to have, but it’s important to know when and how to use it effectively. Consistently using long, complex terms where simpler language will do the same job will often exhaust and discourage you. It also has a unique power to age a piece of writing prematurely, which can frustrate writers and lead them to give up too soon. In many cases, simple writing is timeless; it also lends more power to the instances in which it is more appropriate to use complex language.
2. Avoid passive voice.
As with the last tip, passive voice has a time and a place. As a general rule, however, overusing passive voice makes writing feel cluttered and disjointed. If long, baroque sentences aren’t your aim, practice using active voice as much as possible. Put the subject at the beginning of your sentences so that the reader doesn’t have to wait until the end to understand them. Get into this habit so that your writing is more consistent, with fewer errors. Your editor will thank you!
3. Read your writing aloud.
This is especially useful when you are writing a lot of dialogue. Reading it aloud to yourself will help you get a clearer sense of the rhythm of your prose. It also makes it easier to replicate natural speech in your dialogue; this is more difficult to construct in your head than many writers realize. By sounding it out, you'll avoid the problem of awkward or artificial sounding language.
4. Write a little every day.
Some people have an easier time with this than others, but for many writers, progress is slow and daunting. Even a little bit of writing is valuable, and it all counts towards the end result. Stick with it, and you’ll make a noticeable dent in that word count before you know it.
5. Reread and redraft.
If you find yourself struggling to write, take that time to reread what you already have instead. The more you do this, the more intimately you’ll come to know your own writing. Errors and clumsy wording will become more obvious. You’ll be able to detect and address gaps in narrative, setting, and character when you go back to it later. Your editor can also do a lot more with a redrafted manuscript than a raw one.
Everyone has their own methods, so don’t take these as hard and fast rules–they’re simply suggestions to help you hone your personal writing practice. New and aspiring authors who struggle to get started and develop a routine will benefit from trying them out and seeing what works.
Comments