If you want to be a writer (and if you write, you are!) there are some useful tips and tricks that should be readily accessible to you. I’ve included the most important resources I can think of to help you get started.
Your Body Is Your Tool
Ergonomics are very important! If you’re hunched over your laptop or at a desk that’s the wrong height, you will eventually pay the price. The mayo clinic has a useful website to get started in setting up your workspace.
Carpal tunnel, tendonitis, and sciatica aren’t limited to office workers. Writers, artists, musicians, and anyone who uses the fine motor skills of their hands daily can be susceptible to repetitive motion injuries. The sooner you implement a warm-up, stretching, and cooling down routine, the better. This video from Dr. Jo can help you get started.
Your eyes are crucial! How long do you spend staring at a page or a screen? The 20/20/20 rule can help relieve eye strain and keep your ocular muscles limber. Every 20 minutes, stop and look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. The American Academy of Ophthalmology has a great article about eye strain, fatigue, and dryness.
Finding That Flow State
Professionals don’t wait for inspiration to strike. Set a goal to work towards or stick to a schedule. Pick a number of pages per day, or a time that you will set aside just for writing. It doesn’t have to be your best work ever, or even your current project. Practice writing, and stick with it.
You can sink into your creative state by finding the environment you work best in. Sound-dampening headphones, meditating before you start, or choosing a spot where you won’t be distracted by other tasks and to-do thoughts will benefit you greatly. Find where you work best.
There’s some interesting scholarly research about how your brain works when you write by hand versus typing. For one thing, your memory recall is better when you handwrite. If you’re feeling stuck, try changing it up!
Constructive Criticism
Before you start looking for an editor, look for writing and critique groups. Reading and responding to other’s work will sharpen your critical thinking skills, and help you develop a welcoming attitude. Remember not to take what people say about your writing personally.
How to peer review? This article from Purdue University can help you learn about how peer review works, and they have many more helpful links to writing topics.
Where to find a group? Try looking on meetup, discord, or facebook to find other creators who would be happy to trade work and share their thoughts.
Learn From Everyone and Everything
We are constantly consuming information, whether it’s from a book, the screen, or the people around us. Fostering critical thinking skills is vital to becoming an excellent writer. When you practice awareness, instead of being “swept away” by a story and your emotional reaction, you can note how the piece makes you feel, and how this in turn affects your perception of it. I highly suggest re-reading and re-watching material you are familiar with. Note the structure, delivery, and pacing. Is the story driven by character’s needs and motivations? Or is it a plot-heavy tale where anyone could replace the characters and the outcome would generally be the same?
All stories have a beginning, middle and end. Screenwriters distilled this into acts 1, 2, and 3 so they could pack a full story or story arc into a 120-minute film or a 30-minute episode. If you’ve never created an outline or heard about “beats,” these are some of the most basic and useful places to start. Check out Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat! to get started with some of the most basic elements of storytelling.
Books
Of course, here’s some recommended reading!
Steering the Craft: A 21st-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story by Ursula K. Le Guin is a wonderful and easy read that should be on every writer’s shelf. Let the master tell you how.
Story Engineering: Mastering the 6 Core Competencies of Successful Writing by Larry Brooks is a fun read that covers the big points of narrative storytelling.
Understanding Comics and Making Comics by Scott McCloud are must-haves for the burgeoning comic or graphic novel creator, whether you are a writer, artist, or both.
Filth & Grammar: The Comic Book Editor’s Secret Handbook by Shelly Bond is for those who edit (and write) visual sequential narratives. Want the inside scoop? Shelly’s been in comics for 3 decades and spent 22 years at DC’s Vertigo imprint. (Fun note- I helped back this on kickstarter, find my name in the “Special Thanks”!)
The Copyeditor’s Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications by Amy Einsohn and Marilyn Schwartz is a crucial text for those who want to know how to prep and format their manuscript.