Dear Aspiring Writers (from a reader, another writer, and author)

 So, before everything else… what I want to emphasize from the beginning of this blog post is the foundation of writing. Grammar. Sentence structure. Vocabulary. Proper use of words. Paragraphs. Punctuations. Flow from one thought to another. Organization. Presentation of facts or scenarios.

If you want to be a writer, you’re writing, you’re aspiring to publish a book one day, I believe it’s a must to nail down the basics. The foundation. We can all agree (should all agree) that it makes reading enjoyable if we follow those basic rules. Have you ever read a story or a literary piece and you were distracted by the incoherent sentence structure? The misuse of words? The illogical transition?

To be fair, there are varying levels. I can tolerate a few mistakes or errors, I can overlook them and not point them out… but if it’s on every page and is very frequent… it’s one reason for DNFs. You don’t want that. We don’t that.

And so, my dear writers…. Let us learn the basics. Learn them well. Practice writing to improve ourselves. Continue writing to hone our craft. Welcome to the writing community!

Nope. I’m not going to discuss those things here today, but I’m planning that for next month’s series. The basics of writing.

What else to I want writers to know? If you call yourself a writer, you must be writing. Right? Get off social media. Get offline. Start writing. Or start plotting. Or start reading. Maybe read a book or two. Study the writing and learn from there. Better yet, get a book or materials on writing. That is, if you need it for you to start writing. But if you already have an idea of what you want to write, you have the scenes lined up in your head or outlined in our notes, go ahead and write.

It’s acceptable to go on social media, be online, just… don’t dwell on it too much. Live your writer’s life.

Let’s stop arguing on how writing should be done. You want to sit down and write from the top of your head? Go ahead. You want to create an outline first, get the scenes in sequence? Go ahead. You want to write the latter scenes before the intro? Go ahead. Do what works for you and stop telling others to do the same thing as you. We’re all different. Each style has its own pros and cons. Not one should be considered superior over the others. That sounds terribly like racism. If you haven’t noticed it yet.

If English isn’t your native language, but you want to write in English because… you know, more readers. For us to effectively write in a language we learned on top of our native one, we should also have a good command of it. Proficient. What’s your level of proficiency? In a way, the proficiency level would also gauge how much of the basics you’ve nailed down. Do you understand the grammar rules? How wide is your vocabulary? Sentence. Paragraphs. Composition. Those are measured through proficiency. There are English proficiency tests out there. Some are free. I took a free one. If you want to check yours. https://www.efset.org/

Knowing your level of proficiency would allow you to assess yourself. Do you still need to learn more about this language? Or if you already have a good command of it, be confident in your writing.

I’ve seen people criticize non-native speakers. In a way, they have reasons… when I check the posts, the construction is messed up. But that’s why we have learning. Let’s learn. Let’s study. Let’s improve. I guess I would have preferred if the criticism could be done gentler. Just point things out. “I had a hard time reading your post. I understand English isn’t your first language. You can study it some more and improve. At your current level, it will take a while, but continue learning. You’ll get there.” Yeah?

Don’t say things that are bound to discourage them. Stop writing? Really? You can’t write? Just stick to your own language? Dude, stop.

There will be barriers. There will be challenges. If writing is your passion, continue writing. No matter what others say. No matter what happens. Do listen to feedback, though. The ones that are helpful and would most likely improve your writing style. Surround yourself with positivity. Positive individuals. Distance yourself from the toxic ones. Mute them online. Mute them offline. Block them altogether if you can.

A few things to consider before you move forward.

What’s your purpose in writing?

If you will make a career out of it, is your expectations on income realistic?

If you want to be an author, do read up on various authors’ experiences.

It won’t take one story or one book.

Do you want to be known? Or do you want your works to be known?

Do you want to reach more readers? Or do you want to make more sales?

 

Having a clear understanding of what you want helps in pushing you in a certain direction and in case you feel lost, you have those commitments to go back to.

You’ll be like… why am I even doing this? This won’t in any way help me achieve my purpose, my goals. Move on. Next project. Focus on your purpose and goals. Sometimes, we do get sidetracked. We get burned out. We lose direction. So, it’s important we set up our starting point. A place to go back to. Chill. Relax. Start over.

What else do I want to say? Self-awareness is a really good trait, no matter your profession, career, or position. Whatever you do, having self-awareness would prove useful. So, make sure you have a true understanding of yourself. You’re not in any way too proud. You’re not defensive of your flaws and faults. You own them. You take responsibility. You don’t deny the mistakes you’ve made. You correct them. You don’t hide the errors. You highlight them and learn from it.

Something else we should say to fellow writers? Do comment them below.

Thank you for reading. Enjoy writing. 💙