The 5 Most Inspiring Tips for Writers

I'm a fiction writer. I've been interested in fiction basically since I could hold a pencil. Other kids had imaginary friends; I had story characters. I used to come up with backstories for stuffed animals and virtual pets like Neopets. (In fact, some of my Neopets characters have been around since 2007. No shame!)

I have a few guidelines that I use when I write. None of these are rules, per se, just suggestions that you might find useful. They help with motivation, technique, and style, but content is up to you!

1. You Have to Want to Write

Writers have to be committed to their work. This is nonnegotiable. You can't write— at least not well—without wanting to write. Trust me, I've churned out plenty of term papers and short stories for Creative Writing classes. They didn't turn out well because I wasn't absolutely in love with what I was putting on the page.

The good thing about having to want to write is that writing is so, so, so open to interpretation. Anyone can write if they want to. You can write in ink, in pencil, in charcoal, in sidewalk chalk— whatever. You can write fiction, nonfiction, poetry, poetic prose, epic poetry, poetic nonfiction, epic nonfictional poetic prose— whatever. You can write at night, during the day, in a box, with a fox— whatever.

You can write about any subject in any genre, any medium, any time. But if you're not at least a little bit committed to telling the story, it will show. 

2. Know What You're Writing

I'll never say "write what you know" because that's awful advice. It's the reason we have a thousand books about the same white male protagonist. 

Write whatever you want. Write about a girl who lived a thousand years ago in China. Write about a kid living a thousand years from now on a Lunar base. Write about a sentient rock that wants to take over the world. 

The key is research. You can write about literally anything as long as you do the research. You can write about things you don't know the minute you learn about them. 

Research until you can't research anymore, and then keep doing it anyway. Take pictures of reference books at the library, since you can't check them out. Keep a morgue file. Collect inspiration and research from anywhere and everywhere. 

You don't have to write what you know. But you do have to know what you're writing. 

3. Steal Everything Your Little Hands Can Carry

I don't mean plagiarize. But I do mean lift style elements, turns of phrase, even character archetypes from your favorite writers. Try to imitate their style as closely as possible. Then try to write in the exact opposite style from them. Then mash styles together. Get creative. 

For me, sometimes this happens unconsciously. I'll read a book and accidentally mimic the author's style in the next few things I write. Then after a while, I'll fall back into my "home" style. 

Elephants learn by mimicking. You, too, can be an elephant. Fake it 'til you make it. 

(But don't plagiarize.)

4. Outline— Or Don't

You can be one of those authors who keeps character sheets and plot notes worthy of the Library of Congress. Or you can let your ideas roam around in your head. Whatever works for you. Participants in National Novel Writing Month call the first style "plotters" and the second style "pantsers"— the idea being that you either plot your NaNo novel, or you write it by the seat of your pants. 

Personally, I write out bullet points for my plot. It helps to put them on index cards, usually one or two per chapter. I borrowed this idea from Rachel Aaron. I didn't always write like this; I actually used to be a pantser. In fact, I started writing my first novel(-length fanfiction… don't judge) two days after reading the source material for the first time. 

Since then, I have seen the glorious light of actually knowing what you're going to write before you write it. Works wonders, huh?

The added benefit of index card plotting is that you can easily lay the cards out on your kitchen table (or bed, bathroom floor, wherever— I won't judge) and move them around if you need to reorganize your project. 

5. Tell Your Inner Editor to *@$^ Off and Just Write

Writing is writing. Later, you can edit whatever you want. But first, you have to write it!

I'm a huge edit-as-you-go kind of person. I like my formatting to be perfect the first time around, and I hate typos. It took me ages to get over my massive fear of sounding bad. 

But the turning point was when I figured out that you don't have to keep everything you write. You can change literally anything you want. You're the one writing it, after all. But you have to write it before you can edit it.

Don't worry about what it sounds like. Don't worry that you used the same word four times in the last paragraph (that's not always a bad thing anyway). Don't worry if you have comma splices or awkward phrasing or typos out your ears.

And don't be embarrassed if you don't sound like a New York Times best-selling author on your first try, either. Actually, that's one of the best things about writing. You don't have to know what you're doing. I've been writing since fifth grade. I had no idea what I was doing when I started out— I had comma splices and dangling modifiers all over the place.

Don't worry. Just get those words down on the page. Capture your ideas. I promise you can always change it later if you don't like it right now.

You learn by doing. The only way to get better at writing is to write.

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