We all know writing takes a lot of practice, and a lot of patience while you build up your skills (not to mention building up a thick skin). With that in mind, and while more and more people are working on their novels, I’ve rounded up some resources that help writers hone their writing skills.
First up, Live Write Thrive has a great post about how writers can say more with less. It’s worth reading the full post, and comparing the before and after paragraphs. But the gist is to be interesting, and don’t use superfluous words. Speaking of superfluous words, Straight North has a nice list of 150 jargon words and phrases and tips on how to fix them.
Next, it’s important to have a writing partner or critique group to give you feedback on your work. Lisa Poisso offers a list of places to find communities online, as well as how best to participate to get quality feedback.
Once you have some feedback, you’ll want to revise your work. If you’re using a tool such as Scrivener, Writer Unboxed has a helpful article about which features are useful when it comes to revising your manuscript.
And last, if you’re finding it difficult to write or get started writing, Elegant Themes has a guide to writing faster and more efficiently. Basically, give yourself space and time to focus, don’t worry about editing while writing your first draft, and never stop writing.
Good luck!
This post was originally published May 2020.
