Book conventions are filled with panels on marketing your book, genre themed tropes, the self publishing process, how to find an agent—you get the picture. All great and amazing stuff…for newer writers. What about when you’ve got experience, a series on the shelf, multiple series on the shelf? Where do you learn from there?
This week we’re talking about tips for writers who aren’t beginners.
In all honesty, I consider myself a beginner writer. Not newbie-beginner, since I’ve been around the block and glimpsed behind the wizard’s curtain, but with one audiobook out I’m definitely still a beginner. But I do know the number one way I’ve learned, and grown, as a writer:
Read More Books
Some books I read for the purpose of observing, like how the plot was put together or how the characterizations mark the world. Some books I read for pure pleasure. But no matter how I intend to enjoy a book I always end up noting scenes that feel out of place, items that appear/disappear out of nowhere, plot sequences that would’ve been seamless with slight adjustments, or even characters that hamper the flow of the story.
Then my brain starts churning on how things could’ve been edited differently which inevitably leads my train of thought to my own work in progress.Crafting a compelling story takes numerous technical aspects which are taught nearly anywhere you care to look. But a story also needs emotion and heart which I absorb from from what I read and watch.
Granted, it is easier to edit someone else’s work than it is your own. But the more I read the more I notice my own writing. Notice what, you may be thinking. Notice everything that works, doesn’t work, pops out of nowhere! So, I think that means my husband is going to continue to have his pick of shows to watch because I’ll be sitting beside him with a book!
How about you? Where do you learn from?
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