This is the fourth in a series talking about how we can SAVE money in the editing process but becoming the best writers that we can be. A few weeks ago I asked why some writers aren’t editing their books and case was the number one answer. But if we become better writers each time we write a book, the less time an editor will need on our book. Which will save us money!
The first installment was about starting at the beginning with grammar. ‘Oh, lovely,’ you might groan, but the truth is that if you know how to place commas and indents and Em dashes, the less your editor will have to find them and subsequently charge you for this changes. If you missed last week installment you can find it here.
The second week I gave you a list of podcasts I love to check in on that talk a lot about WRITING. There are quite a few about the career of being an indie author, but the ones I spoke about last week were specifically about the craft of writing. You can go back and see those here.
Last week I talked to you about reading. There is a way of reading that is different as a writer than reading as a reader. Some call it ‘deep reading’, some call it studying, some call it ‘reading as a writer’, but whatever you want to name it, reading in a way to look at the plot and structure and format of a book and story is different from just reading as a reader, having fun in the meantime. One is WORK and the other is LEISURE.
But since we all have a stack of books to read already, I chose to give you come short stories to look at, to save you time. If you didn’t see them or missed that installment, please head on over to my website and read them here.
This week let’s get into some practical ways of practice. Like not repeating the same word in one sentence…. oops!
There are some great sites, both paid and FREE where you can find exercises and prompts and practical writing tips. It’s so good to keep pushing your writing forward and trying out new things. It can take a long time to write a whole novel in another genre, but taking some time to use a prompt from another genre just to see what happens doesn’t take too much time and can be a great way to try something new out.
Some of the links below are free and some are paid. If you get on different newsletters a lot of times you’ll be the first to know when a class is discounted or something new in coming in. This especially happens around Black Friday and Christmas, just FYI.
*Not that being an affiliate is a bad thing, but I am NOT an affiliate of any of these. I just found them, have used a few, and tried to include all different writing theories and styles for you.:)
Writers Digest
Writer’s Fun Zone
Coursera.org
The Write Practice
A Story a Day
Writer’s Edit
Just keep writing! The more you practice, the better you’ll get. I hope you find some neat stuff in this list today.
Next week I’ll give you the mother of books. Reading books on writing better can be a bit… overwhelming. So I’ve refine the list down to books I really enjoy and ones that you don’t have to read straight through like a novel. BUT, they have some great stuff in them to specifically either help with your novel or help continue your writing growth.