06 Feb 10 What Freelance Writers Should Read?
My love for short and intriguing answer is pushing me to say “read anything that you can lay your hand on to”, but, my slightly more normal self asks my crazy mind to explain. So, here goes the explanation.
A freelance writer should read anything that succeeds in catching, holding, and retaining his attention. Because the more diverse your reading habit will be the better equipped you will be to handle the challenges posed by freelance writing. You should care less about following a genre through head to tail. Well, doing it will be make you an expert and may be better accomplished as a writer of that particular genre, but expertise in one and dumbness in rest of the subjects is not what you should eye for. You need to have sufficient control on as many genres as possible.
What did you say— you will be master of one and will research for the rest?
I know many freelancers doing that, and quite a few have attained some degrees of success while treading down this road. But more often than not an article written by a freelance writer who has no prior knowledge or intuitive understanding of the subject matter lacks depth. To add depth and texture to your writing, you need to learn various things.
Freelance writing poses unique challenge that is seldom faced by fiction or non-fiction writers. Therefore, the solution used by freelance writers should also be different.
Read as much as you can, and from as many genres as you feel comfortable in!
Learning is a complex process, and acquiring knowledge is even more complex. One never knows which piece of text or byte of media triggers what. Sometimes the knowledge gained is a direct result of the things you are reading, while at other times, it is gained because the things you are reading have activated some unknown part of the brain which has triggered something else then something else, and the end result of all this could be the new understanding you have developed.
So, to help your brain form new pattern and new understanding, you need to provide it as many types of fodders as possible.
Tags: Acquiring Knowledge, Byte, Challenges, Crazy Mind, Dumbness, End Result, Fiction Writers, Freelance Writer, Freelance Writers, Freelance Writing, Freelancers, Genre, Genres, Love, Non Fiction, Part Of The Brain, Prior Knowledge, Reading Habit, Subject Matter, Texture
14 May 09 Getting Writing Ideas
In the last article, Writing When You Can’t, we discussed about getting out of writer’s block. In this article we will discuss about from where to get an idea or ideas to write upon. This is important as it was the lack of ideas only that pushed you into this dark well.
There is not any particular set location in space and time where you can look for writing ideas, rather you can get writing ideas from almost anywhere and at anytime. Magazines, books, blogs, periodicals, forums, movies, questions asked by others, answers to those questions, old blog posts, old articles, or your immediate physical surrounding can be a good starting point. However, there are many ways to get ideas to write upon, you should only choose the idea that fit into the bigger picture keeping in mind the nature of the medium and the expectation of the target audience from it. If you are just starting out with writing then avoid taking any complex topic, and try to keep the sentences short.
Be a voracious reader. Books can be a good source for sourcing writing ideas. Try reading books from different genre and as many as you can. Blogs can also be effective in sourcing writing ideas. Do not confine yourself to reading blogs from your niche only as reading blogs from your niche alone will limit your ability to see the bigger picture, the context in which your readers see your blog. Reading blogs from different niches will also infuse freshness to your thinking. Writing updated versions of old articles can also be considered. This will open many writing avenues for you.
The bottom line is to be observant. Keep close eye on the surrounding and see what is changing and what effect will it have. Try to look for small changes; these are the things that at times have bigger impact. Always keep a pocket notebook with you to write down the observations you make and the ideas that come to you. This repertoire will keep you away from getting into the writer’s block.
Tags: Array, Avenues, Bottom Line, Expectation, Freshness, Genre, Good Starting Point, Magazines Books, Niche, Niches, Periodicals, Pocket Notebook, Reader Books, Reading Books, Sentences, Set Location, Small Changes, Space And Time, Target Audience, Voracious Reader, Writing Ideas
