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04 Oct 09 5 More Ways to Improve Your Writing Part-XIII

This is the final post in 5 Ways to Improve Your Writing series. In this post, I will talk about how to get new ideas for writing. The ideas I am going to discuss here will not only give you matters to write upon, but it will also bring depth in your writing.

Spice up your life

Try different things. Indulge in different activities. Bring newness to your life. The more experience you will gain the better and deeper your writing will become. If you want to make career in writing then be prepared to experience as many things as you can. Do not foster any inhibition.

Read literature from different culture

If you do not know any other language other than English then read the translated version, but read as many books from as many cultures as you can. This will deepen your insight into human life, values, rites and rituals, customs, traditions, and lifestyle, etc. This knowledge will help you bring depth and variety to your characters.

Deconstruct books

Have you ever thought what made a certain book so successful, and why some fictions are held as masterpiece? What is that one thing that is making one book reach to your heart? You can know this by analyzing and reflecting on the books that you like. Deconstruct books, stories and articles to see how it was created.

Learn the story wireframe

To be a better story writer, you need to know about the principal, construction, and architecture of a story. Once you know the framework on which a story is set, chances of your writing a good story will increase manifolds.

Learn Metaphors and read stories

Human thinks and communicate in metaphors and the richer your metaphor’s repertoire is the better your expression will be. Communicating everything in crude way is not the sensibility a writer is known for. To be a good writer, you need to be subtle. You need the art to say things even without saying anything else. Read famous lines, quotations, stories, and sayings. You will find each one of them filled with rich metaphors. Learn the art and practice it in your writing.

Links to all the articles in the series:

Tags: Cultures, Customs, Different Culture, , Expression, , Inhibition, , Language Other Than English, Life Values, , Masterpiece, , Metaphors, Quotations, Rituals, Sayings, Spice Up Your Life, , Traditions, Writing A Good Story

27 Aug 09 Freelance Writing Checklist Part -1

If you are starting out as a freelance writer then there must be many things bugging you, or is there anything about freelance writing that can possibly bug you?

These questions are the two aspects of the same story, but with different protagonists: do you know what it takes to be successful as a freelance writer? This blog-post and the coming ones will provide you with a list of things that you must accomplish before venturing out for freelance writing.

I have organized this list of items to verify before jumping on the freelancing bandwagon based on the closeness of the topic to a freelance writing fresher. We (You and I) will begin this journey with you and your attitude towards writing, then will move ahead to see how the market is and what all you need to know before you commit. So, let’s get going.

Have you rounded of your writing skills?

Writing for someone else for money or without money is entirely different from writing for yourself or your term papers. The former requires precision in writing techniques, which may or may not require in getting the latter job done. I do not doubt your writing skill. I just want to say is go and brush up your grammar and writing skills to prepare yourself for better gigs.

What type of writer you are?

This is the second basic question you need to ask yourself. Are you a fiction writer or a non-fiction writer? If fiction is your genre, do you write stories, or poems? If you are a story writer, do you write short story, very short story, novella, or novel? What kind of story on that: crime, detective, erotic, historical, psychological, etc.? If you are a non-fiction writer, what kind of non-fiction you write? Do you write articles, press releases, sales letters, blogs, website content, political essays, term papers, magazine articles, news stories, or what?

As you can see this is a huge question, and you must have guessed, you will require a soul searching to know which genre fits your type. Not everyone is a “writing Leonardo “who can write on anything and everything with equal gusto, and produce equally mesmerizing output. Some people can do that, and rest of us can just hope to.

Where is your portfolio?

If you thought only a designer (graphic, fashion, web, hair, or any kind), a model, or a photographer, etc., needs a portfolio then it’s time for me to break the news: A freelance writer also needs a portfolio!”

Build a portfolio that consists of writing samples from all the genres you want to get work in. yes, you can write in more than one genre!

Give me your URL?

C’mon, don’t say, you don’t know what a URL is!

Just joking.

When you are starting out, you many not feel the need to have a website, but once you move up the ladder, you will feel the need for one, and then you might think, “Why I didn’t have it yet?”

You are going to need it eventually, then why not now?

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