Rule #4: The Most Important Thing to Do as a Writer is to Write

You know you've got a knack for writing, or a strong desire to do it at any rate. You know that, while it is a creative process, it needs to be structured to be effective. You know that you've got to write with a designated audience in mind. Determining whether your writing is more about what's going on or the characters you describe (rather real or imagined) may only be possible after you've been writing for a little while.

The future will bring many challenges. Describing a scene so that it can be clearly imagined by your reader, determining the voice that does the best job of saying what you want to say, crafting dialogue that sounds genuine, presenting complicated concepts in a way that isn't confusing, using every element you create to contribute to the story you're telling, timing developments so that they occur at the right point in the story arc...need I go on?

But in the early stages of the writing process, these things need not concern you. No. The single most important thing you can do right now is write. You will revise and then you will revise your revision. Count on it. You'll start telling one story to discover that you've really been trying to tell another. 

We write for a lot of reasons. It's a release from emotional burden. It's a way of expressing something that can't be expressed in quite the same way in any other format. We want to give form to our imaginings. We feel like we know something that we want the rest of the world to know too. We might be inspired by real events but choose to pen a novel or write something that blurs the line between biography and fiction. There are as many ways to write as there are reasons for doing it. But don't let it overwhelm you. Just write. 

You might think you need to know what you want to say before you write. It's not true. Your brain knows things it doesn't know it knows. Recording the experiences of your life in a notebook is an invaluable practice that can jumpstart your inspiration, but the very act of writing can give you access to hidden treasures too. Don't believe it's true? Try out some of these writing exercises and techniques to get those creative juices flowing. 

Do a free-write
Set a timer for 10 minutes, sit down, and write! Don't correct yourself or think too hard about what you've written.
What it does:
This is one of the most tried and true ways of tapping into your subconscious.

Explore Writing Prompts

What's a writing prompt? Essentially, a writing prompt does just what it says it does-it presents you with a scenario that is meant to encourage your imagination to continue the story.

What it does:

This technique helps you to explore some scenarios when you're having trouble coming up with them on your own.
Play around with perspective

Tell a classic fairy tale from another point of view. What kinds of things does your character notice?

What it does:

This is a great exercise for putting yourself in someone else's shoes. The more accurately you can understand a character, the more accurately you can represent them in an authentic way. Whether an evil character is truly evil or not is entirely up to you.

Explore the familiar and the foreign

Go someplace you visit often. Describe it. What words do you find yourself using? Now go someplace you've never been before. What words do you use to describe it?

What it does:

We notice different things about the places we're familiar with and foreign locales. Paying attention to the way we describe each can help us to get a better handle on description. This is particularly useful if you'll be writing about a place you're not so familiar with. At the same time, it can help you to present a familiar place in an authentic way to readers who might not be so familiar with it.
Engage in a little synesthesia

 Describe something using senses you wouldn't normal attribute to it. What does a particular color taste like for instance?

What it does:

This is a great method for exploring the senses and relating them to things you wouldn't normally relate them to. Thinking outside the box lets you avoid cliches and describe things in a unique way.
Explain a process you know well as if you were instructing a novice

It's all about details!

What it does:

We rarely pay much attention to the things we've done for a long time. Muscle memory takes over after awhile. Focusing on describing a familiar process to someone who isn't familiar with it forces us to use very specific, concise language. It is important to be clear in writing regardless of the type of writing we're doing.

Practice showing rather than telling

Write a 100-word story. State the facts. Now rewrite it using the Show, Don't Tell principle. Don't worry about the length of the second version of your story. Try not to spell anything out. When you can't say something outright, what devices do you rely on?

What it does:

When you only have 100 words to work with, you can't really describe. You're stuck with stating the facts. Many books could be stated in a page or so, but what makes them book-length is the use of description. By rewriting the story in a longer version, you can practice showing rather than telling. It really is a lot more interesting to read!

When you've got a pretty solid framework for what you want to do, it's time to move on to organization. Not all writers favor outlining, and the length of the work will certainly determine whether it's something that warrants looking into. It's worth exploring though. Think about it. You have an idea in your head for your dream home, but you can't just wing it. You have to plan its construction. And there are certainly a lot of things that need to be thought through. When you feel you're ready to proceed, consider outlining. It's next week's topic!