How to write information is easy to locate on the internet. Online writing communities have all kinds of how to write free courses and articles.
These courses and articles often focus on the mechanics of writing, teaching beginners how to form quality sentences and craft good stories. This kind of how to write advice is important, of course. But most how to write information leaves out an essential piece of the beginning writer's toolkit. It leaves out advice on how to hone your writing on a daily basis.
As a published novelist and nonfiction book and article author, I often get questions from new writers who want to know how they can break into the publishing world. Many of these writers have written one or more stories, perhaps an article, maybe even a book; but they're still having problems getting their work noticed.
When I look at the quality of the work these writers have produced, I quickly see why they haven't found a home for their writing yet. They haven't been able to get published yet because their writing isn't publishable yet.
Only the most talented writers are able to put out a publishable piece after just a few tries. Most of us mere mortals need to write thousands and thousands of words before we create a few hundred words that are good enough to sell.
Because of this long writing learning curve, the most important how to write advice beginning writers need is the how to write info that tells them the best way to hone their craft on a daily basis.
It's a cliché, but it's true: writers write.
Way too many new writers spend more time talking about wanting to be writers than they do actually writing. When I suggest to these writers that they keep a daily journal or do daily timed writing practice, they tell me they have trouble making the time.
How can you expect to become a successful writer if you can't carve out 10 minutes or so a day to do a daily writing practice? You can't learn how to write well without writing a lot.
If you want to know how to write well, how to write anything well (including both long and short fiction and nonfiction), you must develop a daily practice. Start keeping a journal. Or do timed writings (where you set a timer and just write without correcting mistakes for the time chosen).
When you do your daily practice, focus one day on using this practice to develop dialogue skills. Pick another day to focus on descriptive skills. Another day, you can focus on using emotion in your writing.
If you want to learn how to write like a pro, you need to practice like a pro. Pros like me write everyday. Do you? You do when you're determined to know how to write.
