How to Become a Better Fiction Writer Even if You’re Just a Beginner
Hint: You’ll have to do more than just read and write a lot
Read a lot. Write a lot.
It’s one of the most popular pieces of writing advice, right up there with ‘Show don’t tell’ and ‘Kill your darlings.’
Many great writers have touted the importance of reading and writing a lot. While it’s not particularly bad advice, it’s just as useful as digging a tunnel with a teaspoon.
Let me put it this way. If all you do is simply read stuff, especially very badly written books, you’ll end up learning bad habits as a writer. And because you don’t know what you don’t know, you don’t really know that you’re doing the wrong thing.
Makes sense?
You build your writing muscles by writing a lot, no doubt about it. However, to improve your craft — creating stories that tug at the heartstrings of readers — simply writing a lot won’t cut it. You need something more.
That begs the million-dollar question:
If reading and writing a lot are not enough to make you a better writer, what should you do instead?
Well, buckle up because that’s exactly what I’m going to talk about in this article. By the time you’re through, you’ll get a proven system that will skyrocket your fiction writing, even if you’re just starting out and writing your first novel.
Sounds good? Okay, let’s go.
Study masterworks
You have a friend or a family member you’re incredibly close with. You know them so well that you’re completely in tune with the way they talk, their mannerisms, quirks, and so much more. Slowly but surely, you start using their favorite expressions, just like they do.
Hell, you’re even putting pineapple on pizza, when only a few months ago you frowned at them in disgust for doing exactly that. But they made you try it once, and now you can’t stop.
So what has the above got to do with writing or studying masterworks?
Everything.
I don’t know you, but I’m willing to bet that you enjoy reading fiction or books in general.
Have you ever realized that the more you read a particular author’s work, the more you internalize their style, thus replicating it in your own work? Just as you unconsciously imitate your friends and family due to prolonged proximity, you do the same for the books you read.
Unconscious learning. It’s a real thing.
You are what you consume — the books you read shape how you write.
This is why reading a lot can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you assimilate all the terrible mistakes from all the badly written books you read.
Terrible pacing, unrealistic (or too realistic) dialogue, horrendous grammar, scattered point of view (POV), mind-numbing punctuation. Simply garbage. All in one book… or the hundreds of other books you read from self-publishing websites like Wattpad.
Sure, you’re reading a lot. But it most definitely won’t make you a better writer. Quite the contrary. It will make you worse.
It’s different if you’re reading those books out of pure entertainment. However, if you hope to write fiction that stays with readers for a long time to come, then you simply have to shun books that fall short of such quality.
And that brings me to the first stage of becoming a better fiction writer:
Study masterworks.
Instead of reading any and everything, select the great works that have stood the test of time, especially in the genre you write. Research authors widely acknowledged as master wordsmiths, with a flair for storytelling that transports the reader into a new world. You know, those writers who make you feel miserable because their mastery over their craft makes you utterly inadequate.
Yes. That’s what I mean by masterworks.
But no, don’t just read those books for mere entertainment. God, no.
You’re a student, my friend. Study them. Peruse and analyze why those books are so great — why readers love them so much that there are whole fandoms in their honor.
Study how the author handles POV, pacing, description, dialogue, conflict, character development, and all the other elements that make a story a damn good one.
What happens is that as you continuously expose yourself to masterworks, you inevitably get accustomed to what great writing looks like, thus feeding into your own writing. You may be unable to explain why, but you’ll just know when a book is bad.
That’s like seriously studying what real money looks like for a long time and then suddenly coming into contact with a fake. It’s so easy to spot it, sometimes without even so much as touching it.
That’s what I call the god-tier sense of smelling thrash.
Practice every writing technique you study
Imagine being locked up in your room, writing story after story, manuscript after manuscript, because well, you have to write a lot.
You probably don’t even have to imagine that. Maybe you’re already doing this. I know I used to do that too.
What’s wrong with that though? Absolutely nothing. Except if you’re doing this without studying masterworks or showing your writing to the people who can give you constructive feedback, then you’re wasting your time.
You’re writing a lot, of course, but you’ll simply not improve.
By now, I think you already know why.
Don’t just write a lot, simply because you have to do so. Instead, deliberately practice the techniques you study from the masterworks.
And how do you do that? By writing a lot.
I promise I have not lost my damn mind. This actually makes sense.
Here’s what I mean.
When you read several great novels, studying piece of the puzzle, you instinctively know what good writing looks like. However, that doesn’t automatically mean you can produce the same quality of work.
That’s like watching hours upon hours of dance lessons from Michael Jackson as a newbie dancer, and then suddenly expecting to move like the King of Pop himself.
You joke, my friend. Unless you have a hip-breaking fetish, don’t even try it.
Like any other skill, you get better as a writer through deliberate practice of the techniques you learn. Slowly, but surely.
Take one element at a time, starting with those you most suck at. You know what they are.
For me, I was ridiculously bad at description. It didn’t matter if it was the setting, objects, or characters. Describing anything in my book was akin to walking on glass with my bare feet. Since description is a major part of a novel, being bad at it made my stories painfully hard to read.
I had to do something about it.
Whenever I read a masterwork, I paid critical attention to description, especially showing versus telling. I tried to see how the masters did it so I too could do the same. And once I studied a lot, I actively practiced it by writing my own stories.
While I still have a long way to go before mastering the art of description, I’m much better at it today.
Did I learn this by simply staying locked up in my room and writing my heart away without any studying? Absolutely not.
In fact, if I hadn’t read so many great books, I wouldn’t have known how bad I was.
You can do the same for any story element.
If dialogue is your weakness, find books that have some of the best dialogue out there. Google is your friend.
Read, absorb, dissect, and analyze what makes the dialogue so effective.
Practice by creating characters with various personalities, and by extension, different ways of talking. And then write dialogue among these characters, ensuring that their personalities shine through the way they talk.
Do this until it becomes second nature to you, and I guarantee that your writing prowess will soar. Yes, even if you’re a beginner.
Now, should you keep reading and writing a lot?
Absolutely. I’m not saying you should stop it. That would be absurd.
However, to master the art of fiction, don’t just end there.
Go deeper — study and practice a lot.
You can do this.
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