Becoming A Great Writer

[eTorro]

Hello.

I'm struggling to develop this skill, despite the fact that I've been writing almost daily for the past three years.

The problem is that often I'm at a loss for words — my perfectionistic side is getting in the way, telling me that other writers have a complex vocabulary in comparison to mine and that my too simplistic way of writing will never be appreciated by the audience.

I managed to develop this skill for the sake of writing clearly, but people like Jordan Peterson or Michael Pollan — both are using complex terms when they write — seem to be appreciated by the public just because their writings appear to be scholarly and academic.

Would it be a great idea to relinquish my need to write using complex terms and embrace my uniqueness?

And sometimes I'm struggling: I don't have ideas to write about. My working memory doesn't seem to work properly but for some reason, I can write because I forced myself to write. Other than that, I don't remember what I read.

Thanks!

[Yog]

-Read a lot of the stuff you want to write about.
-Write raw , fast and unrefined. Whatever comes out, comes out. Don't even worry about typos or grammatical errors.
-This will help you get your drafts fast and get you more inspired to continue.
-Refine after, or as ideas come trough.
-Ideas are coming to you, you are not creating them. Do not try to create them.
-Ideas come easily if there is context and context being whatever you wrote previously. They piggy back each-other.
-If you can't write about a certain topic, write about something else that will feel effortless.
-If you feel you are stuck at certain place, just drop it and write the next thing.
-You should not be trying to forcefully finish any part of it.
-Treat it as a whole thing and do passes on it.
-The goal is to finish the whole thing as fast as possible in whatever state it is. You can always post refine it.
-The goal is to write, not to get it perfect from the get go.

Hope these tips help

Edited June 23, 2022 by Yog

[SamC]

I personally really like a simplistic writing style. What's the hardest in writing is in my opinion to communicate something complex in a very simple way.

An insight so simple, only a genius can have it. Don't get to lost in other peoples work, discover your own personal style. Embrace simplicity if that's your thing.

[Galyna]

@eTorro Develop a habit to read, every day. It will boost your vocabulary and help with expressing your thoughts. 

[Razard86]

5 hours ago, eTorro said:

Hello.

I'm struggling to develop this skill, despite the fact that I've been writing almost daily for the past three years.

The problem is that often I'm at a loss for words — my perfectionistic side is getting in the way, telling me that other writers have a complex vocabulary in comparison to mine and that my too simplistic way of writing will never be appreciated by the audience.

I managed to develop this skill for the sake of writing clearly, but people like Jordan Peterson or Michael Pollan — both are using complex terms when they write — seem to be appreciated by the public just because their writings appear to be scholarly and academic.

Would it be a great idea to relinquish my need to write using complex terms and embrace my uniqueness?

And sometimes I'm struggling: I don't have ideas to write about. My working memory doesn't seem to work properly but for some reason, I can write because I forced myself to write. Other than that, I don't remember what I read.

Thanks!

1. People don't care about large vocabularies, that is your projection.

2. People only care about ONE THING, if what you write resonates with them

If you only care about becoming famous you will just copy other people. The key to standing out is your own uniqueness. If you are a carbon copy you will never reach your true potential. You need to focus on developing and finetuning YOUR PERSPECTIVE.

I cannot say this again everyone in this forum needs to get this message. BE YOUR OWN FAN! LOVE YOURSELF. STOP TEARING YOURSELF DOWN.

The man/woman who tears themselves down will accomplish nothing because they are broken. Build yourself up by speaking good of yourself. Stop all this self-judgment.

[Yarco]

5 hours ago, eTorro said:

I'm struggling to develop this skill, despite the fact that I've been writing almost daily for the past three years.

You're probably better than you think. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome

5 hours ago, eTorro said:

my perfectionistic side is getting in the way, telling me that other writers have a complex vocabulary in comparison to mine and that my too simplistic way of writing will never be appreciated by the audience.

Big words no make good writing

5 hours ago, eTorro said:

And sometimes I'm struggling: I don't have ideas to write about. 

Sit down and spend a solid hour or two making a document with lists of ideas to write about. Then when you sit down to write, you don't have to spend 20 minutes brainstorming. You just pick an idea and start writing about it.

[eTorro]

1 hour ago, Yarco said:

You're probably better than you think. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome

@Yarco, I think I have impostor syndrome.

Sometimes I'm feeling self-conscious, especially when I'm talking to people — I have the impression that what I'm saying is wrong or weird.

Or when my girlfriend calls me, I'm at a loss for words due to the awful feeling of self-consciousness; I just don't know what to say or how to get out of that tense situation.

Although I'm confident enough because I've been meditating for the past four years, I have egoic leftovers that are pretty strong when they get triggered or activated. I've done my homework in terms of consciousness work. I'm aware of anything that happens inside my own mind or aware of the feelings that I'm experiencing at a particular moment.

In the past, I've had severe social anxiety, but right now I'm pretty much okay — the only thing that I need to overcome is my self-consciousness and my slightly awkward moments when I talk to people.

To offer you some context, I grew up in a dysfunctional family — my father was absent, violent and an alcoholic and my mother was depressed and emotionally distant. I grew up in poverty.

I really wanna fix my impostor syndrome issue. Do you have any tips for that?

Thank you!

[vindicated erudite]

8 hours ago, eTorro said:

Hello.

I'm struggling to develop this skill, despite the fact that I've been writing almost daily for the past three years.

The problem is that often I'm at a loss for words — my perfectionistic side is getting in the way, telling me that other writers have a complex vocabulary in comparison to mine and that my too simplistic way of writing will never be appreciated by the audience.

I managed to develop this skill for the sake of writing clearly, but people like Jordan Peterson or Michael Pollan — both are using complex terms when they write — seem to be appreciated by the public just because their writings appear to be scholarly and academic.

Would it be a great idea to relinquish my need to write using complex terms and embrace my uniqueness?

And sometimes I'm struggling: I don't have ideas to write about. My working memory doesn't seem to work properly but for some reason, I can write because I forced myself to write. Other than that, I don't remember what I read.

Thanks!

Increase how much material you read and diversify the sources of information you read. Also don't try and copy someone else's writing style, develop your own.

[Nilsi]

1 hour ago, eTorro said:

@Yarco, I think I have impostor syndrome.

Sometimes I'm feeling self-conscious, especially when I'm talking to people — I have the impression that what I'm saying is wrong or weird.

 

The best way I know to get past this self-consciousness is just letting it groove itself out. Dont judge yourself for it. Everybody has some hangups sometimes. Try not to obsess about having said something weird or acted inappropriately or you will just create more anxiety that will create more awkward situations for you. It definitely helps to do some kind of embodiment work so that you always have your bodies wisdom to fall back on when your rationality fails you.

[eTorro]

Thank you, everyone!

The thing is that I would like to take my skill to the next level — in the past few days I managed to lower my "ADHD" issue and I can better focus on a topic.

Any tips for taking your skill to the next level? In this case, writing.

Does reading more matter? Because I write all the time but when it comes to reading, I'm not reading often.

[eTorro]

2 minutes ago, Mormegil said:

You should definetly read alot, and not just in the field that you write about, but in a very broad field! Read stuff that maybe doesn't seem very interesting to you at first and see if there is still something you can take from it.

Reading alot is a great way to build up your vocabulary! Over time this issue about you struggling to find the right words might solve itself.

Also don't try to force a specific style of writing. Let go of any ideas you might have about how you should write. Try to get in the flow while writing and  don't judge the outcome. The more you practice and the more you read the more it will improve. You need alot of patience for this process.

Damn! Thank you. You're highly aware of what the process of writing entails and how it should unfold by itself.

[bejapuskas]

@eTorro  I heard from experienced writers that reading makes a LOT of difference, so yes. Multiple friends told me this independent of each other, so there probably is something about reading.

Maybe you can make a journal and when you read, write down or take a photo of things that inspire you or that you want to recreate and write about them. Brainstorm ideas, maybe your ADHD will help you here. 

I also second the simplistic, less pretentious and more relatable kind of writing being good in its own way. People need different styles of writers here. But if you think this is you, then use the dictionary of synonyms online and practice with that, find words you could replace, search them up and see. My brother used this to win a writing compeition lmao.

[Sine]

• Take a small notebook with you everywhere and practice, at least for some time, to write down almost anything, like just "I can hear the wind outside my window, I'm thinking about what groceries - I feel pain in my shoulder, I miss my family"  - even interrupting yourself to make sure you're are writing exactly what is present right at that moment in your head.  

The purpose for this: You will practice communicating by writing, if you do it often enough it will feel more natural and you won't struggle so much with being in the "thinking mind"  (the killer of creativity) while writing, you will see it will flow more and more natural during the time where you sit to write for the longer time periods. 

 

• Your notebook or notebooks should be really ugly, and also you should write ugly in them. Try to turn the book around while writing, write on top of other sentences, write backward, etc. 

The purpose of this: When writing like this you write for the sake of writing, not for anyone to read it, you yourself will not even be able to go back and read it most of the time; this will free you from that inner judge, and you will be better and better at just being yourself while writing. If you write something good, you will be able to remember it and rewrite it later when you sit for your more extended writing period.

 

• Join a writers group

The purpose of this: obviously, it will help you see how other people understand your stories; we often try to communicate one thing. Still, it is understood totally different, by joining a writers group you can finetune this skill.

 

About not being able to come up with ideas: You don't need ideas; you need yourself and your own being and experience, then build from that. You already know how fear, joy, anger, and love feels like - the situations don't matter so much, it's the same experiences just dressed up differently, so if you have lived just a little bit, you should be able to write anything. You don't need to set a storyline to start; if you do the practices I mentioned, you will see that you will be more and more able to access this dreamlike/hypnotic state when you write, where you think/plan as little as possible. You don't plan out your dreams before you dream them, do you? You are not supposed to be the story-constructer. You are supposed to be the storyteller!!! 

 

This helped me to get so much better that I got accepted at the national academy for creative writing in my country, but more importantly, it helped me get back the joy and freedom of writing I had as a child.

 

Edited July 5, 2022 by Sine

[Bird Larry]

@eTorro Winston Churchill was a warrior/journalist when he was young. He hadn't gone to college. Educated himself. In fact, he boasted how bad he was in school. In fact, he was quite good in school, but he wanted to brand himself as a failed student. Who knows why, but maybe that's how it would make him more appealing. 

He won over the Nobel prize for writing. The main reason he became a successful politician was because people read his books, his journey in the Boer War, etc. He believed one must first move, before one writes, meaning, take action first, pen second, otherwise, one becomes a pedant. How do you think he rose to be prime minister? He was one of the first politician to identify Hitler and the Nazis to become what they arose to be in World War II, so he wrote ferociously as a failed politician and journalist the dangers of Nazism even so they seem too peaceful at the moment. His pen and paper had made him to become prime minister because most people thought he was crazy and was repeating to be a war-monger, as he was frequently labeled since WWI, but when the Nazis unleashed Blitzkrieg on the Eastern hemisphere, all of a sudden, people arose to accept Churchill's writing, and it lead him to become prime minister. 

He loved war, both as a soldier and as a leader, yet he documented all his experience as a journalist. Read ferociously. Have great ambitions. That's what he says, not me. Because he focused on oratory and writing, he took notes every time he went out to spoke, seeing how people reacted with his words, with his actions, with his mannerisms. So in writing also, he wrote so much it takes a life time for a person to read all of them. Even the biographer of Churchill couldn't read everything he wrote, so practice is essential. There is a reason he got a noble prize in literature. And there is a reason how his writing lead him to rise in power. 

I need practice as for my writing, too. However, I guess there are two elements to writing. One is the emotional and the other logical. With emotions, there are no rules, are there? As long as it moves the heart, there is no way or grammar in terms of writing. I don't believe for a second Jordan Peterson is a good writer. I've read him. He doesn't understand what it takes to change a person's life through writing, he's too educated for that, his writing is too static, and too pedantic.

The best writers come from all backgrounds and cultures. At least, in terms of stimulating the heart, the common theme among the best writers seem to be they attempt to touch the heart of the matter, not its appearances. It's not about words, I repeat. They hit you so hard in the face, you are bound to change the way you think. Although this is my own opinion, I advise not only reading books written in Europe or America. For example, read a book from Confucius or Sun Tzu. When reading the Analects, one of the most read scriptures in Asia throughout history, the writing is so simplistic and such simple grammar. But it's about what he means that counts, not the words. Sun Tzu says, "etc. etc. etc." but if we are merely analyzing words, you have lost what's essential. Sun Tzu did not write this book to teach you how to be a good writer. He wrote this book to teach you how to win as a General. Confucius did not write his books to make you better merely with "words". He said so himself, "I hate the people who write and speak well, but have no action or are ugly with their actions." "The good man is slow with words, quick with action." On the contrary, Confucius was one of the greatest intellects, writers history has ever seen, and such a man says this. Reading Asian texts, one comes to think of how simplistic the Chinese writing style is. It's like 4 characters that is translated into 20 English words. And the difference of arrangement of those 4 letters completely changes the meaning of those English words, yet we still say the Chinese scripts are most simplistic. Why? Because we don't care how good you "write". If you understand these 4 Chinese letters, good. If you don't, then buck off. That was how the ancients in China thought. Don't try to make me tell you what the meaning of these 4 letters is. If you have the capacity for wisdom, you'll understand. At last, think of Machiavelli when he wrote the Prince. His writing is much more detailed than Confucius or Sun Tzu. Sun Tzu wrote for Generals and Kings for the battlefield. Confucius wrote for Emperors and Kings for the political social sphere. But there writing is simple and indirect. The prince is detailed and very direct, often the structure is much more complex than Asian scripts. But still, Machiavelli did not care if the reader become good with "words". He wanted the reader to unite Italy from being divided. He wanted to see a powerful leader arise, and make Italy different. Again, I'll have to tell you it's not about the words. It's what you do with those words that the greatest writers care about when they write. 

Think before you say having the public loves only scholarly writing. It's not so simple as it seems.

In terms of stimulating logic. Just read the academic papers that changed courses in how people thought. Study science or economics, and see how they write. Also, it's not about "grammar". It's about how can we change how we see the world? Do you see. When Einstein or Turing wrote scientific papers, they weren't Jordan Peterson, attempting to impress people with words. They spoke the heart of the matter, science/computers, to change how people thought about these things. This goes same with poetry. Yes, it's like music. But at the same time, the play of words isn't just to play with words. Merely playing with words is a sign that among those people, they just do not understand. 

Edited July 5, 2022 by Bird Larry

[Bird Larry]

Also having a blog is most important. Best to learn by doing. There are no shortcuts.

So there are two options. Either write books such as on paper or on digital.

Even if you were to write a book, most likely you dont have anyone who is motivated to read your book. And still, if you are motivated to write your book despite nobody reading them, it is your choice. It is all about what you enjoy doing. 

Second option would be to create your own website. Most likely, somebody is going to read your writing, either to educate themselves, or to know more about you, etc. Learn how to get people to read what you write. That's all. Here, you can't write something too personal. Why would anyone care about your personal matter? That is why people will read your blog. Because you wont write anything too personal. But that is okay. Learn to write things that are valuable to the customer, not what we think is valuable. Since someone is willing to read your text, you will be motivated. And the more you practice, the better you will be.