Should I expect to get better in time?

It's not age so much as experience.

The more you write, the more you LEARN about writing.

And the more you read, the more you become aware of what good writing consists of.

It's a journey. Keep writing. Keep learning. Keep reading. Keep writing. Keep asking questions.

It depends how much work you put into it. Age helps because you get older and you learn more and experience more. But if you write consistently and read consistently, you will improve.

Writing is like any other acquired skill. No one is an expert to start with. Keep writing and you will definitely see improvement.

It's also to your advantage that you have started young. You have years and years ahead of you to improve.

There's potential, then there's talent. Athletes with great potential still have to train in order to be great. Writers have to write in order to learn, grow, and exercise their writing muscles.

I'm sure you have potential, you just need practice.

Also, keep in mind that you're often your own harshest critic. Maybe you are being too hard on yourself.

Shadow_Ferret said:

It's not age so much as experience.

The more you write, the more you LEARN about writing.

And the more you read, the more you become aware of what good writing consists of.

It's a journey. Keep writing. Keep learning. Keep reading. Keep writing. Keep asking questions.

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Yeah… All that.

Assimilate the skill sets. Master the mechanics.

Live. Learn. Read. Write.

Rebecca~ said:

I'm am a young writer (as in I've not got many years under my belt) and I absolutely adore writing, but I am aware of how bad my stories are, I was wondering how much do you feel age affects writing?

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You know, I don't believe in talent. Unless by talent you mean the drive and determination to become great.

Some people say writers aren't made, they're born. What a load. That's like saying basketball players are born. Architects and engineers are born. Well, that's bad news for college professors, teachers and coaches. Why even pay all that government money for public education? People can just do whatever they were born to do.

Could you tie your shoes at age 1? How about 2? How about 3, 4, 5? Whenever you learned, how did it get easier to do? By continuing to tie your shoes over and over, by doing it every day, or by being born with a talent to tie?

Of course you get better as you continue to write throughout your life. You grow, mature, and so does your writing.

All of the above plus enthusiasm

A good thing to do is keep everything you write. Whenever you're starting to seriously doubt your progress, go back and read something you wrote a few years ago - the farther back the better. If you haven't been at it long enough yet to have a good old mouldering pile-o-shame, then just look forward to the day that you do. It's really encouraging to see concrete proof that you've improved and old scribblings are the best proof I know.

The Lonely One said:

Could you tie your shoes at age 1? How about 2? How about 3, 4, 5? Whenever you learned, how did it get easier to do? By continuing to tie your shoes over and over, by doing it every day, or by being born with a talent to tie?

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I still can't tie my shoes.

For some professions, you might have to have the skills for it. There was this hobby, I was on the course of giving up, because I sucked even after four years of constant drawing anime and it still looks a mess. I looked to anime books for insight, I still couldn't master it. It would take an average artist two years to master the art. Why has it taken me twice as long? I never made any improvements over the course anyway.

I know what I was good at Mathematics. Why has it become so easy for me, when it's hard for others? Why was I able to understand the concepts when others haven't? When I try to solve a problem, everything comes to me like a click.

EDIT:
This might be a bit off topic, I really wanted to prove my point. I was never able to achieve an alpha female title back in high school. I tried everything(losing interests, throwing away the things that people considered strange. Buying the most expensive stuff. Imitating the other girls. Even being myself.) I could to be on top and despite all that, I was at the very bottom of the social food chain. Why was this one girl the on top of the social heiarchy?(I cant spell it.) Because she had the natural charismatic ability to influence others around her.(and perhaps because she is attractive.) She was born outgoing, cute and funny. Everyone around her follows her influence, does everything she say. If she wants to tease someone, her subordinates would do the same thing. If anyone opposes her, be ready for hell. Charisma isn't something you learn, it's what some people are capable of. Being myself got me nowhere except being used, teased and taken advantage of.

There's a chance that you could be wrong(or I could. Some people are probably meant to be something when they have natural skills for it.

Writing is a skill just like any other skill. Actually writing is comprised of many different skills. Some people have a knack for beautiful prose while others can create stories that grip the senses and so on.

There are probably skills within writing that you are better at than the other skills but all of the skills will improve as you keep doing it. Practice may not make perfect but it does make better.

Sure some people are more attuned to certain skills but if you have the passion and drive to continue and work at it (and yes it does require work) then you will improve. I guarantee it

BlueLucario said:

I still can't tie my shoes.

For some professions, you might have to have the skills for it. There was this hobby, I was on the course of giving up, because I sucked even after four years of constant drawing anime and it still looks a mess. I looked to anime books for insight, I still couldn't master it. It would take an average artist two years to master the art. Why has it taken me twice as long? I never made any improvements over the course anyway.

I know what I was good at Mathematics. Why has it become so easy for me, when it's hard for others? Why was I able to understand the concepts when others haven't? When I try to solve a problem, everything comes to me like a click.

EDIT:
This might be a bit off topic, I really wanted to prove my point. I was never able to achieve an alpha female title back in high school. I tried everything(losing interests, throwing away the things that people considered strange. Buying the most expensive stuff. Imitating the other girls.) I could to be on top and despite all that, I was at the very bottom of the social food chain. Why was this one girl the on top of the social heiarchy?(I cant spell it.) Because she had the natural charismatic ability to influence others around her.(and perhaps because she is attractive.) She was born outgoing, cute and funny. Everyone around her follows her influence, does everything she say. If she wants to tease someone, her subordinates would do the same thing. If anyone opposes her, be ready for hell. Charisma isn't something you learn, it's what some people are capable of.

There's a chance that you could be wrong(or I could. Some people are probably meant to be something when they have natural skills for it.

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You have a point, some people are more naturally attuned to certain things. But you aren't born a writer, or anything else, in my opinion. This is for several reasons. A.) this idea seems to imply a hard working and passionate individual can never compare to the natural-born writer, and B.) that a natural-born writer was meant to write, and that diverting from this path for another passion that is harder to achieve, or one day waking up and saying "I'd rather just take care of my family than a bunch of people who don't exist and will never give my kids food", is somehow wrong.

What keeps me writing is the assuredness that I can walk away if ever my life requires it. And that same kinetic energy can be applied to anything in my life. Sometimes the hippies (sometimes) have it right: you can do anything you put your mind to. You don't need a birth-right.

That's just my two cents and a cliche.

Of course. You learn by doing, and the more you do something the better you get. It's a simple fact of life. The catch is you have to dedicate yourself. If you have the will and dedication to write daily, not let other things distract you and keep you from writing, and set your mind to absorb every little tidbit of knowledge available to you, then odds are you'll be successful.

I totally second the suggestion of keeping EVERY story you've ever written. It can come in very handy more times than you might think over the years. Also, read all the books you can get your hands on in the genre you like to write in. Reading and noticing how other authors have done it, and done it well, can improve your writing exponentially.


And I've been writing since I was twelve, but the very first story I ever wrote was so laughable, it almost makes you cry just to look at it, let alone to read the thing. It was two pages, front and back, and no paragraphs. Just sentence after sentence after sentence. I had fun when I wrote it, but it was BADLY written. Probably the worst writing in the history of writing.

But you know what? I enjoyed it so much that wrote another story after that one, and it was better. It even actually DID have paragraphs! It's still laughable, but not to the point of tears. Then the next story was even better than the second one! And so on, and so forth.

I'm 37 now, and I still feel as passionate about writing as I did when I penned that very first story . . . probably MORE so.

If you love it, do it. And keep doing it.

Before you know it, 20 years has gone by, and who knows, you might just be so good at it that you're giving the likes of authors like Stephen King a run for their money! LOL!

I learnt to read and write late because of learning disabilities. I've never let that stop me writing since.

I wrote my first story in year seven. It was an incredibly cliched piece about someone in a haunted house type setting being chased by a vampire. It even ended with the main character waking up. I started reading voraciously the same year.

I started my first attempt at a novel the following year. During my teens nearly everything I wrote was in the style of Tamora Pierce even though I wasn't writing fan fic. I certainly hadn't found my own voice.

I'm now 23, writing my first WIP as an adult and I finally feel I'm writing like Anita Morris, not anyone else.

I've been through a lot personally since my teen years and it has influenced my writing for the better. I've also tried all sorts activities other than writing; karate, swing dancing, joined the SCA, gaming, studied Japanese. This has helped give me a depth of life experience for someone my age.

No, you will never get better.

At least that's how it usually feels.

Then one day you look back over something and say "you know, that's not half bad!"

As has been said, you get better with experience and practice, not age.

Yes! There are some qualities that only time will improve. Writing is one of the many. I am 27 and when I look at how far I've come in just a few years, I am amazed! You wil often here writers or teachers say "Write what you know" - much easier to do when you've lived life a little. For example: How do you write a love story if you've never been in love?

Years will give you a deeper understanding. In the meantime, keep writing

Keep writing, and, of course, keep reading. You will get better if you do both.

Rebecca~ said:

I'm am a young writer (as in I've not got many years under my belt) and I absolutely adore writing, but I am aware of how bad my stories are, I was wondering how much do you feel age affects writing?

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Well you know? I don't think age has very much to do with writing quality. Like others have already pointed out, how well you write depends on how well you learn your Craft. You can be fifteen years old and write a masterpiece, or fifty years old and write a piece of garbage. It all depends upon what you, the writer, invest into your Craft.

Like others have also pointed out, a lot of this has to do with lots of writing, and lots of reading. Much of what I've learned over the last 27 years that I've been an aspiring writer, has come from reading good books. Some of my own writing style can be traced back to great writers such as Jane Yolen, Anne McCaffrey, A.E. van Vogt, and Robert Louis Stevenson, because these were my favorite authors when I was a teenager. I learned a lot from them over the years.

So read a lot, write a lot, and love your Craft. Your age has a lot less to do with your success than the investment you make into your writing.


Best wishes to you.

The more you write the better you get. Doesn't matter how old you are. Some people already write like pros when they're very young, and some people can't write worth a damn even when they're in their 90s.

Oh, and spending hours on end hanging around AW automatically makes you better through the miracle of osmosis.

Oh, and spending hours on end hanging around AW automatically makes you better through the miracle of osmosis.

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osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis osmosis

AW is great

Rebecca~ said:

I'm am a young writer (as in I've not got many years under my belt) and I absolutely adore writing, but I am aware of how bad my stories are, I was wondering how much do you feel age affects writing?

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Not reading the other replies--

I've been writing since I was really young. When I was little, the stuff I wrote was good, for my age. Looking back on it, compared to what I write now, it's horrible. Age affects writing skills, yes, but that doesn't mean your writing sucks just because you're young. I said in a post here yesterday that one wouldn't call a five year old's drawing lousy compared to a twenty year old's because it's apples and oranges--both will have different skill and experience levels. And the older one gets and the more one works at it, the better they're likely to get.

So, yes, your age affects your writing, but if you keep at it you should improve. I've been writing seriously since age eleven (I'm 32 now, I think ), and I've improved, but I'm still learning things.

Charlie Horse said:

Oh, and spending hours on end hanging around AW automatically makes you better through the miracle of osmosis.

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Which reminds me that I need to log off this site more often and go about living my life.

I get so wrapped up in this place that I end up forgetting I have a life outside of here. That's the biggest drawback I've found about attending one of these forums since I started here in 2005.

So to tie this in with the OP's question, I would add this: don't spend as much time on these forums as you might like to. They do get addictive, and you might end up having a terrible time letting go of AW when and if you think you need to do so in order to get your life back.