Do you know any good links to writing sites that could help?

Keep writing and keep reading. They are your best tools. There is no quick "how-to" fix it. Just lots of work reading and writing. Practicing and learning from doing.

Blue, writing is a subjective business. What one person hates, another might fully enjoy. Don't be afraid to tell yourself that so-and-so person, whomever this is that told you your work is rubbish, represents only one opinion.

It's like the saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure." Don't take a solitary opinion as Gospel Truth where your writing is concerned. I've found that critiques of my own work are generally harsher than the words I get from editors and/or agents when they send me their responses to my submissions. So really, what you need is not so much a site to make you better, as a better outlook.

I know it's hard to see yourself as good. It's hard for a lot of us to. But the truth is, your writing can improve with time and practice. Keep writing, Blue, and keep reading.


But before I go, I will give one site that sticks out in my mind. It is the main site of AW, where they have articles about writing posted that you can read online. The site URL is: www.absolutewrite.com

Also, if you have favorite authors, I would recommend Googling their names or pen-names, and seeing if they might have a web site of their own. Many times they will give good advice, from their own experience in writing, to aspiring authors. You have to remember, every published writer was once unpublished. For every Stephen King, there is a BlueLucario. For every James D. Macdonald, there is a Sean D. Schaffer. In other words, for every published writer, there is an unpublished writer, wanting to reach up to their level.

So consider that you are only human, and if you want to publish your writing, seek out your favorite writers and learn from them.


--Sean

Another good learning tool is to read the comments in SYW. It can teach you a lot if you're willing to spend time reading and absorbing.

Also read new genres you'd not likely to otherwise look at. No matter what is writen, or how, there's ideas and 'a ha!'s found in mystery, romance, scifi, histories, even how-to and cooking.

When I came to Israel I could only bring a few books, had to leave my library behind. I found several ebook sites and there's a small section in the local library with English books. I was so starved for English I read thrillers, family sagas, even a few romances--none of my usual choices, and there's some good stuff out there! Keep reading, keep writing, and take everyone's opinion with a grain of salt.

Critiques resonate in us. If someone says we suck--and we feel bad--that's not because our writing is bad--it's the reader who can't delineate between their feelings and what they read. If we're okay with it--really deep in our heart and gut--then we know there's some tweaks to tweak and stuff to fix. Same if someone gushes--it may sound good but we asked not only what do you like, but what needs work. Empty praise hurts us too.

Listen to your muse for feedback too.

Go to the library and check out The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, and Steering the Craft by Ursula LeGuin . Do the exercises. Have fun with it.

BlueLucario said:

My muse drives me nuts. I write something out of writer's block and I kept obsessing over it.I found it reallt stupid. I want to change it to something better, but according to the advice of other members here, they say it's better to just finish the book. But my muse doesn't get it. She says, "change it!" I say, "Not now" "NOW!" she says.

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That's not your muse. She doesn't care how it's written as long as you just keep writing. This is your internal editor, who you need to stifle until you finish your story. Gag her, tie her up and toss her in the basement. Tell her you will fix things when you've finished your project and not one second sooner.

If you don't learn to ignore her you will never get to "the end." Of anything.

You're probably not going to like this ... but it's just going to take time. Style is something is something that gets developed over time, both from the books you read and experimenting with your own writing. You may not know how to process elements of a style you like right now, but one day you'll read a book and see something that you really like and you'll try to imitate it. It might be a description that really resonates with you or a sentence that just hits the right way--and that's the beginning of it. But you have to read a lot and write a lot.

You might try having a look at Margaret Atwood's writing. Her style is particularly different.

The AW web site for advice. The Library for lots of good examples.

I've said it before, (ETA: And Siddow said it too! ) but...
Ursula Le Guin. Steering the Craft. Buy it or find it in a library. Really truly. It comes with exercises and things to think about later, and you can work through it alone or in a group.
And you can do an exercise a day or an exercise a month, doesn't really matter which, so long as you read what she says and do the exercises, for reals.

I have a little different thought for you-what if you try to match your style to a genre instead of the other way around?

In one of your posts you noted that you have a straight forward style at the moment. Sounds like you might do well with non-fiction. I'd be interested to know if you've written those kinds of pieces before and are trying to switch, or if you are just starting out in your first genre because your interest is there but it's just not clicking the way you'd hoped yet.

Please bear in mind, I'm not saying give up on this genre you're struggling with. If you can apply your style to something that will give you some positive accomplishment in the meantime though, you'll feel better about your skills instead of being super frustrated.

I also agree with some of the other posts, read a lot, and maybe find a writing group where someone writes like you want to write and try to get some pointers.

Hope that helps in some way.

http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/writerasimov.html

http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/writertips.html

Linda Adams said:

You're probably not going to like this ... but it's just going to take time. Style is something is something that gets developed over time, both from the books you read and experimenting with your own writing. You may not know how to process elements of a style you like right now, but one day you'll read a book and see something that you really like and you'll try to imitate it. It might be a description that really resonates with you or a sentence that just hits the right way--and that's the beginning of it. But you have to read a lot and write a lot.

...Snipped.

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This is a very good point. Blue, how you write now and how you will write, say, ten years from now, are going to be two very different things. How I write now in my 30's, and how I wrote when I was 18, are vastly different. I would never have been able to write a publishable work twenty years ago. Now, I'm receiving personalized rejections from good companies. My writing style, and my storytelling ability, has improved immensely since my early days.

So don't be discouraged if your writing is so-so now. Time, effort, practice, and lots of reading, can teach you how to write better like nothing else can.


--Sean

BlueLucario said:

Well, I was told a while back that my work was rubbish(He's right though). He said I tend to write matter-of-factly, with the he did this, she did that. Nothing flowery and beautiful prosing.

Do you know any links to any writing sites that can help me improve on narration?

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Randy Ingermanson describes a way to move beyond simple chronology (based on ideas from Dwight Swain):
http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/scene.php

Look in particular at the section on the "Small Scale Structure of a Scene," about halfway down the page. The main idea is to show, in addition to external events, the POV character's internal reaction to the events.

Cheers,
Dale

Join an in person critique group.
I formed one myself through the AW thread on regional groups under the AW Roundtable- For All Writers.
We went from once a month to weekly and three members had been stymied and one kept getting rejected. Now each of us is getting positive responses to queries . It has made a big difference.

Hi mate

I understand your concerns and I know we all would like to have one website with great advices . I dont think it works that way .
The best way is to get your work publish and wait for feedback from others .
As you noticed here people are very helpfull
Me and my friends show our work to each other and we give each other feedback . I recon its the best way to do it .

Go to www.robertwwalkerbooks.com for writing info and online classes from a writer who has penned over 40 plus novals. (mysteries, horror, historicals, young adult). Just won the Lovie Award @ Love is murder for best historical series. Also can contact @
myspace.com/robertwwalkerbooks Good Luck

Become a student of it. Read books in the genre you want to write in and then study them. Read the book once for enjoyment. Then read it again to learn. Look for patterns and ways that the author gets their ideas across. I did this with a childrens' book once. The author had made the little person character so cute and so real. So I went through the book with a highlighter and also made notes in the margin. I truly feel like I discovered her (the authors) secrets. My best advice...read, read, read. ~Karen

Another place to check out is Forward Motion at http://fmwriters.com/ for some of their critique circles. FM chat is also a useful place to get feedback on snippets of less than 500 words.

I know of an excellent site. You'll find it below.