The most important standards in writing.

When it comes to writing, one of the most important things about the craft has to do with standards. As a writer, you should always make sure that your standards are high and that you're committed to following them.

After all, the more you demand from yourself, the more likely it is that you'll be able come up with quality stuff. The higher your requirements for yourself are, the more likely it becomes that you'll be able to be write good material.

So below I managed to come up with standards that probably count the most when it comes to writing. These are the requirements that are the most important when it comes to creating quality stuff that has a chance of keeping people entertained.

1) You need to really care about writing as a craft.

If talent is the most important part of being a writer, very likely the second most important part has to do with being motivated. You have to be someone who cares about the craft and who doesn't give up no matter what.

After all, writing isn't about being instantly perfect or about getting things work right away. It's a demanding craft in which you have to be patient and resilient, no matter who you are and no matter how good you are as a writer.

In my case, as a relatively talented writer, whenever I'm writing anything, as long as there's any chance that I'm going to succeed with my task, I'll keep going. I won't give up and will keep pushing until I get the job done.

2) Trust yourself and your judgement about what's good and what's not.

It cannot be stressed how important it is that you trust yourself and your judgement. It's your job as a writer to figure out what are the good - and the not so good  - writers, television shows, movies, directors etc. in the business.

Just because others are saying that something or someone is really 'good' or 'bad' doesn't make it so. It's your job to figure out whether a movie or a television show has value or whether it as a whole is overrated.

In my case, it's almost impossible for me to watch most of the stuff that is out there. Most of the television shows and movies are horrible, even though most of the critics say that just about every movie or a tv show is totally awesome.

3) Be informed / know what you're writing about.

In many cases, you should strive to know as much as possible about the society that we live in. Whether we're talking about movies, sports, art, politics, history or anything else, it's always a good thing to be informed.

After all, the more you know about these topics, the easier it is to write about things that people care about. The more informed you are about life in general, the easier it becomes to write screenplays or articles that people can relate to.

In my case, I try to be a curious person and knowledgeable about all kinds of topics that range from politics to history to sports. I try to make sure that I know enough about the things that I'm writing about, so that I wouldn't be caught making up stuff.

4) Learn the correct storytelling structure / formula.

If there's one thing that every single writer should learn about the craft. it's the standard storytelling structure. This 'Blake Snyder' beat sheet is the storytelling 'formula' that almost every single well told movie follows.

In short, there's absolutely no downside to being aware of how the basic story structure works. Knowing how most of the movie screenplays are constructed helps you as a writer, even if you wouldn't write movie scripts yourself.

In my case, it took years before I finally understood the story structure and was able to transition to movies. It took a lot of failed attempts before I came up with a solid story idea that had potential to turn into a full length movie screenplay.
 
5) Standardize your writing / rewriting process.

When it comes to writing and rewriting your material, it cannot be emphasized enough how important these processes are. Especially when it comes to rewriting, you have to be aware of how important this part happens to be.

By that I mean that if you're not willing to spend enough time rewriting your scripts, there's almost no chance that your scripts are going to work. It's absolutely crucial that you are willing to rewrite your own stuff over and over again.

In my case for example, I will always reserve at least two days for every article that I write. I will never publish anything during the first day, because I've learned the hard way that it's impossible to get everything to work right away.

6) Learn from your mistakes / continuous improvement.

Finally, when it comes to getting better as writer, one of the best ways to improve is to look back and read your older stuff. There's almost no better way to improve than learning from your earlier mistakes and errors that you have made as a writer.

After all, even though it might not be easy to look at your earlier writings, checking your older material really helps. Especially when it comes to writing articles, you'll see how much your craft has developed over the years.

At least in my case, I've learned to spend much more time writing these articles over the last few years. I've learned that writing quality posts takes a lot more time and effort than I had thought at first and that I should never take them for granted.