Workshop Q: How to improve your writing skills?

So when it comes to the question of how on could become better as a writer, it's not a secret that there's no magical answer to this question. No matter what kind of advice you give, that itself doesn't instantly make you a great writer.

At the same time, there's no question that it's possible to give advice that tends to be correct and that has value. There certainly exists advice that can lead to you to a path that makes you a better and a more competent scribe.

So the reason that I'm writing about this is that a couple of weeks ago on my writing workshop I was asked about this whole thing. During that class one of the participants was curious and wanted to know how he could become a better writer.

Indeed, he asked me because he as an aspiring writer was thinking about starting to write all kinds stuff in the near future. He had thought about writing poetry, lyrics and even some drama, since he thought that he could perhaps be able to do that.

So when it comes to answering his question, the first thing that I said is that there isn't just one way to write stuff right. There are as many styles as there are writers and that if one's 'technique' or 'style' works, there's nothing wrong with that. 

I also mentioned that it's most certainly a good thing to try different kind of genres. Even though it's hard to master them all (poetry, lyrics, short stories, novels, drama, comedy, tv, movies and stand-up) they all can improve your writing skills.

So once I had told these basic things to the class, the next thing to do was to talk a bit more about the learning part. I talked about things like should one read books about writing, should one take some additional creative classes and what about studying literature?

Not surprisingly, when it comes to those good books that are on the market, I (as usual) once again recommended Blake Snyder's 'Save The Cat Series'. That one is by far the best how-to series on the market and you can't go wrong with that.

After all, the book's 'story structure' analysis and the so called 'beat sheet' is absolutely the best (entertaining too) that is out there. Reading and studying the series will most definitely help you if you're interested in learning more about storytelling and the craft.

Also, when it comes to those bad how-to books that are out there, I didn't shy away from warning about those either. I especially mentioned Robert Mckee's 'Story', which is a book that in my opinion every single aspiring writer should avoid like the plague. 

The reason that books like these don't work and make you a better writer is that they don't teach you about the story or the structure. They don't really illustrate in 'layman' terms how the story is supposed to be bent and how the character arcs work.

This is also the reason why one shouldn't necessarily study literature either if you want to become a better writer. The curriculums are notorious for lacking meaningful story or structure analysis (contemporary culture & context analysis is not that helpful).

As a whole, when it comes to writing as a craft, we shouldn't forget that it really is about 'storytelling'. It's about trying to tell a story, regardless of whether you're writing a poem, a joke, an article or whether you're coming up with a short story, novel or a movie script.

Indeed, even though it might not seem completely 'intuitive' at first, whenever your trying to write something, you're always trying to get a story through. You're always trying to come up with something that the reader would find to be relatable or compelling. 

In that sense, when it comes to becoming a better writer, whether you like it or not, you absolutely have to pay attention to the story aspects of your writings. You have to pay attention to them so that you could come up with stuff that would make sense.

After all, even though there are other things too that matter with the craft (clarity of text, dialogue, themes etc.), they aren't as important when it comes to the big picture. They aren't as important as coming up with a well rounded story that has value.

In that sense, in the end, the next time you're trying to come up with something as a writer, try to make sure to think about its 'story' aspects. Try to think about whether your stuff has some kind of an arc that could make sense drama-wise, even if you're just writing a short poem.

After all, even though coming up with something that would have a beginning, middle and an end isn't always easy, that's not a reason not to try. You shouldn't think that it sounds too complicated or is something that you won't be able to do.

On the contrary, when it all is said and done, coming up with a story will improve your skills. It will improve your writing skills and makes it much more likely that you'll be able to come up with stuff that makes sense and that has value to your readers and to your audience.