Happy Wednesday, aspiring authors. As always, I hope your stories are progressing beautifully and those pesky plot holes are getting filled. On Tuesdays, we take a deep dive into a practical writing habit or routine that you can use. Today, we're delving into an important but often overlooked aspect of the writing process—the role of repetition.
Hold on a sec, I hear you say. Isn't repetition a no-no in writing? Well, yes and no. We strive to avoid needless repetition in our prose, but when it comes to mastering the craft of writing itself, repetition is our secret weapon. Allow me to explain.
Remember when you first learned to ride a bike? You probably started with training wheels, shaky and uncertain. Then you rode a little, fell a little, and got up again...and again. Until one day, voila! You were cruising down the street, wind in your hair, without a second thought. That's the power of repetition at work.
The same goes for writing. Here's how you can harness the power of repetition to improve your craft:
Write Regularly: This one's a no-brainer, right? The more you write, the better you get. Make writing a daily habit. It doesn't matter if it's 200 words or 2000, the key is consistency.
Practice Specific Skills: Struggling with dialogue? Write a page of it every day. Want to improve your descriptions? Spend 15 minutes each day describing your surroundings. Over time, you'll see improvement.
Read and Analyze: Read a lot, then read some more. But don't just read passively. Analyze your favorite books. How does the author build tension? How do they flesh out characters? Try to replicate these techniques in your own writing.
Revise and Edit: Writing is rewriting. Don't be afraid to revise your work. With each iteration, your story will become clearer, your prose tighter, and your voice stronger.
Learn from Mistakes: Got a rejection letter? A harsh critique? Take it on the chin, learn from it, and get back to writing. Remember, every great author has faced rejection and criticism.
So, fellow word-slingers, don't be disheartened if your first draft isn't a masterpiece. (remember Hemingway's thoughts on this?) Remember, writing is a skill, and like any skill, it improves with practice and repetition. Keep writing, keep practicing, and one day you'll realize you're cruising down that literary street, readers trailing in your wake.
-Andrew
The Indie Author Method
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