This week, very weirdly for me, marks the 15th anniversary of me starting to write stories. I was a fairly naïve fourteen year old kid back then. To mark this milestone, I’m going to list some advice I would tell my fourteen year old self if I had the chance at the start of my writing career.
Tip 1: Keep Reading
Reading books. Sounds pretty simple, right? I got into the habit of reading a lot when my Mum worked hard to get my reading age up as I lagged behind in year 1 of school (five or six years old for the non-Brits). She got me reading three books a night plus homework and all that work paid off so my reading age flew up. Now, I’m a serious bookworm, reading novels and non-fiction books to better understand sentence structure and how stories go together.
It’s not a bad thing to read so much. If anything, it’s helping me see what came before me. It’s the best advice I could give. Read a lot. How can you learn what came before to then put your own twist on something if you don’t read in your chosen genre?
Tip 2: Be Vocal
Finding your voice as a writer is an absolute nightmare when you’re starting out. When I did back in 2011, I wrote because I loved it and because I wanted an escape from school life. The stories I wrote weren’t great, but I’d clicked into my desire to see characters like me in stories. My protagonist was a fourteen year old girl who was autistic. In reality, I didn’t realise I had right away. I had a vision and a purpose behind my writing. I had something to say.
Back then, I didn’t realise the power my words had. How I put sentences together was rough and ready but it screamed me on the page. I don’t always have that when I write my stories now. It comes and goes. My advice to try and keep hold of that desire to write and having something to say the only way I could is all I could wish for my younger self.
Tip 3: Consistency
Giving advice about consistency can be a little awkward. What do people mean? Here, I mean showing up consistently. It doesn’t have to be every day if you can’t manage it. Life gets in the way. Responsibilities can make it hard. Using the time you do have to show up to write something is key. It doesn’t have to be much. A sentence added is still a sentence added.
Whether it’s going as far as scheduling time in for yourself, finding a space to give yourself creative freedom can be really helpful. Not only does it make you feel like you’re showing up for your story, you’re also giving yourself a chance to grow on the page.
Tip 4: Thick Skin
This is probably the hardest bit of advice you could give. Telling someone to grow a thick skin doesn’t always go down well. We end up needing to grow one because other people’s opinions on our work can be what makes us decide if a dream is worth pursuing. If you believe in yourself and don’t give one to other people’s opinions to a degree will help. You won’t be knocked down completely when the expected rejection comes through the door or into your inbox.
Knowing your own worth is really important. Taking the insults and questions when they don’t “get” your work is becoming part of the body armour writers need to have these days. Not everyone likes your work. And that’s okay. It’s about not letting those one star reviews get to you. I mean, I’ve seen some from fellow writer buddies and they have so much self-worth they can laugh at some of the absurdity some of the reviews have. Some of that is down to others trying to bring down those who have managed what others haven’t. Being able to cope with that is hard but crucial.
Tip 5: Keep Creating
Being able to create something to get to the end of the draft and then moving onto the next thing is hard. Like, really hard. When you don’t get self-conscious about what you’re doing it’s easier. As a fourteen year old I kept writing and writing until I had finished drafts at close to 100,000 words. I struggle to do it now and sometimes I look back and wonder how I did that. Some of it may be I didn’t know so much of the story structure I do now. That or I was solely focused on writing for myself.
To have the ability to persevere and keep going is hard work. Hell, being a writer is hard work. To keep going and not stopping. Creating story after story, finishing something and then moving onto the next thing while you let the draft sit. To keep starting from scratch is hard, strong idea or not. Persevering is all we can do to make sure we don’t give in to the haters, those that wished they could do what we do but don’t have the drive. We have to keep going because giving up isn’t an option. We’ve come too far to give up now.
If my fourteen year old self could see how far I’ve come since starting to write, I’d like to think she’d be pretty proud and delighted at what she has in store for her. Yes, it’s been a long old journey. Yes, there’s been a hell of a lot of bumps and dips along the way. All I can do is keep reading, keep striving to be better and to keep writing. So, for all those out there who are struggling on, you’re not alone. I wish you the best in your own writing journey.
Happy writing!