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Writing Advice: Before You Write

I've been mulling over the idea of doing a couple of writing tutorials lately, to share my experiences since I started writing a good decade ago now. Hopefully what follows here will be helpful to you; either providing encouragement, avoiding some pitfalls, or just helping to speed the process.

Before really going any further, I want to begin by considering how we should get writing in the very first place. If there's one single piece of advice that I've heard in common with all myriad bits of writing advice out there, it's this: write. Just write. Just get the words down. Repeat 'write' as often as you feel necessary to achieve emphasis.

It's true. The most effective thing you can do to improve your writing is by writing. No other advice will help unless you do this and put things into practice. Otherwise, it would be like learning to play the guitar without actually playing the instrument - or even playing it on rock band, guitar hero, or whatever the equivalent is these days.

I won't linger on this longer than necessary, I promise. We know that we simply must write. But the problem is, how do you go about actually getting to it? There can be loads of blocks that crop up preventing us from doing so. This is where our current, attention-starved, time-short lifestyle reduces the 'just write' down into an almost meaningless soundbite.

The problem is that actually writing is not so simple. We should acknowledge this and be kind to ourselves. Writing is hard. Like eating a good meal, there's a lot of ingredients and preparation that needs to go into it before you can start cooking. This is what I want to talk about in this piece, and offer some insights on the things that can be done to help get the words flowing.

Getting writing requires a lot of other preparation and habits that aren't perhaps immediately obvious, as they can have little to do with the actual words on the page. These things are more in the realms of personal effectiveness, and some other related useful life skills too - like sleep hygiene, self-care, and a little bit of psychology even, as well as considering your environment. As writers, we should spend time considering things we can do that will help us write, before asking what we should be writing.

Let's dive deeper.

1. Consider Your Outlook

It's multifaceted, but let's start broad and narrow things down. This section begins things by considering a little psychology.

I will instantly say I am no way an expert in this and there's a lot of 'pop' psychology out there that has little scientific validity out there, but take this advice in the spirit of helpful advice: consider the general point, do research, and see what works for you.

Sometimes our outlook on things can be a big mental block on what we do. The example I have in mind is the typical 'glass half full/empty' example. I appreciate we'll have heard this used unhelpfully, but I bring this up as a general example of how perspective can really shift how we approach things. In this, the amount of water in the glass is the same. It's not going to change, it is what it is. But, perspective can change a lot about how we interpret and feel about things. Half full or half empty?

Perspective can make a big difference about how we feel about our writing. What if we spent an hour writing, but got a hundred words down? We can't change the output here, but how we frame the experience can do a lot to set us up for future actions, depending on if we view the above positively or negatively. But celebrating the fact that you spent an hour writing rather than viewing the amount of words as a negative will surely help you feel better about the next time you settle down to write. Perhaps you were working on a hard scene? Maybe those 100 words are excellent and you don't need to edit them (a great achievement). Or, quite simply even, you spent time, no matter how much or for how long, writing. My point is, resist the temptation to put your efforts down or diminish them. Celebrate what you do. Framing your efforts in a positive, half-full way will help you feel more motivated to continue. Trust me on this, as someone who spent a good deal of time struggling with this. It may take time, especially if you have a very strong inner voice to ignore, but you can get that critic to shut up eventually.

On outlook, there's another concept I think that's helpful to consider. The concept of a 'growth mindset' comes up here, and to some degree you'll likely already have this considering you're reading this advice to improve and you've probably been looking to do so outside this with other resources and tutorials. A quick search gives a number of ways to define a growth mindset, but to paraphrase loosely: a growth mindset is the notion that things you do can be improved over time and effort. It's a powerful tool for us, because it lets us consider that given sufficient time, effort, and motivation, you'll grow your writing skills. Just like improving at guitar hero - you get better with practice. Throw the idea that you have to be 'talented' or 'a natural' at writing. The more time and effort you put into something, the better you will learn to be.

It's worth stressing the above point regarding writing because there are a lot of unhelpful ideas that swirl around about creative talents that fall within a more 'fixed' mindset approach, that assume that you are either innate good about writing or not, with no ability of the individual to control this. This 'fixed' perspective is very limiting, as it really demotivates and leads to not putting the time and effort into writing required for you to improve - because, if you're not naturally talented, there's surely nothing you can do? Absolute rubbish. Of course you can learn, improve, and get better. It just requires time and practice.

Before we move on, there's one idea you may have come across about writing, and it's related to the above. So we're going to pause to make sure a pin has been put in it, because it's another damaging and limiting notion about writing. It comes up in a number of ways, but we're talking about the concept of Romantic Genius. It's got nothing to do with love, but the literary movement Romanticism.

As with many ideas from 1800 to 1850, it's well past its sell by date, and has an unhelpful hangover that can still linger into attitudes about writing. Romantic Genius is the concept that great literary works are characterised as moments of absolute genius - where something fantastic is written in the spur of the moment, effortlessly, without the need to edit because it's perfect the first time.

It's absolute nonsense.

On the balance of probabilities, your best writing won't happen the first time you write it. That has such a slim chance of occurring we can write it off, but also, would you really feel comfortable to do something just once and never go back to it? No edits, no polishing - just that's it? Yeah, it doesn't feel right at all. So many great works of literature were worked on, hard, over long periods of time. Editing, polishing, and revising until it got there. But, this idea of 'genius' lingers because it's an appealing fantasy in popular culture, and a bit of a marketing gimmick too. Don't fall for it. Any writer you ask will tell you how much time, effort, and editing goes into making a polished, finished piece of writing.

1. Know Yourself, Be Kind To Yourself

Let's consider how you go about preparing to write. This doesn't require any specific writing skills, just kindness, acceptance, and honesty.

Writing won't just happen in a sea of isolation. We don't live in ivory towers. We have lives intimately tied with the daily struggles and goings on of the world, and all these things affect you, and therefore your writing. This means that some days will be better writing days than others, and that's ok. You can balance things out by going further when things are good: a whole sort of feast and famine approach when it comes to your work. But the key thing is, be kind to yourself. Some days, the world will throw some shit at you, and you know what? It's perfectly acceptable to just not write.

This is why I say writing requires you to know yourself, and be kind to yourself. I started with big things in the previous paragraph, but small things will affect you too. Did you get enough sleep? Have you been eating well? Exercising? Was work long and tiring? I won't list them all, but such smaller factors will influence your writing efforts, and if you want to write, pay attention to them and how they affect you.

Try to understand how you best work. When do you feel most alert? When are you at your most productive? Are there any things that you need to do, or will distract you if you don't get them done before writing? Considering all these things, and taking positive steps where needed will mean you're much more likely to have a productive and effective writing session, and a pleasant time doing it too.

Finally, kindness and self-care are key. Our modern lives are complex, and we all have plenty of things to contend with. Always be kind to yourself, and remember it's okay to not write if it's all too much that day. Being sensitive to your circumstances will help you pinpoint when you'll make good use of your writing time, and importantly, make sure your desire to write doesn't become a source of pressure and stress that prevents you from getting around to it.

Even with all the things you can do, sometimes things still just don't come together. That's ok. Whether it's mid story blues, difficulty outlining, or you're just feeling like you're bashing your head against the wall writing the ending - creative projects are as fickle as they are rewarding. So go with the flow rather than attempting to power through - don't make your writing time a battle with yourself.

1. Setup

Finally, let's wrap up by focusing on thinking about your local environment where you plan to write. This topic I have less to say about specifically, because there's a lot of room for variation. We all have different setups that help us concentrate, but the main thing is that you've got to write somewhere you can focus and not be distracted or disturbed. Sometimes, this can be a change of scenery or location, but I'd say it should be important for something that is a different setting to your usual setup. Having a 'space' you can retreat to for the purpose of writing is valuable, but it may not be practical or possible. But, you will know what works for you if you're careful and pay attention.

Personally, I sometimes go to a local coffee shop to write, but most of the time I work at my desk. I write on a laptop so I don't get distracted by games, social media, or instant messages. I keep distractions to a minimum, and usually listen to some lofi to help me focus. When I'm editing, I put it onto my desktop and use the big screen to read through each line over and over. You may not be able to do these things, or find they work for you, but the point is to select where you write with care. Do also consider what you write with too. I'm not talking so much about technical specs as just about anything can run a word processor these days, but you should have a think about things like ergonomics, comfort, screen size, brightness, etc. If it's uncomfortable it won't help you write after all!

To summarise then: there are plenty of factors to consider before you even open up your word processor and start writing. By taking some time to consider the above points, and how you approach your preparation for writing, will hopefully unlock some information and insights that help you with your efforts. Just remember, none of this is in isolation either, and different things will work for you. But I hope you'll be able to use this advice to lay the groundwork for a good writing session.