Unconventional Knowledge About Writing That You Can't Learn from Books

By Mariagrazia @SMaryG
(from guest blogger Mia Stokes)  Experience is best when it’s gained on your own. When you go through all the troubles and make your way through a certain problem, there is no better way to gain experience. Still, some knowledge we gain from other people. It’s not a bad practice to learn from other people, it gives us a better perspective occasionally. My writing career started out small and I had to learn from conventional sources in order to see where I want to go. But this road led me through some rather unconventional knowledge, some of which I’m going to share with you today.

5 things about writing you won’t read anywhere else

Light up the room

Whenever I’m writing I keep the light on in the room. It’s not only good for your eyes as they rest more, but it also helps with creativity. Working in a dark room is tiresome and keeps you out of the focus. You need to have the best possible conditions while you’re working, and properly lit up room helps a lot. Light makes you more comfortable and that’s very important for a successful writing process. This goes especially if you need to write a creative piece of text.

Market your work

Writers have to eat, we do, really. Some of us even eat more than once a day and that costs money. Now I know that a lot of people say that talent always finds its way to the surface, but it really needs some help. This means that you need to help people hear about you and your work. Offer your work to publishers, get online and share some parts of your work. Just try to get as much of your work on the market.

Learn to quit

We can’t make it every time, that’s a fact. There are some topics that we just can’t handle no matter how much we try. We can do our research, find all the facts but still can’t create a useful content. This is the part where we need to quit our work and say that’s not our cup of tea. This is way better than wasting your time on a never-ending pursuit. In addition, sometimes inspiration kicks in when we release our mind from stress. If the inspiration doesn’t emerge, you will have the time to dedicate to some other project.

Read other authors

There are many rule books that show you how to build a proper style and technique. These rules will give you enough knowledge to have a literary acceptable writing, but you need to progress. There is no point in staying inside of some literary bounds and acceptable concepts. Try and read other authors, learn from them, adapt their style to your personality and create your own stamp. It’s especially constructive to read adventure novels, as they flourish in literal authenticity. Reading will also help you with your vocabulary and grammar, so that’s another benefit. Writers need an extensive word bank, it makes our work versatile.

Think outside the box

It doesn’t matter if you are thinking about the structure of your work or the points you wish to emphasize in your writing. Think beyond what you see in front of you, this will allow you to generate original content every time. It’s easy to move directly to the point and do things in a regular way, it takes a different point of view to create a new way of presenting your facts. In other words, don’t rush to finish your work as quick as you can. This can sometimes distract you and you might even do a poor job. Think about your topic, then think about what it interacts with and how can you bring that in so that your work would be better.  Writing is a craft, and as every other craft, it has secrets that each of us has to unlock. Some of these secrets we unlock on our own, while others come with the help of others. It doesn’t matter how we get better as long as we do everything we can to become better writers. These tips are there to help you on your road to unlocking some bigger secrets of our trade, so don’t hesitate to use them. Also, let everyone know if you have any piece of advice that you would like to share. Tell everyone what you have learned so far.
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I am Mia Stokes. I find writing to be one, not just a hobby, passion or a fling, but creation, knowledge, history, civilization...it is the entire world in words. It is something that I could not live without. Being a writer has helped know the world in a way that I could not imagine. My Twitter: @stokesmia23_mia,  my website  https://assignmenthelpers.com.au/