Challenge Yourself

Why do we write? Some of us write to get all the ideas floating around in our heads out. Some of us write to share; for others, it’s more personal, more private. Some of us want to be the next great storyteller. Sometime’s our teachers force us to. But for all of us, writing (and writing a lot) is a chance to better ourselves. We want to be more creative, more clear, we want to get past writer’s block, and take that leap from “I’ll write that novel someday” to “I just wrote a novel!”. But most of us run into the biggest question of all- how?

1. Write. Write a lot. Write all the time. Write when the mood strikes you. Write down your dreams when you wake up. Write in the margins of your notes, write while you’re in line at the supermarket. The more you write, the better you’ll be. Turn off your inner editor who’s nitpicking your every mistake and just write without stopping.

2. Read. Read everything you can get your hands on, from the Wall Street Journal to the supermarket tabloids. Read what’s on the best-seller’s list. Read what’s in the bargain bin. Read action comics, noir detective novels, mushy romance stories, teen best-sellers, books about science and business. The more you expose yourself to what’s out there, the more experience you get. You find out what you like and what you don’t, and you’ll probably surprise yourself along the way. Rather than just reading about what to do- and what not to do- you can see it firsthand.

3. Challenge yourself. Do something you’ve never done before. Something crazy. Write a ten page story about cicadas. Think of the most bizarre situation you can think of and write about what happens. Find prompts online and write their stories. Or, you could take on some of the challenges that tens or hundreds of thousands of people do every year, like Script Frenzy or National Novel Writing Month. Never written a script before? Neither had I, but I’m doing it now. Staying inside of your comfort zone isn’t going to help you get better as a writer. Go out into the world, try something new. Even if you don’t win at the challenge, you’ve still had a valuable experience that has made you a better writer.

4. Share. This is the scariest part for a lot of writers. Just the idea of showing what you’ve written to another person can be paralyzingly frightening. But it’s also one of the most valuable and rewarding things that you can do for yourself. Find another group of writers, either on the internet or in person, and share what you’ve written with them. They’ll give you honest, constructive feedback about what they liked and what you could improve on, and you can do the same for them.

Whether you’re writing for yourself or for the world, wanting to get better is every writer’s goal. By expanding your horizons, writing constantly (or at least consistently), challenging yourself and sharing your work, you push yourself not only to become a better writer, but also a more rounded human being.