Before you start writing, here is what you need to know.
FUNDAMENTALS TO WRITING
*totally fictional
*Femi sat down in his home after a stressful day of doing house chores. He looked around the house, looked at himself, and shook his head in disappointment.
"I'm 23 for crying out loud. A final year student crying for ASUU to call off the strike. After school, what next? Will I continue to stay in my parents house, asking them to give me money to buy recharge card? Omo, something has to be done. And I mean ASAP!"
He started thinking of what he could possibly do or learn while at home. He had a thing for writing but wasn't sure if it was profitable enough.
He started asking questions.
Most of his friends/contacts were writers. Copywriters, article writers, article writers, just one thing or the other.
"Okay. I see what God is doing", Femi said. And began pursuing the art. But wait a minute, do you think he knows what to do?
Exactly. No.
He doesn't know and will just end up doing a lot of confusing things till he gets himself on the right track. If you are in the same shoes, let me save you the stress.
Identifying what you want is one thing. Having a full knowledge of what you want is another.
Welcome to Writing 101: Introduction to writing.
I see so many people who have one writing title or the other on social media, and I'm like, "really?!"
They didn't bother to know what they were venturing into. Jumping 'baby steps' seem to be a common thing nowadays.
💥 What is writing?
According to Wikipedia, writing is a medium of human communication that involves the representation of a language through a system of physical symbols.
It is another way of putting out information other than speech or the use of hands (sign language). Some will say it is a way putting thoughts into words.
If you don't want someone to know what you are saying to another person, put it into words. If you are far away from the person you're trying to reach, put it into words. That's why we have letters, diaries, journals, magazines, etc.
Writing is rumored to be the easiest thing to do in the digital world and I strongly disagree. It is just as complex as designing or programming.
💥 Forms of writing
There are different forms of writing, but I'll mention the commonest ones.
i. Short stories - could be a work of fiction or historical.
ii. Essays - a short piece of writing on a particular subject eg. blogs, articles, etc.
iii. Poems - A piece of writing in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given by a particular attention to diction,
sometimes involving rhymes and imaging.
iv. Novel: It is a fictitious prose narrative of book length, representing character and action with some degree of realism.
v. Business writing: Could include research papers, technical writing, scientific writing, etc.
And the list goes on...
💥 What exactly is Good Writing?
Writing is not just about putting one and two together. It is way more than that.
Imagine you were glancing through a page, saw an article with a caption that looks captivating, and you are like, "This is what I want!". You open it and just at the middle, you become confused. You don't even get to the body part before exiting the article page.
Yeah. It is bad.
Writing is not just combination of words. It deals with emotion, thoughts, reader's attention and response, feelings, just anything that makes up the human intellect.
If I read your book, blog or journal, I should be able to understand the words, understand what you are trying to pass through, make me take action (if necessary), and most importantly gain something.
That is good writing.
A good write-up should have an:
- Introduction
- Main information/body
- Conclusion
If you do excellently in these parts, you are good to go.
Now to the job part.
💥 Types of Writing Jobs
- Copywriting
- Technical writing
- Journalism
- Ghostwriting
- Content writing
- Novelist
- Editor
- Screenwriting
- Freelance writer
- Creative writing
- Business writing
- Blog writing
- Poetry
Writing needs patience. Writing needs creativity. You put ideas or expressions into words to produce something beautiful.
Go through the writing jobs. See what fits you or call your attention more and train yourself in it. Don't be scared to take a step.
You write something creative but I wouldn't have read it if you didn't add it was fictional.
You wrote these tips in a creative way.
The question is: who will read all that's written? Readers are rare.
Thank you very much.
Well, it is true that people hardly read these days, but then people read. Those who watch videos read. Those who listens to podcasts, read. Reading is inevitable.
The only thing the writer should do is to make the content attractive. That's it, And then you see someone who wasn't interested earlier in reading, reading a full written article.