Improving Your Writing: Conversations with the Voices Inside my Head
I occasionally get questions about "how" I write, and what tips I can pass along to help someone develop their style of writing.
Truth be known, I have never adhered to a particular "style" of writing. At least not that I am aware of.
Red geranium in bloom
Well... that's not entirely true-- I worked as a technical writer for a while, and had to write to the style I was ordered to. But aside from that, I have generally stayed away from the "mechanics" of writing.
Sure, if I have to, I can write something that will come across as "journalistic." But it's a rarity for me, as I really don't care for impersonal 3rd person prose.
Conversations With Myself
When I was about nine years old, my elderly auntie "caught" me talking to myself, in the kitchen. I was somewhat horrified, and thought I had been caught doing something awful... after all, my parents had imprinted on me that people who talked to themselves were "insane."
My auntie believed no such thing and told me that "ALL intelligent people talk to themselves."
I told her what my parents had said, to which she replied "Nonsense! That's just rubbish invented by people who don't have anything going on in their heads!"
On the greater scale of things, it was a pretty minor conversation, yet it left a lasting impression on me.
No, I don't go around talking to myself... but I do carry on a lot of conversations inside my head. Literally... a form of inner talk-- quite separate from "thinking."
Where Writing is Born
So getting back to "writing styles," most of what I commit to paper (or "screen") is basically an inner dialogue. Hence my writing has sometimes been described as "conversational."
Northwestern sunset
When I actually start writing, it almost feels like I am "taking dictation" from an inner voice... all I have to do is type and keep up!
According to people who claim to "know about such things," it is this conversational element that (evidently) makes my writing fairly easy to read and understand. Because it's pretty much as I would talk to someone, if they were in the room with me.
One of this things I've always enjoyed about "Social Blogging" venues like Steemit is that this type of writing tends to fit in quite well. It walks a line between "too serious and stiff" and the typical garbage of a Farcebook post.
I don't have many good writing tips, but one of the best I can offer is to "read it out loud," before you hit "post." If you can't read it easily, and it doesn't feel like it "flows"... odds are you need to polish it up a bit more.
Aside from that... no great "secrets" here, other than give yourself permission to throw the "rules" out the window. A lot of people who "struggle" with writing tend to be locked up in notions about doing it "properly." I say, just relax and do it your way!
How about YOU? Do you have a writing "approach?" Or do you just write whatever comes into your head? Do you follow a formal "format," ("beginning, middle, end") or do you just free form? Do you ever read your posts out load to yourself, to double check them for readability? Leave a comment-- share your experiences and feedback-- be part of the conversation!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Published 20170916 18:10 PDT
usually I just tell the story how it was. I told a story before writing multiple people, so I already know how and what to emphasize
Some people are just natural story tellers, which is awesome... I just never happened to be one; "telling stories" was always hard work, which is probably why I never pursued a professional career in writing, even though I do enjoy it.
I guess everyone could develop this skill.
My mother asked me every day in my kindergarten to tell my day in details and describe what was funny or sad.
I guess, I developed my skill this way
I have a mixture of ways I tend to write. Finding the proper inspiration is hard. I’ll often have an idea but it goes nowhere I wanted it to.
Some things are more templated and I just have to fill things in. Everything starts one way and ends a similar way with just the topic changing.
Then I have things where I just write and whatever happens--. The blank page sometimes gets filled; other times not so much. Many things get rewritten or I find myself changing the voice/tone of how something is written.
Then there are the times thinking’s are stuck in my head. I replay it over and over and over. Just can’t get it out write on paper and it just turns like the sea till I do.
Appreciate the share @enjar... it does seem like there are lots of ways to approach it. Most of mine start out as "free association," OR I get carried away on a comment... and keep adding more points to the extent that I suddenly realize that there's enough material there for a free standing post... probably 1/3 of my Steemit content came about that way.
And yes, some ideas are just "there" but never really get developed into anything cohesive.
Just wish I could streamline it more. Least have more writing days.
Today is not a writing day for me my mind is just in a bad place.
I would love to write more but the problem I have is not in my writing style but rather in finding things to write about. It's not that I don't have things I want to say, it's that I am not confident in putting my thoughts down 'on paper' because I realise that they are just 'my thoughts' and my thoughts 'in the moment' so I worry that in time my thoughts may change and I may come to regret writing them which creates a barrier for me that I can't seem to get over at the moment.
I know that this is somewhat irrational and I'm sure every writer has suffered this fate in their own way at some point but I can't seem to shake it off. Can you offer me any advice? I would really appreciate it! :)
Write drafts in something other than the steemit editor. Use notepad, google docs, a markup editor. Whatever works for you. Then put them down for a few hours or a day before you come back and read them. If you are happy when you come back with fresher eyes, it's probably safe to post them. Don't post angry or emotional. Writing when you are that way is fine, but come back when things have cooled to decide if you are happy making them public. If you can, develop a few friends who can preread some things to help give you feedback on if you are going to far....
Thanks a lot for the advice @bex-dk! I usually write on Word vefore I post and have a few drafts (or semi drafts) there already. :) I hear what youre saying about the angry posting and Ive dedinitely been guilty of that in the past so will bare that in mind.:)
Have a great day mate and thanks again. :)
You're welcome. I'd never post a bit of my fiction if it weren't for the fiction-workshop crit group to help me make sure I'm not being an idiot.
@tonyr, I know you've expressed this type of reservation for a while... and whereas "personal blogging" is not easy, the fact that you're even willing to consider committing your personal thoughts to paper makes you more courageous than most.
I write most of my posts here by opening a new email window on my browser and tinkering with the words for quite a while, before committing anything to Steemit. As I write these words, I have 24 drafts sitting in my saved messages folder. Some will get completed, some will not...
Sometimes you just have to jump out there and have faith that things will go well. One of the things I also keep in mind is that (a) you can't please all the people, all the time and (b) your followers have already taken a step towards liking your content... or they wouldn't be following you.
I have a few saved semi drafts of my own on MS Word. Maybe some of them will become posts in time. :) I never thought I would have such trouble in finding the words to express my thoughts. It's frustrating! :)
Thanks for the advice and for your time mate. Hope you are having a good day!
I don't have a particular format. I write what comes from my head and heart. I do read my posts before I hit send to make sure they make sense and are easy to read. The ides for writing just seem to come and I can "see" the story in my head an "feel" it in my heart. I know this may sound strange but this is the way it is...
Actually, that sounds perfectly reasonable to me... it's how I create most of my writing. On re-reading, sometimes I do decide something is garbage, so I just "round file" it. And sometimes my posts started out as comments on someone else's post... and I went a little bit overboard.
We have a very similar writing perspective, basically there is a fat stogie smoker sitting at his desk in my brain, dictating what my hand should say. Occasionally I'll have to read it back to him so we are in agreeance I've captured the essence of his ideas; also to double check pronunciation and that the grammar is correct, because I stare at my fingers when I type.
I totally relate! My inner story teller turns into a particularly sarcastic version of Joe Pesci if I start to overfinesse what I'm writing....
I usually have a specific idea that I want to elaborate on. I'll write an intro and by the time I'm finished an outline will kind of form itself in my mind so I'll write the subheadings and fill them out. I don't believe in being too structured but it's easy for me to go off topic so a loose outline keeps me focused on the topic without limiting me.
I'd like to write more stream of consciousness though.
Talking to myself has become such a subtle, regular thing, I don't even realize I'm doing it and neither does anyone else but I know what you are talking about.
I definitely prefer stream of consciousness, as well... and I understand what you mean about "wandering off topic." Happens quite a lot, and sometimes I just end up copying the sidetrack and turning it into a separate post because... because otherwise it wouldn't make sense to anyone except me.
I absolutely love this! I talk to myself all the time as well c; and from what I can gather by reading many texts in school, social media, academic, journals and such is that; if you can easily read something out loud, you are more likely to be understood.
I always read my posts out loud before and after I write to make sure that what I type makes sense if I said it. Doing this also helps organize my thoughts better in general.
Ocassionally my writting does get dry and overtly technical because in school our papers adhere to APA standards and you cannot use contractions, first and second person words, and need to remain unbiased.
Telling my story is what I'm working on now, can't always be in school mode c:
I really do understand about writing that "gets dry;" I battled that tendency for a while after being a technical writer... which very much was about "writing to order." Which eventually bored me to the degree that I quit.
I suppose blogging like we do here on Steemit... which is (to me, anyway) really a mixture of "posting" and "writing articles" is my most natural place, when it comes to writing.
You bring up a great point into describing what I feel is a better description on what Steemit articles actually are. The other day I did an experiment where I took a post and shared it with a more personal feel than writing a giant piece regarding it. Compared with all my posts, it's doing decently.
I feel that since payments are involved, a lot of people begin to believe that a good article must be written a certain way, when a lot of time what people want is the story told by you about it.
I am a firm believer in throwing the rules out the window. I learned that early on when in English class we were taught to write in such and such fashion, but in Ligature class they touted all the authors that broke all the rules!
I agree with the "throw the rules out" bit... which is also what I was taught in most creative writing courses.
I never really thought about it... I prefer to keep things upbeat because the world for the most part is so negative and those just drive me to skipping along to something better. I guess it takes someone else reading what and how I write (not going to spam you here with my last blog) as to judge my style if I have any.
Well, yes... there's definitely plenty of gloom and doom out there... although I guess I tend to be a somewhat "serious" person, I prefer to keep away from the more depressing stuff.
Thanks for the information sir.