The Only 12 and a Half Writing Rules You'll Ever Need: Rule 1

Let's take a look at these, shall we?

1) If you write every day, you get better at writing every day.

Now, we all know this to be true. You don't have to be Einstein to work out that if you do something often, you get better at it. It's called practicing, right? But - and let's be realistic here - how many of us actually write a substantial amount every day? Let's have a show of hands, eh?

That many, huh? That's got to be, what, three? Four?

I know for one that I don't. I don't have time! No one does, really, not if they're trying to balance a life and family and job and school and whatever, and writing too, all at once. Or even just three of the above.

But who said anything about substantial amounts? Write a lot. Write a little. It doesn't matter. Stack up ideas in your brain, think about them, chuck out the useless ones, think about the ones that are left, scrunch them up and squash them into something coherent, so that next time you come to write - voilà!

Technique gets better through practice. There's no arguing with this. Nowadays, a lot of writers aren't so bothered about technique. 'Hey,' they go, 'I'll write a novel!' And they do. And it gets published, because it's a drippy paranormal romance, and, at the moment, drippy paranormal romances sell.

But they won't always. 

So do you want to be the technique-less author of a drippy romance that everyone loves today but no one will have heard about tomorrow? Or do you want to be a wordsmith, someone who actually works at their writing, someone who crafts it with care and love and blood and sweat and - yes, tears too - whose name goes down in the ages... ?

Yes, so maybe I went off on a little fantasy. I'm a writer. What do you expect?! Dreams are what I deal in.

Practice makes perfect, people say. No, actually. It makes damn good. But not quite perfect. If you want perfect, you need a little extra. But hey, that's one of the next rules! For now, let's worry about things like style, storyline, character voice, et cetera. And all that jazz.

Yeah. So write. Write a little, or write a lot - it really doesn't matter. But do it whenever you can. And you will get better. That I can promise!

Good luck! And happy writing =]
~West x