06 Feb 10 What Freelance Writers Should Read?

My love for short and intriguing answer is pushing me to say “read anything that you can lay your hand on to”, but, my slightly more normal self asks my crazy mind to explain. So, here goes the explanation.

A freelance writer should read anything that succeeds in catching, holding, and retaining his attention. Because the more diverse your reading habit will be the better equipped you will be to handle the challenges posed by freelance writing. You should care less about following a genre through head to tail. Well, doing it will be make you an expert and may be better accomplished as a writer of that particular genre, but expertise in one and dumbness in rest of the subjects is not what you should eye for. You need to have sufficient control on as many genres as possible.

What did you say— you will be master of one and will research for the rest?

I know many freelancers doing that, and quite a few have attained some degrees of success while treading down this road. But more often than not an article written by a freelance writer who has no prior knowledge or intuitive understanding of the subject matter lacks depth. To add depth and texture to your writing, you need to learn various things.

Freelance writing poses unique challenge that is seldom faced by fiction or non-fiction writers. Therefore, the solution used by freelance writers should also be different.

Read as much as you can, and from as many genres as you feel comfortable in!

Learning is a complex process, and acquiring knowledge is even more complex. One never knows which piece of text or byte of media triggers what. Sometimes the knowledge gained is a direct result of the things you are reading, while at other times, it is gained because the things you are reading have activated some unknown part of the brain which has triggered something else then something else, and the end result of all this could be the new understanding you have developed.

So, to help your brain form new pattern and new understanding, you need to provide it as many types of fodders as possible.

Tags: Acquiring Knowledge, Byte, Challenges, Crazy Mind, Dumbness, End Result, Fiction Writers, Freelance Writer, Freelance Writers, Freelance Writing, Freelancers, Genre, Genres, Love, Non Fiction, Part Of The Brain, Prior Knowledge, Reading Habit, Subject Matter, Texture

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22 Sep 09 5 More Ways to Improve Your Writing Part-IV

Writing is an art, and like a visual artist, you need to painstakingly craft each sentence than each paragraph. The beauty of art lies in precision of techniques, attentions to details, and appropriate use of devices. This holds true with writing as well. In this article, I will share 5 tips that will make your writing appear like an art form.

Find an audience and kill them

Well, this is known to all the fiction writers, especially poets. Nobody likes to read or listen to anyone else’s piece, until and unless he is Dan Brown or Paulo Coelho. It will take some persuading before you can read your work to anyone, even to your cat, but you must do it, in order to figure out the issues with your writing. For now, you just need listeners, not their feedbacks.

Discount 10 percent words

This is something worth doing. I know you will feel the pang as everyone of us does, but always remember your goal is not to create a piece full of sentences, but to create a beautiful work of art with only required number of sentences. Do not fall in love with sentences; fall in love with your overall piece, and attempt to make the whole piece look good.

Hear what they say

A good writer takes cues from the real life, and listening to others will give you many. Overhear others, if you need to, because you can get the best insight only by becoming invisible observer.

Observe how they talk

Not only the contents of their talks are important, but the style used to convey the message is equally important. This will tell you how to say it.

Read, read and study

To make your writing shine like the writing of masters, you will need to study the works of great writers. Do not limit yourself to reading great writers, read bad ones as well. To be able to differentiate chaff from wheat, you need to know what is what.

Tags: Art Form, Attentions, Audience, Cat, Chaff, Cues, Dan Brown, Fiction Writers, Great Writers, Insight, Listeners, Masters, Pang, Paragraph, Paulo Coelho, Poets, Sentences, Visual Artist, Wheat, Work Of Art

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06 Feb 10 What Freelance Writers Should Read?

22 Sep 09 5 More Ways to Improve Your Writing Part-IV

Find an audience and kill them

Discount 10 percent words

Hear what they say

Observe how they talk

Read, read and study

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