4 answers
Esther
Student
Awka, Anambra, Nigeria
1
Question
Asked
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I'm an undergraduate who wants to write about so many things especially about the feminine gender, motivational write-ups but I don't know how to start
I'm a young lady of 22yrs. An undergraduate who is studying English and Literary studies. I love writing but I don't know how to start, i also enjoy helping and guiding people through just like the less privilege ones, community service,hours for youth empowerment but I don't know how to start or were to focus. I'm advocate of gender equality. #career #writing
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4 answers
Natasha Clark
Journalist
4
Answers
Alexandria, Virginia
Updated
Natasha’s Answer
Hi Esther,
It's simple: writers write. If you want to be one, simply write. It doesn't have to be amazing, grammatically correct ... you can unload a stream of consciousness in a journal, a Word doc, or even sometimes a voice memo.
Being a great writer comes from practice (and there's always editors there later to clean it up - LOL). But first, simply practice writing. Choose a topic, a fleeting thought, just put your fingertips to keyboard or pen to pad.
An exercise I always give my editorial interns is to find an excerpt (be it a magazine article, book page or news article) that you aspire to write like. Find something that makes you salivate and say, 'Man, I wish I wrote that!" Save it and look at it every blue moon. The point is to establish a point of reference for inspiration.
If you want to write great books, news articles, blog posts, then you HAVE to read them regularly. Then join a writing group or writer's association. Find a place where you can chat with other people with similar interests. It's also a great place to learn from experienced instructors, workshops and potentially find a mentor.
Keep a blog. Heck, you can even write about your writer's journey. If you need help constructing your ideas or help with writing prompts, try a writing site like https://www.bookflow.pub.
Good luck and write on!
P.S. Get an internship!
It's simple: writers write. If you want to be one, simply write. It doesn't have to be amazing, grammatically correct ... you can unload a stream of consciousness in a journal, a Word doc, or even sometimes a voice memo.
Being a great writer comes from practice (and there's always editors there later to clean it up - LOL). But first, simply practice writing. Choose a topic, a fleeting thought, just put your fingertips to keyboard or pen to pad.
An exercise I always give my editorial interns is to find an excerpt (be it a magazine article, book page or news article) that you aspire to write like. Find something that makes you salivate and say, 'Man, I wish I wrote that!" Save it and look at it every blue moon. The point is to establish a point of reference for inspiration.
If you want to write great books, news articles, blog posts, then you HAVE to read them regularly. Then join a writing group or writer's association. Find a place where you can chat with other people with similar interests. It's also a great place to learn from experienced instructors, workshops and potentially find a mentor.
Keep a blog. Heck, you can even write about your writer's journey. If you need help constructing your ideas or help with writing prompts, try a writing site like https://www.bookflow.pub.
Good luck and write on!
P.S. Get an internship!
Bryan Hildebrand
Marketing Editor
3
Answers
Lubbock, Texas
Updated
Bryan’s Answer
In short, I found its best to understand the type of writing you like.
For me, it started as science and technical writing. Being able to describe and clearly demonstrate clinical trial information to health care providers. After many years, my wife told me I was an excellent storyteller. I gave great detail and it was easy to picture who or what I was talking about. I began then creative writing. I found two challenges:
First, I was a bit compulsive and I would stop after each sentence to fix spelling or my thought... and I would lose my direction of writing and often lost engaging ideas by stopping. I then tried just recording myself with an app on my phone. I could then knock out 20,000 words a day. My first book is in final edit and it took me about 14-15 days of actual dictation plus several weeks of typing out data, interviews and quotes that are in the book. Had I had typed it all.... it would have taken me a year.
Second, finding the time to do it. Being over 50, my life is far more complicated now than when i was in college. Dedicating time around other peoples and my dogs schedules made it difficult. My wife allowed me to treat writing my book as a job. Dedicating preset amounts of time each week.
My advice is simple. Whatever you enjoy reading, you already ahve an idea of how its done. Start there. Magazine, newspaper, fantasy, science fiction, interviews, etc. Find something you enjoy reading and learn form that. Interview a fellow friend to ask them their life story or an interesting event. Interview a professor and learn from them. Tell their story.
For me, it started as science and technical writing. Being able to describe and clearly demonstrate clinical trial information to health care providers. After many years, my wife told me I was an excellent storyteller. I gave great detail and it was easy to picture who or what I was talking about. I began then creative writing. I found two challenges:
First, I was a bit compulsive and I would stop after each sentence to fix spelling or my thought... and I would lose my direction of writing and often lost engaging ideas by stopping. I then tried just recording myself with an app on my phone. I could then knock out 20,000 words a day. My first book is in final edit and it took me about 14-15 days of actual dictation plus several weeks of typing out data, interviews and quotes that are in the book. Had I had typed it all.... it would have taken me a year.
Second, finding the time to do it. Being over 50, my life is far more complicated now than when i was in college. Dedicating time around other peoples and my dogs schedules made it difficult. My wife allowed me to treat writing my book as a job. Dedicating preset amounts of time each week.
My advice is simple. Whatever you enjoy reading, you already ahve an idea of how its done. Start there. Magazine, newspaper, fantasy, science fiction, interviews, etc. Find something you enjoy reading and learn form that. Interview a fellow friend to ask them their life story or an interesting event. Interview a professor and learn from them. Tell their story.
m lon
Coordinator
6
Answers
Updated
m’s Answer
Esther,
YES! KEEP BEING AMAZING! I would start writing on a blog about topics that you find move you the most. I can tell that you are a self-driven person looking to help others. So start there! Write blogs, or create zine's that you can share with your community. I find my favorite blogs/zines to read are inspirational, passionate, and chalk full of information.
I would check out these blogs to see what others are writing about:
Equality Now - https://www.equalitynow.org/blog
"A Day In The Life of..." by UN Women Watch - https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/editorial-series/a-day-in-the-life-of
Gender Matters - https://gendermatters.in/
YES! KEEP BEING AMAZING! I would start writing on a blog about topics that you find move you the most. I can tell that you are a self-driven person looking to help others. So start there! Write blogs, or create zine's that you can share with your community. I find my favorite blogs/zines to read are inspirational, passionate, and chalk full of information.
I would check out these blogs to see what others are writing about:
Equality Now - https://www.equalitynow.org/blog
"A Day In The Life of..." by UN Women Watch - https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/editorial-series/a-day-in-the-life-of
Gender Matters - https://gendermatters.in/
Jacqueline Elder
Volunteer
2
Answers
Oak Park, Illinois
Updated
Jacqueline’s Answer
The best book I have ever read on writing is On Writing Well by William Zeissner ). I may be wrong about the spelling of his name but the book is my fav. He is down to earth. Funny and gives lots of examples. You can buy it used on Amazon for under $10 and try to get a recent edition.
It changed the way I wrote immediately because he says we should write the same way we talk. I have read that book several times and no longer use long professional words when I can use simple ones.
Many readers read at a 10th grade reading levels so I keep it basic.
Try a blog. Google has free ones called Blogger.
Check out zines, which are like little comic books yet written by young folks so the content is great.
Write your own zine and pass it around to friends and ask for honest but not mean feedback.
Read zines which you can find at any bookstore that sells graphic novels.
Find some other zinesters and go to local
It changed the way I wrote immediately because he says we should write the same way we talk. I have read that book several times and no longer use long professional words when I can use simple ones.
Many readers read at a 10th grade reading levels so I keep it basic.
Jacqueline recommends the following next steps: