Five Tips to Stay Inspired With Your Writing

  1. Got an idea for a story? Write more than one opening paragraph – it takes the pressure off having to get it perfect. Keep writing openings until you feel the inspiration kick in.  This can sometimes take me a while.
  2. Don’t edit your beginning until you’ve completed the story. It’s very easy to focus so much on perfecting an opening paragraph that you never get to the end.
  3. Don’t end the section you’re writing at the end of a scene break. Stop mid scene, mid paragraph or even mid sentence if you’ve got a good memory! It’s much easier to pick it up again.
  4. We tend to spend much less time on the end of a story.  The right ending can take time. Write more than one closing paragraph.  Then leave the story a week or so before coming back and seeing which one feels right.
  5. When you have a complete first draft. Leave the story another week before you do your final edits.  A student I once taught likened it to putting your story in the ‘naughty cupboard’. When you go back to them they will tell you everything they did wrong. This is so true. Mistakes will leap out after a gap of time that it’s impossible to see when you’re close to your work.
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail
This entry was posted in Inspiration, Tips on writing, Writing and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

5 Responses to Five Tips to Stay Inspired With Your Writing

  1. Penny A says:

    If I manage just one of these gems of advice… I think it would be to stop re-editing that first paragraph! (I thought NaNoWriMo might have cured me of this! Not quite.) Thank you.

  2. Sue Blackburn says:

    It is hard not to edit as you go along I find, but it’s such good advice not to do it.

    Thank you for those gems Della. Much appreciated as always 🙂 xx

  3. Lisa Macgregor says:

    Having spent four hours this morning trying to perfect the opening paragraph of my next story and then deleting the lot and finishing my writing session with a blank page I COMPLETELY agree that editing is best left until the very end. It’s just sooo hard to do! :o)xx
    Thanks for all your great posts Della. x

  4. Deb Slimm says:

    Hi. I’ve started so many new stories, deleted, started again etc. Ive told myself I am to keep writing. Think I will try this editing the first paragraph at the end. Makes sense….

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.