How to Become a Writer: 7 Pieces of Advice for New Writers

I sat at the dining room table over my hand-rolled oats this morning and realized a fact that should’ve been obvious. I am a writer. I’ve been writing for over ten years and not once had it ever dawned on me to call myself that. It was a strange sensation because my entire life, I’d bought into the notion that “most writers are useless in today’s society”. And yet my entire life I also remember spending hours watching animation and reading books, cereal boxes, movie covers, IMDB, Wikipedia, and enough magazines to wallpaper a mansion. Writing is the foundation of our world. Without it, we wouldn’t understand sh*t. We’d be walking around in a daze with only petroglyphs to lead the way. Writers aren’t some old dead guys collecting dust on a shelf. They are within all of us and to those that have heard the siren’s call, welcome. I’m sure you didn’t pick up this article to hear me jabber on about breakfast. So, without another preamble, here are my nuggets of wisdom to get you started on your fantastically wild and unique writing journey.

#1: Write Everything Down

We never know when inspiration is going to strike. From my experience, it never seems to happen when I’m in front of the keyboard or poised with a pen. I’ve heard that people sometimes leave notepads on the floor outside of the shower in case an idea strikes mid-scrub, but I find it more trouble than it’s worth and just use my phone. It can be hard to do at first because it isn’t something everyone else is doing. You might feel like you have to explain to others why you feel your hand grasping for an imaginary pen or why you’re typing a note in your phone like your life depends on it. If you have a better explanation than “I just have to get it on the page before it disappears” then let me know.

There isn’t a true reason why we are so compelled by our ideas that we must jot them down. You just need to. Otherwise, you’ll go on about your day and completely forget that “weird idea” you had. Ideas can spring up on any day and anywhere. We just have to be prepared to jot them down and see where they go. Whether it’s a quick note on your phone or a small notebook you carry in your bag, you’ll never know what your idea will turn into until you start writing it down.

#2 Get Out More Often

Inspiration isn’t going to come from hiding yourself in the closet. Writing means that you have to get familiar with places and people and things. Unless you have a very interesting view of a busy street outside your bedroom window, you will have to get out and interact with the world. Even if you’re a part hermit like me, you still have to get out and check the mail, do groceries, and enjoy the occasional take-out.

It takes a lot of effort to hear the sounds in the coffee shop as anything other than a din of noise. But if you tune in a little deeper, you will start hearing individual conversations and tonalities that may spark inspiration. Each one blends to create the entire moment you spent waiting for your steaming hot cup of liquid gold and that could be a story in itself. It may not seem super magical when there’s a screaming baby in your ear and you’re ten minutes late for something, but it’s still there. Whispering in the background is an idea to save for later.

Sitting on the bus and the train is how I was able to observe people at every time of the day in almost every kind of situation. Rain or shine, day or night, the world moves differently when you take a moment to observe. I’m not saying stare people down at the local coffee shop and eavesdrop on their conversation. But if you tune into life even a little bit more, your writing will flow out of an organic place.

#3 Write from your Spirit

Let me explain something very clearly. Everyone will find out you’re a writer, and everyone will have an opinion about genre, grammar, and the ol’ mighty dollar. And yes, it is nice to say “I made millions of dollars writing this fantastic book,” but you’re not going to get there by faking it. There was something unexplainable yet very specific that drew you into this strange planet of storytelling. For me, it was animation, puppetry, and books that made me laugh, cry, and leap for writing.

Whatever your “calling” is, you want to follow it through to the end. Don’t get distracted by old granny Ruth telling you that the money is in blog making if your heart is really in science fiction. Being fully immersed in the subject you're writing is essential for success, so you might as well pick up something you love. And if you do it fearlessly and fabulously, the money will come.

#4 Write Everything

Okay, I know I just said to only write what your spirit leads you to write, but that doesn’t mean shun everything else from your repertoire. If you end up pursuing a degree in writing, then the assignments will force you to expand your knowledge if you want to graduate. But for the rest of us out here just trying to pay the rent and feed the kids, let’s go for a different approach. Anytime that you feel stuck in whatever your spirit is leading you to write, take a step back and write something else that’s completely different.

If you’re a fantasy writer, try writing an article on something that you're passionate about and see where it goes. If you’re a technical writer, why not give those creative writing chops a try with a little poetry or spoken word? Neither of these things has to ever see the light of day again. You can write them in a journal that you end up tossing in a corner or put it in a digital folder to laugh at later. The point is to free up your mind and expose it to new ways of writing so that when you go back to your personal projects, you can take the things you learned from your “word vomit” and let your story flow.

#5 Word Vomit Your Heart Out

It’s no secret that I’m a very big fan of word vomiting, and you should be too. Word vomiting is when you write whatever comes to mind on the page without editing yourself at every comma. Think of it like running outside and having no destination in mind. Typing out “banapeel sandwich on a hot sunny day” and writing without reason just to say that you wrote something that day. It sounds ludicrous and a complete waste of advice, but I’ve found this method to be the best when it comes to anything that I’m writing. I take the to keyboard with abandon and write out everything my internal scribe is going on about until I’ve reached the final word. Then I grab a drink of water, do a quick stretch, and come back to clean up the disaster I wrote. I spend time cleaning out the nonsense and deciphering what I was trying to say.

Word vomiting is a powerful tool that most people would consider useless because it serves no serious purpose. But just like watching the birds in the sky, there is something that happens to us when we let our minds roam free for a moment. This internal freedom is something that we need to tap into more often and it starts with word vomiting. If you’re interested in learning more about it, I recommend starting here.

#6 Research and Organization

Even if you’re writing an entire world from scratch, there is no way that you know everything about how “the real world” works. For your writing to be authentic, you need to write about your passions and know what you’re writing about. Without the proper research, your ideas can fall flat, and you can miss out on opportunities to draw your reader into your story.

With the greatness of the internet at your disposal, there should be no reason to worry. Except that the web is vast, and you may have no idea where to start. I promise you, it’s a lot more fun than it sounds. Use Pinterest to drum up ideas for your world and its characters. Do a deep-dive interview with the owner of your local gun range to find out about a specific pistol. Google what type of clouds dragons come from and see what pops up. The methods of researching things are endless, and the fun will only grow as you dive deeper.

But it may all slowly come to a screeching halt once you realize you have a jumble of information and no idea what to do with it. That’s where organization comes in. You could be that person with the binders and multi-colored sticky notes, or you could be that person who has folders with an infinite number of subfolders. Either way sounds great. I encourage you to create a unique system that fits the story you want to tell. It doesn’t matter what it is, just as long as it makes sense to you.

#7 Have Fun

You have started a journey that cannot be undone. You have tasted the fruit of the storyteller and you will never be able to go back to being a civilian. You know too much already and yet I’m sure you feel at least half as clueless as I did when I first started. That’s good. You’re right where you need to be.

You can read all the articles you want, take all the free workshops, and even get a degree or two. But the most important piece of advice that I can offer you is to have fun and never lose the thing that made you want to write in the first place. As someone who almost gave up entirely on writing, I encourage you to take to the page with abandon, silence the words of the world, and just write. The rest will come in time because as of this moment, you are a writer. And that alone is awesome!

If you want more writing advice, check out some of the other articles I have scattered around Storyteller Planet. There are so many different things to explore in the world. What are you waiting for?

Until next time.

About the Author

Crystal Cabrae is a storyteller who specializes in writing dystopian, romantic, and adventurous worlds for animation and fantastical fiction. She is a proud graduate of Full Sail University, AMDA, and New World School of the Arts. Her six years of acting training in both New York and Miami gives her a unique perspective when approaching her characters. She has a passion for sharing how to create stories with the world and inspiring the storyteller that lives within all of us. Follow her on IG or Pinterest to know the latest.