{"id":32372,"date":"2021-04-19T15:26:33","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T05:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/?p=32372"},"modified":"2021-04-19T15:26:33","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T05:26:33","slug":"8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/","title":{"rendered":"8 practical writing tips to try today"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the So You Want To Be A Writer podcast<\/a> approaches its 400th episode, I’ve been thinking about all the golden writing tips I’ve heard over the years.<\/p>\n

I’ve shared many of them here on this blog (most recently here<\/a>), but it seems that every episode throws up a new nugget of practical writing advice that either reinforces what I know I should be doing, or adds something entirely new to the mix.<\/p>\n

I wholly recommend listening to the author interviews on the podcast in full \u2013 you simply never know which words will turn the key in the lock for you \u2013 (and you’ll find them all here<\/a>), but in the meantime, here are eight more writing tips you can start using today.<\/p>\n

Click the author name and episode number to go directly to that episode.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Put it out there<\/strong><\/h5>\n

“Tell everyone that you’re a writer. Once you put it out there, you have to put your money where your mouth is and write.”<\/p>\n

Christie Nieman, episode 349<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Allow yourself time to breathe<\/strong><\/h5>\n

“Be patient. It’s a long, protracted, difficult process, trying to tease a novel into being, so allow yourself the time to develop something of merit and worth. Don’t worry about word counts, or volume, or any of these things that are largely extraneous, they do not matter. More often than not, if you’re writing to a word count, all you’re doing is presenting yourself with more editing work.<\/p>\n

So just be careful about what you put down on the page and allow yourself the time to breathe and think and, and, and plot things out slowly.”<\/p>\n

Craig Silvey, episode 352<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Learn to force it<\/strong><\/h5>\n

“I used to write as a hobby, which meant that when I felt like writing, I would write and I would enjoy it. And if I didn’t feel like writing, I wouldn’t do it because you only have to do a hobby when you want to.<\/p>\n

[Part of being a professional writer] is learning to force it when you’re not feeling it. I think there is a lot of nonsense around creativity; that you have to be feeling it and you have to have a Muse and all that kind of stuff.<\/p>\n

[For me], it’s a job and you have to treat it like any other job. You do it when you have to do it.<\/p>\n

And the only way you can get better at that is through practise.”<\/p>\n

Lili Wilkinson, episode 359<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Be prepared to edit<\/strong><\/h5>\n

“No book is ever perfect in the first draft. How can it be when you’ve made up an entire world out of nowhere? You’ve created a whole set of lives and stories out of nowhere and you’re never going to get it right first time. So you have to be prepared to edit. And to know that that’s what every writer goes through.”<\/p>\n

Monica McInerney, episode 363<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mortals can do it<\/strong><\/h5>\n

“I think growing up with a published writer [Thomas Keneally] in the family taught me one important thing, which is that mortals can actually do it.<\/p>\n

If I hadn’t had an example, in my own family, of an actual flesh and blood human who could actually write, I would have thought that [writers] were all gods and it was all beyond me.<\/p>\n

But seeing that the person who gave me piggyback rides was able to write and get published and have a successful career showed me that it could be done.”<\/p>\n

Meg Keneally, episode 367<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Listen to the girls in the basement<\/strong><\/h5>\n

“The third book in The Rogues trilogy was a book that I probably plotted more intensively than I have ever plotted anything before. And yet, unexpected things still happened. And some of those unexpected things were the most beautiful things in the book and were the things that I ended up most pleased with and most intrigued by.<\/p>\n

So it’s a matter of letting myself be loose enough in my writing, letting myself be unconscious enough in my writing, letting what I’ve heard described as the girls in the basement speak up in unexpected moments.<\/p>\n

Even when you’re in the middle of writing something, you’ve got to allow space for them. Because that’s when the valuable stuff comes.That’s when characters become their most individual. And it’s when the world becomes its most intriguing. Let those girls speak up.”<\/p>\n

Lian Tanner, episode 369<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Be open to feedback<\/strong><\/h5>\n

“Always be open to feedback, because there are two halves to a story. There’s what you think you’ve written and what somebody reads.<\/p>\n

The whole point of being a good writer, it’s not about being verbose, it’s not about being clever. It’s about reducing the gap between what you think you’ve written and what people actually read.”<\/p>\n

Will Kostakis, episode 379<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finish the work<\/strong><\/h5>\n

“Finish the work. I think that’s really important. Especially when you’re writing early drafts. That’s what works for me, finishing the work, even though I might think that that early draft is terrible. I can always revise it later.”<\/p>\n

Remy Lai, episode 383<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"So<\/a>Are you new here? Welcome to my blog! I\u2019m Allison Tait and you can find out <\/strong>more about me here<\/strong><\/a> and more about my <\/strong>online writing courses here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Subscribe to <\/strong>So You Want To Be A Writer podcast<\/strong><\/a> for more practical writing advice. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Or check out So You Want To Be A Writer<\/em> (the book), where my co-author Valerie Khoo and I have distilled the best tips from hundreds of author and industry expert interviews. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Find out more and buy it here<\/strong><\/a>. <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the So You Want To Be A Writer podcast approaches its 400th episode, I’ve been thinking about all the golden writing tips I’ve heard over the years. I’ve shared many of them here on this blog (most recently here), but it seems that every episode throws up a new nugget of practical writing advice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5],"tags":[723,716,713],"class_list":["post-32372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advice-for-writers","category-writing","tag-how-to-write-a-book","tag-tips-for-writers","tag-writing-tips"],"yoast_head":"\n8 practical writing tips to try today - Allison Tait Author<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Looking for practical writing tips? Culled from the So You Want To Be A Writer podcast, here are eight writing tips to try today\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"8 practical writing tips to try today - Allison Tait Author\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Looking for practical writing tips? Culled from the So You Want To Be A Writer podcast, here are eight writing tips to try today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Allison Tait Author\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AllisonTaitWriter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-19T05:26:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Allison Tait\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Allison Tait\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Allison Tait\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/277afd61b41e1b23d976e1ae2f09cf46\"},\"headline\":\"8 practical writing tips to try today\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-19T05:26:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/\"},\"wordCount\":965,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips.png\",\"keywords\":[\"how to write a book\",\"tips for writers\",\"writing tips\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Advice for Writers\",\"Writing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/\",\"name\":\"8 practical writing tips to try today - Allison Tait Author\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-19T05:26:33+00:00\",\"description\":\"Looking for practical writing tips? Culled from the So You Want To Be A Writer podcast, here are eight writing tips to try today\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips.png\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"8 practical writing tips\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"8 practical writing tips to try today\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/\",\"name\":\"Allison Tait Author\",\"description\":\"Adventure, Mystery, Almost History\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Allison Tait | Author\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/logo_sm1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/logo_sm1.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":286,\"caption\":\"Allison Tait | Author\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AllisonTaitWriter\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/allisontaitwriter\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/277afd61b41e1b23d976e1ae2f09cf46\",\"name\":\"Allison Tait\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4dfb414ad67df8aa68d6a62bc02c6ba2a7f718fd8f98b9b00f49451ae17f246?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4dfb414ad67df8aa68d6a62bc02c6ba2a7f718fd8f98b9b00f49451ae17f246?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Allison Tait\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/author\/altait\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"8 practical writing tips to try today - Allison Tait Author","description":"Looking for practical writing tips? Culled from the So You Want To Be A Writer podcast, here are eight writing tips to try today","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"8 practical writing tips to try today - Allison Tait Author","og_description":"Looking for practical writing tips? Culled from the So You Want To Be A Writer podcast, here are eight writing tips to try today","og_url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/","og_site_name":"Allison Tait Author","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AllisonTaitWriter","article_published_time":"2021-04-19T05:26:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Allison Tait","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Allison Tait","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/"},"author":{"name":"Allison Tait","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/277afd61b41e1b23d976e1ae2f09cf46"},"headline":"8 practical writing tips to try today","datePublished":"2021-04-19T05:26:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/"},"wordCount":965,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips.png","keywords":["how to write a book","tips for writers","writing tips"],"articleSection":["Advice for Writers","Writing"],"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/","url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/","name":"8 practical writing tips to try today - Allison Tait Author","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips.png","datePublished":"2021-04-19T05:26:33+00:00","description":"Looking for practical writing tips? Culled from the So You Want To Be A Writer podcast, here are eight writing tips to try today","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips.png","width":1080,"height":1080,"caption":"8 practical writing tips"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2021\/04\/8-practical-writing-tips-to-try-today\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"8 practical writing tips to try today"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/","name":"Allison Tait Author","description":"Adventure, Mystery, Almost History","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#organization","name":"Allison Tait | Author","url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/logo_sm1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/logo_sm1.png","width":600,"height":286,"caption":"Allison Tait | Author"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AllisonTaitWriter","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/allisontaitwriter\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/277afd61b41e1b23d976e1ae2f09cf46","name":"Allison Tait","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4dfb414ad67df8aa68d6a62bc02c6ba2a7f718fd8f98b9b00f49451ae17f246?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4dfb414ad67df8aa68d6a62bc02c6ba2a7f718fd8f98b9b00f49451ae17f246?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Allison Tait"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/allisontait.com"],"url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/author\/altait\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}