23+ Writing Tips For Beginners 2023 (From an Author)

Just getting started in your writing journey but not sure where to start? 

If there is one thing I know, it’s that the writing journey is only graced by the most creative, disciplined, and willing participants. 

I wrote my first fiction novel when I was in high school, and have written nearly 500+ pages of content since. I can say without a doubt that writing a novel, as well as other pieces of content has truly been some of the most challenging, and rewarding accomplishments of my life.

Writing skills are not something people are born with. Rather, they are learnable skills that anyone can develop to start writing content. 

Whether that be writing a book for the first time, fan fiction work, a course, or any other form of writing content, there is writing advice that can set you up to excel. 

As a novice, building the foundation is critical to creative writing. In this article, we will dive into the best writing tips for beginners to turn you into a pro. So let’s dive in!

How To Improve Your Writing Skills

There are a few factors that drastically boost your learning curve as a new writer, and it is largely broken up into two factors.

The mental aspect of writing and the actual technical knowledge can increase your quality of work.

You can understand things like pacing, creative writing hooks, transitions, and character development, but if you don’t understand how to build the intangible aspects, your growth will be limited. 

In this article, we will break down the best writing tips for beginners regarding your mentality as well as actual writing techniques to ensure you are equipped for success.

Writing Mentality Tips

1. Build Your Writing Muscles 

Building your writing muscles is one of the best writing tips I was told in my entry-level writing class during my first year at university. But as a young kid just getting to college, the last thing I wanted to do was build my writing muscle…

I quickly found out why this was so critical. My classmates would often get together and do freestyle writing where they would freestyle write 3-5 pages to build their writing stamina.

I didn’t think this was needed until halfway through the year I spent 2 weeks writing a research paper that unbeknownst to me, took the rest of class 2-5 days… This continued throughout the years.

As a beginner, It’s important to practice writing often. If you only have the mental capacity to write for an hour at a time, you will struggle with wasting time and lose creativity. 

2. Get Rid Of Writer’s Block

Getting rid of writer’s block has been one of the longest-standing obstacles for writers since the dawn of written work.

I believe each individual has their way of bypassing this blocker whether that be taking a break, driving creativity from others’ work, or just skipping your problem and moving on to a new section.

But, I believe with the rise of Ai novel writing tools, you can easily bypass writer’s block and generate ideas in seconds.

With a tool like Jasper or ChatGPT, you can give these Ai assistants a simple prompt on what you are struggling with, or what you need help writing, and you can ask it to give you ideas, actually written content, or ask for advice on how to tackle the problem.

3. Tell A Story In Your Writing

Do you see what I had done in the above example? I wanted to get a point across about the importance of building writing muscles as beginner writers, so I set up that point by telling a brief story, or example.

Since the dawn of time, humans have learned through telling stories. From ancient times of pictographs written on cave walls, they all told a story. 

By using stories and examples in your writing, you can ensure that your readers will be more interested in the main point you are driving.  

4. Get A Reliable Laptop

This might seem like a basic concept to some, but I can’t attest from writing one of my educational books on a beaten-up old laptop, it was horrible. 

I occasionally lost work from the laptop restarting on its own, I was constantly frustrated by laggy response time which took a toll on my “writing zen” and often made me lose focus.

The best laptops for writers are those that have long battery life, great keyboards, and can operate on a basis that won’t send you into a frenzy (sorry, I’m getting PTSD).

5. Find Out Early What You Like

It’s important to figure out your identity as a new writer. Whether you enjoy short stories, nonfiction memoirs, traditional novels, or writing for a blog, you need to understand your style.

You should try to align these with your strengths. Some writers might be extremely creative and can work out complex plots for non-fiction books. Others might be great at creating motivating educational content. 

Whatever it is you find yourself gravitating towards, lean on that. This might take some trial and error, so don’t think you need to have your exact writing identity figured out from the beginning. 

6. Be Authentic 

Authenticity is something that will help craft your writing identity over time. Be yourself, and write about things you know and understand. 

Doing this will help you become a better writer as you truly embody your natural self. People trust and gravitate toward those that are authentic and are good at being no one but themselves.

7. Get Creative

Writing, and writing well, are two separate things. And depending on your goals and what you hope to achieve with your writing, you’re going to need creative writing skills.

Some of the best authors I have learned from often told of things they would do to inspire creativity and get creative writing tips. Whether it was a hobby, outdoors, or reading irrelevant material that had nothing to do with their niche. 

Creativity can be sparked from millions of things, and this inspiration can be injected into your writing style, techniques, and your storylines. Get creative, and step outside the matrix of writing boring content.

8. Study Successful Writers

Whether you are a novice writer, a bestselling author, or on your first draft, the way to improve is to study those that have already done it.

Authors like Stephen King, James Patterson, and J.K. Rowling all have different styles of writing that are unique and beautiful.

By reading and studying the small nuances that each possesses, you can start to extrapolate your writing styles as you continue trying out different forms.

9. Have Friends/Family Proof Read

While your friends and family might not be pro writers, everyone has read some sort of book and can understand things like flow, plot, and character development, even if they don’t know they can.

These things can stand out to others quite easily if there are issues within your writing. Take these writing tips with a grain of salt and see where you might have room for improvement.

Just watch out for those Aunt Lindas’ who think everything should be done a certain way!

10 Write To Serve The Reader, Not The Writer

This is one of those writing tips for beginners that might take some time to fully grape and put into action.

Writing to serve the reader insinuates that you consider the reader’s interests, their level of knowledge, and their expectations.

Put yourself in their shoes, what would you hope to gather from the content you are writing? Applying this level of thinking will not only help you stand out as a great writer but will improve your writing process. 

11. Try Out Different Techniques/Writing Styles

Similar to finding your writing identity, it’s important to figure out what kind of writing technique you gravity towards.

There are hundreds of different ways you can craft your writing, but you need to understand what works best for you.

So don’t be afraid to play around with different techniques, and styles until you find out what is ideal for your writing needs.

12. Don’t Worry About Editing (Yet)

One of my favorite writing tips for beginners that I believe can save hours is not worrying about editing till you are finished.  This can mean finishing a page, a chapter, or a section without editing a single thing.

Too often in the writing world, we get sucked into making everything perfect and pristine on every line and every sentence before we move on. I believe this is a massive contributor to writer’s block because it limits your creative flow. 

When you writing, just keep writing and don’t stop. It will be hard at first to not fix those little red squiggly lines under your misspelled words.

But I promise if you temporarily ignore them and just keep writing, you can write faster, and not stop your creative thinking every 3 seconds. 

13. Edit Frociously After Your Done

Now, after you have finished writing your content, there will probably be tons of misspelled words, unnatural sentence fragments, and bad punctuation. 

This is the time you need to focus on your technical skills of writing and ensure that your content is up to par, and the readability is top-notch. 

Using a tool like Grammarly can save you hours, especially if you aren’t a grammar wizard.

14. Once You Start, Dont Stop

Think of your writing skills like a snowball going down a hill. The more you practice, learn, and grow, the snowball will gain momentum and move down the hill faster.

But, if you stop that snowball for a while, it will be harder to push it again to start gaining that momentum. 

So even if it’s small things, do something every day to work on your writing skills. Little actions every day will eventually add up to large improvements over some time.

15. Have Fun!

Writing isn’t supposed to be some laborious task that you agonize over every day. Writing is supposed to be a release of creativity, art, and being able to express yourself.

So without sounding like your parents before a sports game, HAVE FUN! 

Writing Technique Tips

16. Use Strong Sensory Details

What sounds better; “The room was very dark”, or “The room was so dark you can’t even see your hand in front of your face”? The latter right?

By using strong sensory details, you can transport your readers to the world you’ve created and make them feel like they’re right there with your characters.

Just don’t overdo it too much with all the smells…  We don’t need to know every single scent lingering through the air!

17. Use Active Voice

Sometimes the smallest, and seemingly minuscule writing techniques can make a world of difference in your writing. In this case, use active voice to bolster your conciseness.  

Active voice is like a superhero costume for your writing. Let’s look at a simple example where you are describing a banker robber’s actions. 

“The bank was robbed by the thief” and “The thief robbed the bank”. Active voice gives your writing a sense of immediacy and action, and it makes your sentences more concise and impactful.

18. Use Symbolism To Add Depth

Symbolism is one of the oldest creative writing and storytelling techniques used to bring your writing to life. Trust me, using symbolism even in the simplest ways will keep your readers turning the pages. 

By using symbols to represent deeper meanings and themes in your writing, you can make your story more interesting and thought-provoking. 

Just please don’t go overboard with it we don’t need a 10-page explanation of what the color blue represents in your story.

19. Write With Passion And Emotion

This is where your writing process takes a level up (or down). Think about the last great book you read, where the author seemingly had you in a choke hold and you couldn’t put the book down. 

That is the author’s passion being expressed through words. When you get so lost in a book that you forget that someone created each line from their mind, that is when you know the story was written with passion.

This is one of the best writing tips for beginners because this is where your writing identity comes to life, and you can truly express who you are, so be passionate when your write!

20. Use Conflict To Drive Your Plot

Unless you are writing educational content, or maybe poems, your stories should have some sort of conflict that arises to bring flavor and enticement for your readers to continue.

Try and think of the last time you read a book or even watched a movie that didn’t has some sort of conflict that must be overcome within the storyline. 

This piques the curiosity of the audience to see how, or if the characters can overcome it.

21. Use Hooks To Draw Readers In

Your writing needs to be like a fishing lure – enticing and irresistible. By using strong hooks, you can grab your readers’ attention and reel them in.

Just don’t make it too obvious – we don’t need a neon sign that says “Hey, you! Yeah, you! Come read my story!”

22. Use Cliffhangers To Keep Readers Engaged

Think of cliffhangers like the “to be continued” at the end of your favorite TV show. Cliffhangers work so well because it makes the reader want to turn to the next page and find out what ends up happening.

The best books I have ever read were the ones that kept me guessing and didn’t give me clarity till the next chapter. This process continued over and over until I got my relief moment at the very end when the plot was made whole.

 By using cliffhangers, you can keep your readers engaged and excited to keep reading. 

23. Use Pacing To Keep Your Story Moving

Pacing is like the DJ at a party – it sets the mood and keeps things moving. 

If the DJ was just playing random genres of music it would be hard to “feel out the vibe” and your emotions would be all over the place. 

Quite frustrating as a participant. By varying the pace of your story, you can create moments of tension and excitement, as well as moments of reflection and introspection.

It’s important to not go overboard with this although making your reader feel like they are on a roller coaster.

Conclusion

A writing career is filled with creativity, frustration, joy, and self-development. As you continue to build your writing muscles and get more experience, you will watch yourself blossom not only as a writer but as an individual. 

As I was writing my second book/course on my trading strategies in the financial markets, I wanted to quit many times. As I was about 75 pages in, I realized that structure was all wrong and I needed to erase about 30 pages of work. 

As you can imagine I was devastated by all the hours I seemingly wasted and wanted to give up entirely.

I took a week off to gather my thoughts and figured I would give it another shot. I ended up rewriting those 30 pages in under a week, and it turned out better than I could’ve imagined. 

At the time I was a novice writer and didn’t have many writing tips ahead of time on which to base my knowledge. I was operating off of pure will (and a few Youtube videos), and this made the growth curve take much longer.

My point is, as beginner writers, it is precedent to create a strong base of writing knowledge so you can continue to build off of it as you progress. 

So take the first step. Do some freestyle writing, read more of other writers’ work, focus on your style, and just keep writing. 

FAQs

What’s the number 1 thing beginner writers should focus on?

My favorite tips from this beginner’s guide are to build up your writing muscles, and not focus on editing until you are down with the section, page, or chapter. 

Writers are often known to try and be perfectionists in their writing. This can be good, but not WHILE you writing. This was my biggest flaw that when fixed, I began writing at greater speed, and with better quality. 

How do I overcome writer’s block?

There are a few different ways that writers have been shown to overcome the death stare of a “blank page”. Although each person is different, some things like taking a few days off, drawing inspiration from nature, or taking to others to bounce ideas off of have shown to be effective ways that writers can overcome mental blockers. 

I lean on Ai software like Jasper or ChatGPT to help formulate ideas or even give me examples of how it would write the content. This software can give you thousands of ideas to help you overcome writer’s block. 

How do I develop my writing style?

Just start. You might not have a writing style for quite a while, and that’s okay. It’s might take some time when you publish content over and over again until it finally hits you like a brick. 

That “ah ha” moment will eventually come when you look back at a paper and you finally see the kind of writing style you use.

Just keep writing, it will come.