GENERAL WRITING TIPS

1) YOUR PROCESS ISN'T WORKING? CHANGE THE PROCESS.

Famous writers infamously swear by certain writing routines. They insist that they must write 2,000 words a day, and they must wake up at sunrise to beat the roosters in order to get writing done. That, however, shouldn't be an endorsement for all writers to adopt these processes. First of all, it's unsustainable for a lot of people, especially for those who are aspiring to be published rather than people who already have full-time careers as novelists. Second of all, everybody's brains work differently.

If your current process isn't working, try changing the process. Hell, you don't even have to write every day. Write 2,000 words once a week, and you'll still have a full draft of your novel in a year. Write 300 words a day, and take weekends off. Experiment. If what you're doing isn't working, try something else.

2) YOUR SURROUNDINGS AREN'T WORKING? CHANGE YOUR SURROUNDINGS.

I work from home. For others, that must sound like a prime opportunity to be able to stay at home and write. I admit, it's a sweet gig, but my home is counter-intuitive to my writing. My wife and I are neurodivergent and struggle to regularly keep our home clean, and so my surroundings are often untidy, leading to me being anxious over how untidy we are. Mental illness sucks, man. But we're working on it.

In the meantime, I make it a point to leave my home at least once or twice a week. I have a great membership with a literary arts organizations that offers coworking spaces for cheaper than what traditional coworking spaces ask for. I love writing there. The public library is also a single ten-minute bus ride away, so sometimes I like to write there.

3) DON'T LIKE MAKING A FULL OUTLINE? FIGURE OUT THE STORY'S DESTINATION.

I get it. Making a full outline is hard. Writing is a hard act, and I commend others who are hand-in-hand with me as we pursue this arduous journey of putting our hearts into our work. I try to fully outline my project these days, but I started out with an easier step: figuring out the destination of my story.

Where do you want your character to end up? How do you want the main character to feel about the story they just lived? It's good to think about stuff like that at the very least, because it'll help lubricate your ability to try the next tip.

4) LET YOUR CHARACTERS TAKE THE WHEEL AND DRIVE THEIR OWN ROUTE.

If you know the destination of your story, then put yourself in the shoes of your characters and let them figure out the route. Even better, you as the author can even add pitfalls and bumps to their journey, and that gives more potential for how the character has to navigate these hiccups.

5) ONE SENTENCE IS BETTER THAN ZERO.

Self-explanatory. Even if you don't feel like writing, but want to form a habit of writing every day, write a single sentence.

6) FIND YOUR COMMUNITY.

There's this myth among creatives that the act of writing is mainly solitary. But for me at least, solitude makes for miserable writing. Find a like-minded community that would help motivate you.

Even better, find a community that encourages you to lift up other writers. Back when I did NaNoWriMo, the NaNo Boston group was a great community to be around. Look for local writing clubs. Share your writing progress with friends. You don't have to be alone to write.

7) GIVE YOURSELF ENFORCEABLE DEADLINES.

In early 2025, I decided to join a writing group. As mentioned earlier, I was recommended this local literary arts organization that has this really cool building where you can rent a coworking station and spend time writing there. It also has a variety of writing groups members can freely choose. This group in particular only had one goal: silently write for an hour amongst each other and share how your progress is going. No critiques. No sharing of work. No workshops. Just enjoy writing among like-minded people who also wanted accountability through a community.

Because it happens once a week, I feel motivated to be able to come by every week to work on my writing. It also helps me build a habit that involves getting some amount of writing done. Because I'm already there, I like to rent a workstation and continue working in the building until closing hours.

While it's not a deadline necessarily, the expectation of meeting weekly holds me accountable. I feel the need to show up regularly as if I'm part of a college course. It's thanks to that writing group that I now have 4-5 days per month where I'm expected to spend a full day writing. Regardless of the amount of words I end up writing, time will pass and the words will build up.

I've even applied this to my reading habit, which further contributes to my writing. I stop by my local public library once every few weeks and borrow a liberal amount of books where the covers caught my attention. Because library books have due dates, I'm expected to leave the house and return books on a regular basis. Because I've left the house, I might as well spend the day writing at the library. Because I'm at the library, I might as well borrow more books that catch my attention. It's a wonderful cycle of reading and writing and reading and writing.

8) LOVE WHAT YOU WRITE.

Self-explanatory. To be more clear, don't write a book purely based on current publishing trends. Not only will the trend disappear by the time you've completed a draft worth querying, but also the chances of you completing a full draft to begin with will be quite low if you don't actually care about the book you're writing.

One of my first novels, Saccharine, is an example of this. Back then, I decided to try my hand at dystopian novels because dystopias were all the rage and they were also my favorite type of books to read. But I eventually abandoned it. Why? Because I didn't really care about any of it. The dystopia I crafted, the characters I wrote... I didn't really give a shit about what I was writing. Instead of writing because I love the craft, I was writing because I thought this would be a cool-enough dystopian novel that would sell. Sure enough, it was a terrible novel.

Don't worry about how weird it is or how derivative it may seem. Write because your characters are dragging you by the hand, eager to continue their journey. Write because the message you want to tell is one you want to shout to the world. Write what you love. Love what you write.

9) KEEP A NOTEBOOK WITH YOU.

The writer's stereotype is true, but heavily recommended. After all, we don't mock artists for carrying around sketchbooks whenever there's a subject matter they want to study. Writers' notebooks are no different.

It's worth making a habit out of being observant of the world, internally and externally, big and small. There will be bizarre encounters you'll want to jot down and add to your project. There will be a news article about some happenstance that you'll have strong feelings about. There will be a feeling so intense that you want to put how it feels into explicit words, and maybe eventually, your main character will soon feel something similarly intense.

Study the world, and imagine other people's perspectives. You'll find that there's a lot about humanity still worth writing about.

Want ideas on how to keep a writer's notebook? Feel free to take a look at my notebook system.

10) HAVING TROUBLE STARTING? START WRITING BY HAND.

As someone who has participated in a lot of write-in events, I have also witnessed my fair share of fellow writers staring at a blank white document on their laptop screen, their fingers frozen with uncertainty. I have experienced this myself, where typing words feel duller. Those words seem more final even though that isn't the case in reality.

I've found that writing by hand significantly helped me get over that hurdle. When I work on my writing by hand, I can let myself explore the page. The physical paper acts better as a literary canvas, and I find it a lot more freeing to write. When I type it all up, I can make minor tweaks, and those tweaks mainly involve adding more words.

So, if you feel paralyzed in front of your screen, grab the nearest notebook and pen you can find (not pencil!) and handwrite your work for half an hour. That'll get you out of that so-called writer's block.

11) LET YOURSELF BREAK THE RULES.

Read Dryer's English. Learn the rules. Have fun breaking them.