How to Start Writing Fiction: 7 Tips for Early Success

Becoming a writer can be intimidating, but I've got seven tips that'll boost your confidence and focus your efforts.

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[federicopalacios]

"Covering" is how Tarantino learnt how to write dialogue. He used to try and write the script of movies he liked as accurate as possible and eventually he came to understand how dialogue worked. I think there's an interview of him telling a story about him forgetting a play' script and just improvising the dialogue. The actors ending up liking his version more than the original.

[jarbles]

“Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now.” -Ernest Hemingway

[TheZetaKai]

Number 3 is great life advice for any and every endeavor. Whenever I do something new, I tell everyone "I will make every mistake in the book... once." I will screw up, sometimes quite badly, and that's okay, because I am dedicated to learning from those mistakes, to internalize those lessons, and to implement what I have learned from them to do better next time, and thus eventually become great at what I choose to do.

[Creadigol]

I keep marathoning your videos. Honestly nothing helps me more when it comes to getting past my writers block. Please never stop making these 😊
Also, your books are amazing!

[Eldalynn]

I’ve started to seek outside advice and it’s insightful. My thoughts on writing is you can’t edit a blank page. Gotta start somewhere.

[TheMadBelmont]

I'm currently in the middle of my first novel ever and this video is giving me a TON of motivation to keep going! I''ll admit, the thought of me having a horrible first draft is what's keeping me from finishing it but now I know that it's alright to have a bad draft.

Please keep making these writing advice videos, they're amazing!!

[alexbadeau]

Great advice ! In addition to your tips, Stephen King’s “if you can’t read, you can’t write, period” I find also rings true. Feeding my subconscious by expanding my palette and consuming material I love has made a massive impact on my writing

[TimRG]

#3 is so important. I didn't make many mistakes when starting out... I did, but no one really pointed them out. Much of the work I shared got great responses and the only bad was more on grammar. There were mistakes there, but since no one made me aware of them, I got a big head. When I started to be aware of those I ignored it believing things were fine. When I put that project away to let my brain have time to fix it. I moved on and made those same mistakes and more all because of my big head. This put me behind my goals by a decade. The takeaway from this is if you share only get good feedback and ask for negative feedback. If they don't kick them to the curb and go find people who will.

[dinodan]

So true, getting into a habit of writing every day is the most important thing do. I started writing every day over a year ago and now it is just a natural thing to do like brushing my teeth.

[connorgregory]

I'm working on a fantasy book, about 300 pages in and 150k words, and it feels like a legitimate book. It's one of many projects I've had, and in comparison all the things I've written before are absolutely terrible, but getting through the terrible thinking it's good is such an important part of this process. Now, looking on to my next project in anticipation, it will make my current project feel like a 3rd grader wrote it. That's been the beauty of the journey for me!

[WriterBrandonMcNulty]

When will you start (or continue) writing? Let us know!

[colinwest]

I have been brain storming and plotting out a story I have had in my mind for a few years. Yesterday I finally started and got the first two chapters done.

[Diginixx]

I have written several short stories that I have to say I'm quite proud of. I've been thinking for a while of writing my first full length story, so I'm glad I've found this channel as it is giving me more confidence in doing that! Thanks 🙏

[charlieholloway]

Wow. I absolutely love this guy and his advice.
Spot on.

[professorx]

I recently discovered your channel and I immediately subscribed!

Can't wait to write my first novel! I have hundreds of pages of various short stories, half finished chapters and lore, but never tied it together.

[Xandycane]

Number 5 is huge. I made this mistake and kept struggling with my story. It took watching a video where Sanderson said he set aside his Stormlight Archives for ten years to get good before I felt like it was okay to just stop and try something small. I WILL write the other story eventually, but I need to get really good at writing before writing an epic fantasy. 😊

[WilliamReginaldLucas]

I’ve taught guitar to a few beginners and one of the first things I say is it is gonna suck for the first couple of months, but just sitting down and playing for 15 minutes or so a day makes a world of difference, this advice really resonates with that! I set my daily word goal at 500 and some days it’s a struggle to hit but others I’ll find myself getting lost in the story world and before I know it I’ve reeled off 3, 000+! Great advice as always :)

[Megawatt]

Haven’t read this guy, but I like his delivery.

[PhoenixCrown]

I wrote a business planning book for marketing my accounting firm. It was 80 pages, simple and pretty easy to knock out. I realized how much I love writing and how I'm naturally good at it. So I dove into a planned 4-novel fantasy series! Fortunately, I had no trouble sitting down to write. I'm a DOER not a TALKER. So I wrote 130K word book in about a year and didn't watch or read a whole lot of advice throughout that process. Then I looked to improve/edit it, and that's when I realized that--though I had a solid plot and premise--it sucked.
Now I've spent a long time learning the craft and applying lessons to my book. What a wonderful masterclass. And the book is turning out great.

Very glad I found this channel. It's not only helping me a lot, but it's also pushed me to start writing again.
This isn't relevant to this particular video, but if anyone is planning a series or something with a lot of lore then I found Tiddlywink to be a really handy tool. It doesn't seem to be all that popular so it can take a little getting used to because there aren't a lot of tutorials out there. Basically it's a private offline version of Wikipedia that can help you keep everything in your world organised into their own entries just like on Wikipedia. You can add images, links to websites, links to other tiddlers you've created etc.
It sounds like I'm a Tiddlywiki shill, but I'm not. I just think it's useful for anyone who has trouble keeping things organised when they're creating something and I want to help them if I can. Most people use it for generic note taking or like a journal, but I think it's much better suited for anyone writing a book(s).
Anyway, thanks Brandon. You've been a big help to me already.