My 5 Top Writing Tips

Jan Domagala, the author of Col Sec Series, offers writers a few tips on writing and marketing.

Welcome to my blog, Jan.

Thank you, Michael, it’s nice to be here.

I often think what advice would I give to other writers should they ask, so here, in no particular order of preference are my top five tips.

1. Motivation
Set yourself a schedule of when to write. There is a train of thought that says that if you pick a time of day to sit down and write it’ll become a daily routine as common as your morning coffee. There is another thought that says what if you’re not inspired to write at that particular time? Do you write anyway and risk churning out rubbish or wait until you’re truly inspired? In my experience there is no ‘best time’ to write. I can feel inspired at the oddest of times and quite often when I’m away from my laptop so waiting until I’m inspired doesn’t work for me. On the odd occasions I sit to write and nothing comes, I read.
The thing is, this process is different for every writer, you just have to find a method that works for you and once you have it’s more than easy to adhere to, it becomes natural.

2. On Creativity
Write; quite simply write what you want. If you have picked a subject, whether it be fiction or not, just write it. Don’t worry about editing or changing stuff mid-flow because that’s the quickest way to stifle your creativity. Let the words tumble out onto the page, you can sort them out into a proper order once you’ve finished and the re-writes and editing begins.

3. Social Media
Don’t be afraid to use this in all its myriad forms. I find this increasingly difficult to comprehend how a platform like Twitter can be of any use to writers. I also know of some who swear by it. Each platform have their own merits but the one thing that a lot of writers misunderstand about them is, they are not best used to sell their books but to connect with readers. The clue is in the name, social. You have to use it to let your readers know that you are a real person, and are approachable. Once that has been achieved then you’ll increase your sales.

4. Marketing
Marketing is essential to any writer whether they are self-published or are being handled by a publishing house. In the case of the latter it’s not so much of a worry as the publishing house will have a plan with a team in place to execute it whereas if you are self-publishing it’s something you have to consider very carefully. If you have no experience in this field I suggest you do one of two things; either do the research where you can gain the knowledge required to put a plan into place, or employ someone who has these skills already.

5. Book Advice
If you decide to write a book then write the book you would want to read. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to write for a particular market, that way you will stifle your creativity. Write the book you would read yourself, it may be in a whole new genre, or a cross genre piece that covers many topics, whatever you chose throw yourself into it, body and soul. It won’t be easy but the rewards are beyond your imagination.

There you have it, my top five tips for writing. I hope they help and I wish anyone who is just starting out on a writing career the best of luck.

Thank you, Jan. Check out Jan’s science fiction Col Sec Series.