: Re: How can I improve my writing's pacing and sophistication? How can I improve my creative writing skills? I have many ideas for short stories but I feel as if my writing is very slow paced

@Kaufman555

Vote Up Vote Down

You have lots of ideas for short stories. The way you get better is to WRITE THEM. Absolutely do NOT think about 'literary techniques'. Really good writers use literary techniques (the theory of which gets very fancy, using words like paraklausithyron, hysteron proteron, etc.) unconsciously. Really bad writers go out to write something 'literary' using 'techniques'. Just write your stories down in the most direct way you can. If you think one scene should come next but find yourself thinking about a different scene instead, write the one you are thinking about (you can change the order later). It is definitely true that the quality of your work could be improved, it is true for everyone. The way you improve your work is this:

Write. The best material comes from experience. That doesn't invalidate genre fiction. If you have ideas for fantasy or sci fi, write them. If you are not sure which idea to pick out of many, pick the one that comes from experience.
Take a break (a week give or take) then come back to the work and decide for yourself what works and what doesn't work. Ask WHY in both cases. Learn as much as you can. Try to rewrite it, make it better.
Read other writers you admire who write like you wish you could, about things you are interested in. Learn from them. Copy, steal.
Repeat forever.

(Finally -- you explicitly mentioned a problem with slow pacing. The way to fix this is to watch very well plotted films --- The Last Unicorn, The Matrix (only the first one), The Incredibles, Citizen Kane --- and notice very carefully how little time the films waste on transitions. The VERY MOMENT something new can happen, it does.)

(0)

Login to post a comment!