Don’t Try Too Hard

It is rather uncommon to find a writer who doesn’t want to be top notch. Most want recognition, and let’s face it, recognition is hard to come by. Sometimes this leads writers to push too hard, and not in the sense that they work beyond exhaustion (that is wrong also but it’s not what I’m talking about), but in the sense that they overdo their writing.

Trying too hard can be done in many ways. Maybe you use too much jargon, or you use too many adjectives. It may also have no reflection whatsoever in the words themselves. Maybe it takes you a very long time to finish a story because you revise it too much, or you are too ambitious and are not happy with the result. Whichever you are doing, or none, these tips may be of help:

Keep your choice of words simple, or at least, use words you use on a daily basis (unless too coloquial). Don’t try to impress your readers with your awesome knowledge of vocabulary, they may very well end up hating you for it.

Don’t overdescribe. It is always fantastic for a reader when they can see the characters or the landscapes you talk about, but sometimes writers get so carried away that they forget about the story they are supposed to tell. What’s more, descriptions may bore if they get too long, or the reader may get lost in the storm of adjectives.

Be careful not to be too ambitious with your story. It is just not possible to write something evey critic in the world will love, so relax, and keep it simple. Write something you would read and forget about the rest (this only applies to creative writing, not to academic papers).

When you revise, do make sure there aren’t any mistakes, but try to keep the changes to the storyline or to the basic structure of sentences, paragraphs, and even chapters, to a minimum. Otherwise, you might end up caught in a vortex of fresh ideas you can apply. Remember, revising too much is exactly how you erase your soul’s esscence from your work.

And the most important, always hold in the highest regard everything you write. Don’t worry it’s not good enough or if anyone will like it, have faith in your soul. Worrying is just another path to over revising, and it is also stressful, so stop, breathe, and write.

Cheers