Goodreads asked David Flin:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

David Flin It's quite simple. Write. You may start off rough and it might not be great, but the quickest and most effective way of improving is through practise, and that means writing.
Read widely. That lets you see how other people write, what techniques they use, how they develop things, how they pace. When you've read something, write, and try and put into practice what ideas you've gleaned from reading. Maybe it'll work for you, maybe not. You won't know until you've tried.
Listen to readers who comment on your writing. They may have a point (or not, as the case may be - they might not be the target audience). Reflect on what has been said, and try it out. Write.
The easiest thing in the world for an aspiring writer to do is "just a little more research before I start." Research is fine and good and rather necessary, but until you've written, you're not a writer.
Don't be afraid to change things if what you've written in first draft hasn't worked, but the requirement for being able to change something you've written is that you've written something to change.
Practise makes, if not perfect, at least better.
My advice to an aspiring writer is to find something you want to write, and write. Then you'll go from being an aspiring writer to being a starting writer.

flag