Jennifer M. Baldwin
Try to finish what you start. Unless the story is totally, completely, torturously terrible and you hate every minute you spend on it, I recommend that you try to finish. Even if it's crap, the act of finishing it will teach you a lot about storytelling and craft and (perhaps most importantly) discipline.
I also think aspiring writers need to read a lot. But don't read only page-turners or light, fun stuff. Read the classics. Read poetry. Read essays. Read things that are strange and quirky. Read old things: epics, myths, romances (the medieval kind).
Also: Watch off-beat movies, Hollywood classics from the 30s, 40s, and 50s, and foreign films. Watch T.V. shows that tell complex, original stories. Go to the theater and see great plays.
The typical answer that most writers give for a question like this is "Write a lot." But if you're writing a lot of lousy prose and doing a lot of weak storytelling, then you're not going to get any better as a writer. You're just going to reinforce bad habits. By reading great works of literature (and by the way, I include folks like Dashiell Hammett and James M. Cain in the "great" category), then you'll see what good writing looks like. Imitate the good stuff. Once you can imitate the good stuff, then move on to developing your own voice.
I also think aspiring writers need to read a lot. But don't read only page-turners or light, fun stuff. Read the classics. Read poetry. Read essays. Read things that are strange and quirky. Read old things: epics, myths, romances (the medieval kind).
Also: Watch off-beat movies, Hollywood classics from the 30s, 40s, and 50s, and foreign films. Watch T.V. shows that tell complex, original stories. Go to the theater and see great plays.
The typical answer that most writers give for a question like this is "Write a lot." But if you're writing a lot of lousy prose and doing a lot of weak storytelling, then you're not going to get any better as a writer. You're just going to reinforce bad habits. By reading great works of literature (and by the way, I include folks like Dashiell Hammett and James M. Cain in the "great" category), then you'll see what good writing looks like. Imitate the good stuff. Once you can imitate the good stuff, then move on to developing your own voice.
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