#1 [url]

Aug 14 07 2:47 PM

QUOTE
I'm in a very similar position to you and thinking pretty much along the same lines. What I have started doing is writing a lot of short stories. In few different genre's that aren't to far from the genre of my book.

I've found this to be helpful, too. And what I found to be particularly effective is using writing prompts -- and writing the stories in a variety of genre (many times, a writing prompt itself will suggest a genre.)

And, as Tina has suggested, reading books on writing will help -- you'll begin to see the weaknesses in your writing and will have an idea how to fix the problems (like, for instance, getting rid of adverbs, adjectives, and passive voice and cutting "garbage" words, removing redundancies.) You'll begin to see how important it is to make sure the story "moves," that there is sufficient motivation, and that the conflict is continuous and escalating.

I've only been writing just over a year and a half now. I started writing because there was a story I was burning to tell. I recognized that I had no ability to write it, so I first took a couple of online writing classes, one through my local junior college, the other was Robyn Opie's "Show, Don't Tell." Her class made all the difference for me, got me started, and I've continued to learn from every good source I can find.

And don't worry that some of the available information on writing is free -- some of the most valuable tips I've learned have been on sites maintained by writers for the benefit of beginning writers.