Advice for Young Writers

I’ve been asked to give a few words of advice to a teen writing group. I’ve spent quite a bit of time pondering what to say. Some teenagers are resistant to learning.  They have that ‘I dare you to teach me’ attitude. I’m hoping that kids in a writing group are there with the idea of learning as much as they can. 

I will give them my two keywords—patience and persistence. When you’re young and starting to write, you’re excited and anxious to get started in a high speed mode. You’re not willing to spend lots of time reading about the craft of writing or doing writing exercises. 

Seasoned writers know that both the above are well worth pursuing. They know that doing all they can to learn about writing is the best way to finding success.  

Telling teenagers to take their time seems almost fruitless, but perhaps if they hear it often enough, they will try to practice patience. 

If they learn the patience part, the persistent half should be easier. Not always, of course. We all know that multiple rejections make a writer want to give up. And many do. It’s the determined ones who will stay the course. 

I will also tell them to start writing short pieces and work up to writing novels or epic poems. If a young writer has a dream of writing novels, it can be hard to make them believe that beginning with short stories is the wiser way to go.  Make novel writing the objective but work up to doing so gradually.  That’s where the patience part comes in. 

I might also suggest they sign up to receive a blog for writers.  One like Writer Granny’s World perhaps!