Bestselling author Rick Riordan offers new writers 3 tips to kick their writing career into high gear.
Rick Riordan is best known for his first book in a series: Percy Jackson & The Olympians.
Adolescent Literacy is a a national non-profit organization helping parents and teachers of struggling teenaged readers and writers.
Adolescent Literacy is an offshoot of the Washington Educational Television Association or WETA.
WETA is a large, well known public television and radio station in our nation’s capital. It’s funded mostly by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
You can also check out WETA’s collection from Ken Burns here: https://watch.weta.org/collections/ken-burns-collection/
Rick Riordan is addressing a younger audience, his points ring true for any writer starting out.
His advice could be given to seasoned professional authors too. If nothing else, it’s a good reminder.
The 3 main points he makes are:
- You must READ
- You must WRITE
- DON’T give up!
These tips are certainly nothing new, but I can tell you that reading and writing with a critical eye helped me develop my own writing.
As with any creative endeavor you have to find your own voice. You’ve got to find your own style of writing to be as effective as you can.
As a writer, you need to be able to write from 3 completely different perspectives.
1.From your own perspective as a writer and see the macro view of your storyline.
2. From the perspective of your protagonist. What do they know and don’t know? This is an important point. You don’t want to mess this up. It spoils things for the reader.
3. From the perspective of the reader. They are not in your head. They don’t and won’t see the story in their minds like you do. Give them an adequate framework for their imagination. Then let them fill in the rest of the story their way.
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