01 Jun 6 More Things Every Writer Needs

Needing some inspo and guidance to improve your writing?

This post was written by Holly Moore, a graduate who was mentored by Kirsten for work experience on a paid internship.

Recently I wrote a blog post titled ‘6 Things Every Writer Needs’ in which I recommended six things that could give you inspiration, improve your writing skills and help you in your publishing journey. Today, I’m going to be recommending six more!

1. Writing Books

There are lots of writing books out there and while reading them is not essential to becoming a good writer, they can offer valuable tips and tricks to spark creativity, help you avoid common writing mistakes and give your writing an edge.

Here are a few suggestions: (*I haven’t personally read all of these, but they do come highly recommended!)

Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, by Jessica Brody. Based on the Save the Cat! books written by Blake Synder, this book styles itself as ‘The Last Book on Novel Writing You’ll Ever Need’. It offers a how-to guide on how to plot a captivating story using a 15-point story structure.

The Student’s Guide to Writing: Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar, by John Peck and Martin Coyle. While predominantly aimed at students and tailored to essay writing, this book takes readers back to basics, teaching you how to write successful sentences and paragraphs, walking you through the key principles of grammar and punctuation, and highlighting common spelling mistakes. I’ve reread this myself 4 times and think it is an excellent resource for all writers, whether you write fiction or nonfiction.

The Emotion Thesaurus, by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. This is a reference book that helps writers convey emotion to the reader. It breaks down 130 emotions into corresponding body language and thoughts, as well as tackling common emotion-related writing problems. This author duo have also written other books in this series including The Urban Setting Thesaurus, The Occupation Thesaurus, and The Conflict Thesaurus.

Your Story Matters, by Nikesh Shukla. From author, writing mentor and bestselling editor of The Good Immigrant comes a writing guide full of exercises and prompts to help aspiring writers develop their ideas. It encourages you to figure out what you want to write, how you want to write and why this is the best use of your voice.

The Creative Writing Coursebook, edited by Julia Bell and Paul Magrs. This is a comprehensive writing guide in which over forty authors share advice and writing exercises for fiction and poetry. It covers the whole writing process from planning to looking for publishers.

If you don’t want to buy a book on writing, there are also a lot of free resources online, especially on YouTube and other social media platforms. You could also try writer magazines like Writing Magazine or Writer’s Digest.

2. Your Favourite Books

You may have heard that avid readers often make better writers. Reading a lot and reading widely can not only improve your vocabulary and expose you to different styles and techniques, it can also inspire your own work.

Think about the things you love in your favourite books and what trends are popular – could you use these in your own work? Or is there a classic or a story from mythology or folklore that you love that might form the basis of a retelling?

Consuming other forms of media like TV shows, films and music can also give you inspiration.

3. Productivity Apps

Keeping motivated and maintaining a writing habit are two things that a lot of writers struggle with.

To combat this, you can set time goals rather than word goals. For example, rather than saying you will write 1000 words today, you might aim to write for 1-2 hours a day. Splitting this goal up into shorter ‘writing sprints’ is also a good idea. Set a timer for 20-30 minutes and write. Take a break. Then write for another 20-30 minutes.

Two timer apps I like are the Howler Timer and Forest.

Howler Timer is a timer app available on Mac. There are free and paid versions but the free one works fine if you are just looking for a basic timer. The alarm sound is a wolf howl which makes any writing session a little more dramatic! If you don’t have a Mac, you could use the timer on your phone or Google instead.

Forest is a paid app available on the App Store and Google Play. It currently costs £3.49/$3.99 on the App Store. When you set a timer, you plant a seed, which slowly grows into a plant. However, if you use your phone when you should be focusing, the plant dies. The design of the app is cute and there are lots of different trees and plants you can collect. There are also music options if you like working with background noise.

If you find that writing sprints work for you, I recommend checking out YouTube, as there are always lots of people hosting live writing sprints.

4. Candles, perfumes and other scents

Many studies have been conducted on the link between smell and productivity. Google it and you’ll find that some scents can increase focus and reduce stress.

If you are a little stuck in your project, why not try putting on a candle or trying out a perfume or cologne? If you don’t want to spend money, there are also free alternatives. Coffee, citrus, lavender and cinnamon are all rumoured to improve productivity, so you might already have something lying around the house to try out.

Additionally, some people suggest using a different scent for each project so that when you use that smell your brain automatically shifts into a suitable writing headspace. For instance, if you were writing a dark fantasy you might want to choose a musky, warm smell, whereas if you were writing a romance you might go for florals or sweet scents.

5. Self-care

Overworking and burnout can be hugely detrimental to your physical and mental health. Therefore, taking regular breaks when working on a writing project is essential.

Self-care can look different to everyone. Some people might like to take long baths or treat themselves to a takeaway. Others might like to explore nature or rewatch a favourite film. The key thing to note is that self-care needs to be intentional and planned into your schedule. There’s no point working until you are exhausted and then resting. Instead, set aside a certain part of your day or week and dedicate it to self-care.

6. Professionals

Scenario: You’ve finished your first draft. You’ve edited it and proofread it yourself and are now wanting to self-publish. What should you do next?

Hire a professional.

The truth is if you want to be a successful self-published writer, you are going to have to invest in your work and spend money to make your book the best it can be. This includes hiring professional editors, a proofreader, a cover designer etc.

Don’t rely on one person to do everything. Editors, for example, will often specialise in different areas from overall manuscript evaluations to copy editing to line editing. Learn what each editor does and don’t expect one person to do it all (unless you are willing to pay that individual for each of their services).

Kirsten Rees offers developmental editing, line editing, proofreading and author coaching services.

And, those are six more things that every writer needs! If you haven’t read my previous post, check it out for some more suggestions!

Disclaimer: this post is not sponsored by any of the products mentioned and all opinions are my own.

This post was written by Holly Moore.

Holly has recently graduated from The Open University, after completing modules in science, history and creative writing. She has always loved consuming stories, whether through reading books or watching TV shows and films. She hopes to create her own stories in the future, as well as becoming a professional proofreader. 

Find her here:

Instagram: @novelcuriosityproofreading

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmPNXRtbL6m-RuzrysAW1VA