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February 13th was a bad day. I felt overwhelmed with the information available on the topic of writing. I later realized I need a plan on how to implement what I had been reading about. I have decided to work on my most obvious (writing) faults first, and study the main topics I am unclear on.

I panic at times, thinking that I must be unintelligent to allow major flaws to pass unnoticed in my writing. I have decided that it’s not the case. I am intelligent enough to learn, and to progress in my writing. If I have that attitude it will be challenging to learn and grow.

I received ten critiques on my short story which was posted for review for one week. Several areas were highlighted by more than one or two reviewers. The beginning of my list of ‘need to work on’ study topics.

They include:

1. Making the POV (point of view) the story is written in clear, and making any changes in POV obvious.
2. Watching out for diluting my writing with too many adjectives or adverbs, the “*?*#*ly” words.
3. Character development and motivation.
4. Show, by my characters actions, or by their dialog, don’t ‘tell’.
5. Clearly define scene changes within the story.

I also had a huge info dump section in my story. I try to avoid this, but in the space of 4000 words I had too much information to pass on as background to the story. Thus the info dump. It will be a challenge to work around it in this story, but it’s not an area I feel I need to study more on.

Here is my initial plan for improving my writing techniques:

Research. Nowadays there’s plenty of advice, counsel, lessons, suggestions, examples on almost any topic about writing style. I read and studied till I felt confident that I understand the point. I aim to tackle one topic at a time. Sometimes I have been able to grasp the point after reading one article. In other cases I needed to spend more time on the subject.

Ask for further advice from the people who critiqued your writing. I have found most people more than happy to send back an e-mail with clarifications one what they meant, and with examples on how to work on my style. Some have even included examples from their own work. This back and forth dialog has been helpful for me.

Join an online discussion group. If you’re struggling with a concept, or don’t understand how to make something ‘work’ with your writing, you can ask for tips and suggestions. Again, I have found most people more than willing to offer helpful advice.

Rework your writing. Go through the writing that was critiqued, and everything else you’re working on, and strengthen that particular area. Once you have learned to recognize a weakness in your writing you’ll be able to spot it in anything you write; and correct it.

Mention specific weak areas in your writing when sending your work for critique. If you have a problem preserving POV say so, and ask people to keep an eye out for that in your writing. If you worked on strengthening your plot say so, and ask for honest appraisals of how well you did with your rewrite. Be specific about what you want critiqued in your writing.

Doing this should pay off. Your writing skills should improve resulting in more polished, professional work.