The Tales Pensieve

To be a good author, one needs to read a lot. Reading is not only a great teacher of nuances of writing, character building, plot creation, etc but it also encourages you to know more about the author, their styles, their muses and their habits. It is always a good idea to pick up personality traits from the best in your line of work, to excel like them. So, aping few habits of highly successful writers in not at all a bad idea! Here I have listed some of the best habits of highly successful authors. Pick any or all:

Follow a timetable: You cannot get your writing done unless you are following a strict timetable. If there is no timetable to be followed, you will end up procrastinating and deadlines will go for a toss. Your publisher won’t be happy, and in a hurry you will not be able to do justice to your story. A routine is good. A lot of successful authors have full-time jobs too. Without a routine, there would be days with no writing done at all.

Read more: Ask any author and they will tell you that they read a lot. And the biggest mistake most new authors do is that they don’t read enough. Just because they have a story to tell, they start writing it. You might have the plot in your mind but character building, treatment given to plots, etc can be learnt from how other successful writers do the same. The best way to improve your writing is by reading good authors and learning from them.

Write about what you love: What you love is the closest to your heart. And it is what you love which you can talk about the best. So write about the known and write it best.

Write every single day. Doesn’t matter how much you write, or what your write about but make sure you write every day. If not writing your story, write on prompts. You cannot afford to lose touch with your craft for even a single day.

Set goals: Successful writers set writing goals for themselves and you should too. Assign x number of pages to be written each day and ensure that your day doesn’t end until you’ve done that.

Want to write but don’t know what to? Well, do not go here and there. Sit with the blank page in front you and start writing.

Highly successful writers write what excites them, instead of what might excite the audience. Doing the former is always advised since what is coming from your heart is sure to touch the reader’s heart too!

Create an outline of the story you wish to write. Highly successful writers are known to write the outline of the plot first and then fill the middle.

Highly successful authors know that their first draft will not be the best. They are ready to rewrite it as many times it is needed until they are absolutely satisfied with the story they have created.

These authors also know the importance of ensuring that their book is well-edited. Poor editing not only reflects badly on them, but also makes the sales of books take a nose dive.