Being a Neo-Writer

I can still see myself looking in awe at this one girl’s trophy cabinet. She’d gotten into the poem gallery over 400 times!! I wasn’t quite jealous, but I did want to be published.

I was an aspiring young writer. Finally, I got published after around six months of trying and failing. Since then, I’ve been published two more times. Not much, I know, but I’ve learned a lot about being a writer. I’m here to tell you how you can do it, too.

1. Express yourself!

Writers express themselves through their work (And I do stress expressing only yourself and the emotions that you are feeling). That’s what you should do if you want to be a writer.

For example, if you’re writing about someone who is really sad, but you’re actually pretty happy, then it’s not you. You’re not being yourself.

I think that the best writing come from you, not some made up character. This is because you are, well, yourself. What better way is there to write about sadness than if you are sad?

Expressing yourself not only helps your writing, but it also makes you feel better.

2. Don’t be boring! Be creative!

You have to be creative! We don’t want to hear, “Poogles are so awesome/ they are really fun/ I love Poogles so much/ I wish I could be one!” Why do you like Poogles? Tell us! Describe it in vivid detail, make us laugh, make us cry!

This part is very, very, very incredibly, super- duper important! You have to use vivid words and details. Don’t write, “I went to the park and saw flowers.” Write something like, “I raced to the park and leaned down to sniff the fragrant roses.” Make a picture with your words! Can you picture the park I just wrote about?

There is also word choice. Words like “ran,” “screamed,” “smell/smelled,” and “good” are usually pretty bad words to use. Find a thesaurus to help you with word choices. It will most certainly brighten up your writing...

Then again, it might shine a blinding flare upon your writing piece. This is a no-no. Don’t say, “The path was dirty, crumbling and tan. It wound and curved and twisted like a wild snake, and was encroached with enormous golden-colored flowers that smelled like peaches, disgusting and ugly little black beetles and gigantic oaks and horrible, terrible, nasty weeds.” Not only was that second sentence a run-on (which we’ll go over later), but there were too many details!

Condense it. You don’t want half of your story to be a description. Write something shorter, like, “The dirty path wound like a snake. It was encroached by numerous plants and horrid little bugs.” Can you see the path in your head?

You should also use metaphors, similes and hyperboles to spice it up. I’ll give you the mini- version of it: Metaphors call one thing another, (ex: “There was a sea of grass,” in which the grass is called a sea) similes are comparisons using “like” or “as,” (ex: “The girl was like a doll,” in which the girl is compared to a doll) and hyperboles are exaggerations. I mean enormous exaggerations, like, “After that run, I could sleep for a million years!”

Finally, don’t use an idea that’s been done a million times before (there’s another hyperbole). We don’t care about the princess who was *insert plight here* and was saved by a prince.

3. Don’t use bad grammar!

A lot of things could fall into this terribly important category. I’ll break it down into spelling, usage, capitalization and punctuation. Spelling is too broad to be covered here, so we’ll skip it. *applause* It’s going to be hard to explain this all in one article, but here I go:

First off, we have usage. There are a few groups of homophones that are mixed up quite a bit. These words sound the same, but have different spelling and meanings. One example is “to,” “too,” and “two.” Two is the number, to is like when you say, “I’m going to *insert place here*,” and too is either used as in, “Me too,” or, “too much.” Then we have “there,” “their,” and “they’re.” Most people use “there” in place of the other two. “There” is used as in, “We’re going there.” “They’re” is “they are.” “Their” is used to show ownership. Ask your English teacher if you’re really crazy enough to want to know more.

Next, we have capitalization. Basically, you capitalize the beginning of a sentence, and proper nouns, which are basically just names. It’s really pretty simple.

Then, there’s punctuation. Periods are at the end of an abbreviation or sentence. Commas are used in lists, or to join sentences/ sentences and phrases. Apostrophes ARE NOT USED WITH PLURALS! You do not say, “I have two cat’s.” Apostrophes are used in contractions, in place of one or two letters, or two show possession. One example is, “My sister can’t.” The apostrophe stands in for the n and o. For possession, one example is, “Bella’s glove tore.” It’s Bella’s glove, and to show that, you say “’s” at the end. If more than one person owns it, you put the apostrophe after s.

There’s too many grammar rules to cover them all. Oh, and yes, I’m done with my speech. *applause* I have a feeling that you weren’t clapping because I did a good job.

4. Make your writing stand out!

All of the other rules are important, but anyone can do those things. To secure your win, you should be unique.

I like to make my writing shine with metaphors and really deep lines, because you’re not a good writer unless you can make up a sappy quote on the spot—er, I mean, make your reader really think.

Anyway, be unique! Be original! Your plot, as I said, should be interesting. Make your entire plot your idea, and only your idea. That’s originality.

Being unique is writing something that makes your writing remembered. As I said, you should make your reader think. I find that the pieces that make me think are the best, and I remember them.

Really, the key to standing out is to be remembered, and to do that, you just need to be an awesome writer, for lack of a better word.

I find that the more I’m published, the more confidence I gain in my writing. I’ve found out that I don’t need to be published to be confident, and neither do you. Even so, the more I’m published, the more I learn about my writing, and how to improve it.

I hope that this guide helps you develop your writing, and maybe even help you get published! Just remember that anyone can be a Neo-Writer.