
Well-meaning teachers often encourage us to spend all our summer in the books. But when you’re a writer waiting on the cue to write, you wonder, how much should I read first? Should we really get away from reading to write our own book, and should it really be done today?
Staying home to work on a script may seem like a waste of time when the pool is open and your favorite fiction series awaits, but don’t disregard the flexibility and imagination that comes with the summertime. Even as you are working, taking driver’s ed, or filling out college applications, your brain should be generally freer to dream as you enjoy relational events such as sleepovers, road trips, and camp days.
Instead of seeing writing as something that pulls you away from the world, what if you saw how it mirrored reality, thus giving renewed vision for your real life circumstances?
This article is here to give you both permission and practices to write your best work today. You have more time than you think, and you’re more equipped than you know.
If you’re getting excited, don’t stop. Avoid a high with no result by simply learning how to write your best work regardless of what your summer work schedule demands or your current level of creative genius. There is no magic potion that will suddenly make you the new J.R.R. Tolkien or C.S. Lewis. You’ve got to know yourself and how you think, and then you have to counteract your weaknesses and switch pride for humility.
Write something fast, then allow critiques to hold it. The quicker this is accomplished, the quicker you will develop an inner editor, who, as soon as you write a sentence, will begin reshaping it and improving it. To hand out fresh work can feel like jumping off a diving board and not knowing if people will clap. But if your goal is to have your work praised, you’re not looking to become a serious writer; you’re looking for self-confidence. If you really want to develop this summer, share your writing, and try not to let your heart rate escalate. You win when accountable; not introspectively focused.
Choose the right critics. Variety is golden. You may have your grandma read it, your teacher read it, and your little brother read it. Ask your friend who doesn’t like poetry, your uncle who’s a genius, and your cousin who doesn’t enjoy reading at all. Not everyone will know your work or what you want it to accomplish like you, but if every reader gave at least one truth you can embrace through teachability, that’s worth it. Always be careful who you entrust with your work. Family is often the safest, because you’re probably the only one interested in taking the time to perfect a work in need of ten revisions. Questions to ask depend on the person and your judgement but may include:
Is my writing easy to understand?
How did it make you feel as a reader?
Am I void of a major plot or theme in this genre?
Did any of my characters feel ingenuine?
What works did this remind you of, and how is mine different?
Do you have any practical advice pertaining to my use of grammar and punctuation?
Abstractly, your 'best work' may sound difficult to detect, but excellence is not entirely subjective. Everyone wants the author’s voice to be genuine and trusted. The reader should not second guess that you know what you are talking about. If you have a clear, uncompromising piece that prompts a little voice to shout inside, “YES! I am writing exactly what I want to write!” congratulations!
Help yourself execute with satisfaction by identifying wins. If your dream is to submit a short story to a writer’s competition, do it. Maybe it is getting 1k book words down to revisit in October – that’s an identified win. Have a manuscript ready for editorial review? Pay an independent editor, then jump on the bus for camp. It sounds rather far-fetched and adultish, but if you’re serious about becoming a writer, you will recognize your teenage summers as being some of the least demanding seasons you'll have, which is a real opportunity to escalate your dream career.
Don't feel as though you need another Youtube class or online course to start. Actually beginning the process of writing your ‘best work’ is not as hard as you think, and it involves more than somebody telling you to simply sit down and crank out the next bestseller. See which of these strands of ideas gives you the biggest smile, and learn a bit from them all:
1. For Non-fictionists (biographers and life writers)
Find inspiration through the studying of word and image. You don’t have to be a research enthusiast, but you’ll inevitably become somewhat of a historian and journalist, so enjoy immersing into the story that has (to a degree) been written for you through photographs, letters, artifacts, and first-hand verbal accounts.
Practice the art of journaling. Try writing when you feel the most confused. These hours can create sincerely compelling sentences. Building yourself an archive is one of the best things you can give yourself. Use the medium of handwriting or audio recording, as it offers the gift of neurological memory. You can digitalize and type these later in the process, and you’ll be grateful to have already mined a chest of gold that’s simply waiting to polish.
2. For Fictionists (the novelists and short story enthusiasts)
Find inspiration through books, movies, and music. Create a playlist for your book. Study what movies gave you original inspiration, read the books you want your story to mirror, and put on clothes you imagine your characters wearing.
Practice quantitative writing. Get as much of the story written as fast as you can. A groan for us fictionists is being the literal authors of something never written. Help yourself avoid lengthy spells of writer's block by quickly making it exist, then edit all material later.
3. For Poets (the aspiring poets, the active poets, and those who don’t feel they belong but actually do and should continue)
Find inspiration unconventionally. Take a walk; reflect. Write on the blank page of a devotional’s ending chapter. Dance and see what comes out of your mouth. Poetry is one of the deepest forms of human expression. You must become raw.
Practice the art of prose editing. Take a 100-word paragraph you think exceptionally beautiful that resonates with your overall writing style. Cut it to 50 but maintain the common message, then cut it to 20 and turn it into a verse poem. Finally, cut it to 10 words. This gives you the freedom to do this with your own work, if writing a prose paragraph feels easier than turning out a perfectly structured villanelle.
4. For Dramatists (the screenwriters, comic artists, and stage play directors)
Find inspiration through real people. Put on the captions, print out online scripts, and try seeing a live show you don’t really want to see just to dare yourself to learn something about, say, the art of their transitions.
Practice the art of listening and recounting live conversations. The more you interact with people, hear tones and note body languages, the more intuitive you will become when writing your own scripts. Also, learn the correct format for scriptwriting! This will help you feel tremendously established.
As the crickets sing and the Ferris wheel spins, let your mind spin with excitement. The time is now. The possibilities are not endlessly out of reach; they’re right above this paragraph. But no more remarks from me – it’s time to write!!!
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