HOW TO BE A GOOD WRITER: 5 TIPS THAT WORK - GEOGRAFÍA

You can increase your chances of being a good writer. If you really want it, I will teach you a simple way and that you probably have not read, although it is very effective.

Surely you have already informed yourself that you have to read a lot, write a lot, improve your creativity, improve your vocabulary, work on your grammar, spelling…

However, all that is logical, it is there, everyone can reach it. You have the tools but not a path you can follow. It is so obvious that I think you can forget the keys that can truly make a difference.

In my opinion, if you really want to become a professional writer, 50% depends on strategy, attitude and psychology. Another part is technique, talent and probably some luck, although the latter can be created.

Although at the end I will mention some of these aspects, I do not consider them the most important. I think you have to take into account others that will make a difference.

Tips to be a good writer

1- Research your favorite writers

Gabriel Garcúa Márquez, one of the best known writers in history

It is often said that "success leaves a trace" and it is very true. Every time a person has been successful or has achieved some great achievement, many of the steps he has taken can be known.

It is possible that a great writer does not show some of the keys to his success, some of it is due to talent or even luck, but if you know what he has done and what path he has followed, you will already know a way to achieve it.

This is not easy, but you will realize that they have usually followed paths or taken actions that people do not usually do. And it is what you will have to do. You can't be a great novelist if you do what everyone else does.

I am going to give you several examples with the most important events in the lives of great novelists.

In my opinion, there have probably been many people throughout history who have been able to write very well, but who did not have that "special ingredient" that is the great leap. My proposal is not that you neglect the basics (read a lot, have good grammar, practice…) but also look for those "special ingredients".

Obviously, I can't give you all the biographies now, but I can give you events that I consider key and from which you can learn. I encourage you to read more from the lives of your favorite novelists or poets.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

With less than 13 years he wrote humorous poems and drew humorous strips.
Doña Tranquilina Iguarán, his grandmother, told him fables and family legends: she was the source of the magical, superstitious and supernatural vision of reality.
In Zipaquirá he had Carlos Julio Calderón Hermida as a professor of literature between 1944 and 1946, who encouraged him to be a writer.
In the early 1940s he joined the Barranquilla Group, which subjects and taught young budding writers. They analyzed authors, disassembled works, and reassembled them, which allowed them to discover the tricks that novelists used.
In 1945 he wrote eight syllable sonnets and poems inspired by a girlfriend who had
After graduation in 1947, García Márquez stayed in Bogotá to study law at the National University of Colombia, where he had a special dedication to reading.
One of his favorite works was The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.
He was excited about the idea of writing, not traditional literature, but in a style similar to his grandmother's stories, in which extraordinary events and anomalies are "inserted as if they were simply an aspect of everyday life."
At the age of 20, he published his first story, The Third Resignation, which appeared on September 13, 1947 in the edition of the newspaper El Espectador.
In 1948 he started working as a reporter for El Universal.
In 1950 he worked in Barranquilla as a columnist and reporter for the newspaper El Heraldo.

Julio Verne

Many biographers claim that in 1839, at the age of eleven, she ran away from home to be a cabin boy on a merchant ship traveling to India named Coralie, with the intention of buying a pearl necklace for her cousin Caroline. It seems that her father reached the ship and made her promise that she would dream only in dreams. Would this have influenced her imagination?
A teacher told her stories about her sailor husband.
He was interested in poetry and science. He read and collected scientific articles, displaying an almost sick curiosity that would last a lifetime.
In 1846 he began to write prose.
In 1847 he wrote a play: Alexander VI.
In 1848 he was introduced by his uncle Châteaubourg into literary circles, where he met the Dumas, father and son; the former will have great personal and literary influence on Verne.
Although he finished his degree in 1849, he refused to be a lawyer (which his father wanted) and spent all his savings on books and spent long hours in the libraries of Paris wanting to know everything. His expenses were so great that he was hungry and had digestive problems. He studied geology, engineering and astronomy
In 1850, at the age of 22, he wrote a light comedy, Las pajas rotas, which he managed to premiere in Paris thanks to Dumas, without much success.
Between 1848 and 1863 he dedicated himself to writing opera librettos and plays. His first success came when he published Five Weeks in a Balloon (1863)
He traveled to Scotland, Norway, Iceland and Denmark.
In 1863 he began a friendship with the adventurer, journalist and photographer Felix Tournachon.

Christie Agatha

He received a private education until his teens and studied at various institutes in Paris.
He learned to read when he was 4 years old.
From a young age she developed an interest and curiosity for the paranormal.
At the age of 16, he attended Mrs. Dryden's school, in Paris, to study, singing, dancing, and piano.
He read extensively from an early age and among his favorite books were the children's books written by Mrs. Molesworth, including The Adventures of Herr Baby (1881), Christmas Tree Land (1897) and The Magic Nuts (1898). He also read the work of Edith Nesbit, especially titles such as The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1899), The Phoenix and the Carpet (1903), and The Railway Children (1906).
In 1910 he went to live in Cairo, staying for three months at the Gezirah Palace Hotel. Her first novel, Snow Upon the Desert, was based on her experiences in that city.
Back in Britain, he continued his social activities, writing and performing for amateur theater, even assisting during the production of the play The Blue Beard of Unhappiness.
In 1914 she volunteered at Torquay Hospital where she worked as a nurse.
He worked for the Red Cross between 1916 and 1918, a job that influenced his work since many of the murders he recounted were carried out with poisons.
He had to fight for 4 years to get someone to publish his first novel in 1920, The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

2- What do they have in common that you can learn?

In my opinion García Márquez, Verne and Christie have in common:

They began to read from a very young age.
They published their first works very young. They were not successful the first time, they kept publishing.
Unless you are a fan of one of these novelists, you probably only know their best-known novels. They published many works and in the great majority they had "medium triumphs." But his great works such as One Hundred Years of Solitude, Journey to the Center of the Earth or Journey on the Nile gave him his historical fame. Therefore, write a lot and publish. It is likely that the first or even the tenth will not be successful. But the more you post, the more likely you are.
They had certain vital events that marked them. Márquez (his grandmother used to tell him magic stories), Verne (he had an innate curiosity and at the age of 11 he wanted to travel to India), Christie (experiences in hospital with poisonings).
They were curious and developed a special interest in various subjects. Marquez (magical vision of reality), Verne (traveling), Cristie (murders, the paranormal).
They had conditions that allowed them to develop as writers: if they had been born into very humble families they would not have learned to read or write.

I encourage you to read more biographies of great writers, it will help you develop your reading skills, grammar and also know what they did to achieve their achievements.

Were they exceptionally talented?

I would say yes, that they had talent, but rather a developed talent and that anyone with similar circumstances could develop.

In any case, I have always thought that one should not focus on what cannot be changed. So, if you want to be a writer, focus on what you can do and change.

Work and perseverance always end up surpassing talent.

Hellen Keller was deaf and dumb and is one of the great writers in history.

HOW TO BE A GOOD WRITER: 5 TIPS THAT WORK - GEOGRAFÍA - 2025