10 Things That Will NOT Make You A Better Writer
As someone who’s worked with hundreds of authors, I see people making the same mistakes over and over and over again. Mistakes that are easily avoidable once you know they’re mistakes.
In this post, I’m sharing some of these mistakes. Specifically, the 10 things that will NOT make you a better writer. Let’s dive in!
1. Waiting Until You’re “Ready” To Write A Book
The first thing that will NOT help you become a better writer is waiting until you feel “ready” to write a book. I hate to tell you this, but that time will never come.
I’ve worked with so many writers who exhaust themselves hoping that the day will come where everything has clicked into place and they feel like they can finally start writing—and then once they do, the draft they write will be 100% perfect because they waited until they were ready.
I’m sorry, but that just doesn’t happen.
What I’d like to encourage you to think about is where this need to wait until you’re ready is coming from. Because, spoiler alert, it’s most likely rooted in self-doubt.
Underneath this need or this pressure to wait until you’re ready is probably rooted in thoughts like… Am I good enough to write a book? Am I smart enough to figure this out? Am I capable of writing something people will like? Or what if I start writing a book and get stuck? What if I finish it and people hate it?
Do any of those sound familiar?
We have all these fears and questions swirling around in our heads, especially when we set out to do something big like writing a book.
If you relate to what I’m saying, I want you to know this is normal. A lot of people feel this way and have these questions.
But here’s the thing…
Waiting for the day when you feel ready is really just delaying the inevitable.
And you’re probably delaying because you know writing a messy draft and not having all the things figured out is going to feel uncomfortable. As humans, we like to avoid discomfort, so this makes sense.
But here’s what a lot of people don’t consider…
Not writing your book, and waiting until you feel more ready… That can be pretty uncomfortable too.
So, you have to ask yourself, “Which kind of discomfort would I rather sit in? Would I rather be making progress toward actually writing and publishing a book, even though the process will be a bit messy and frustrating at times? Or would I rather deal with the discomfort of not even getting started because I’m letting fear and self-doubt win?”
YOU get to decide. It’s up to you which kind of discomfort you want to sit in.
So, that wraps up the first thing that will NOT help you become a better writer—waiting until you’re ready. It’s better to get into action, even if it's uncomfortable or if you don’t feel like you know what you’re doing every step of the way.
2. Writing a Lot Of Words Without Getting Feedback
The second thing that will NOT help you become a better writer is writing a lot of words without getting feedback on what you’ve written.
Now, I know we’ve all heard the advice from Stephen King that says, "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot."
And I do agree with Stephen King—practicing your craft by writing and reading other books is really important.
But if you write, let’s say, a thousand words a day for an entire year—and you never get feedback on what you’re writing—guess what happens?
In most cases, you’ll probably end up making some of the same fundamental mistakes that many aspiring writers make over and over again and turning those mistakes into ingrained habits.
So, imagine that…
Without getting feedback on what’s working and not working in your pages, you might actually end up becoming a worse writer than when you started.
Now, I know that’s not the case for everyone, but I do see it happen often enough that I wanted to include it in this list.
So, it’s really important to get outside feedback on your work—it’s important to know what you’re doing well (so you can keep doing it) and what you need to work on (so you can actually improve your writing).
Because here’s the thing…
If writing a lot and cranking out hundreds of thousands of words was all it took to be a great writer, many people would have turned pro years and years ago.
But it doesn’t work that way.
So, yes, keep practicing your craft by writing. And yes, keep reading books to see how published authors have constructed their stories. But also get feedback on your pages.
Find someone you trust, whether that be a developmental editor, a book coach, beta readers, or a critique partner—and get some feedback on your work.
This is what will help you become a better writer, not writing an arbitrary number of words each day.
3. Joining The Wrong Kind Of Writing Group
The third thing that will NOT help you become a better writer is joining the wrong kind of writing group. Specifically, a writing group full of other aspiring writers who aren’t able to give you helpful and constructive feedback.
Now, this isn’t a blanket statement that applies to all writing groups—some writing groups can be really great…
But for the most part, writing groups can do more harm than good.
Many writers join writing groups thinking their fellow group members will give them the feedback needed to become a better writer. Instead, they end up feeling frustrated and, in many cases, full of self-doubt.
This happens because fellow group members give feedback that’s sometimes vague, sometimes unhelpful, sometimes based on personal taste or opinion, and sometimes, just mean. Plus, writers will often walk away from a group meeting with multiple sets of feedback—all of which can be contradictory and/or confusing in terms of how to implement it.
And here’s the thing…
Many people in writing groups want to be helpful, but they’ve never been trained on how to give constructive feedback and/or they don’t actually know what makes a story work. So, it’s not really always their fault.
But as writers, we’re in control of who we get feedback from, and who we surround ourselves with.
So, if you do want to join a writing group, I have a few suggestions.
First, make sure their vibe and goals align with yours. There’s nothing worse than joining a writing group that is full of members who are out querying when you’re starting a brand new first draft. That can make conversation and camaraderie kind of challenging, right?
Second, it’s best to form a group of people who can speak a common language. And what I mean by this is if everyone in the group likes the same tools (like Save the Cat!, or Story Grid’s Five Commandments of Storytelling, or Lisa Cron’s method for developing characters), it gives you a common language to talk about each others’ books with. It also gives you the same lens through which to provide feedback.
So, as an example, in my membership that writers are invited into after they complete the Notes to Novel course, we all share the same language—the language we learned in Notes to Novel. When it comes to critiquing each others’ pages, there’s no language barrier. If one writer says, your scene’s crisis moment is weak, the writer of those pages doesn’t have to wonder what that comment means or what to do about it.
So, having a shared language just makes things easier on all fronts.
And that wraps up the third thing that will NOT help you become a better writer—joining the wrong kind of writing group.
4. Comparing Yourself To Other Writers
The fourth thing that will NOT help you become a better writer is comparing yourself to other people. And this could mean so many things, right?
It could mean scrolling Instagram and seeing that one of your writing friends finished their draft or got an agent, and instead of feeling happy for them, you judge yourself for your “lack of” success.
It could mean reading someone’s first chapter and thinking it’s so much better than yours.
It could also mean comparing your work in progress to a published book you just read. Writers do this all the time, myself included. We finish a book, we love it, and then we look at our WIP and think it’s horrible in comparison.
And all of these things—all of this comparing—it’s just not fair or accurate.
So, first of all, comparing your WIP to a published book isn’t a true or fair comparison. That published book has gone through so many rounds of editing and revising, and it’s had so many different eyes on it, right? Your work in progress is just that—it’s in progress. So, it literally can’t compare.
And seeing someone on Instagram share that they just got an agent? You never really know how much work or how many years went into getting that person to where they are now. So, again, it’s not a fair or accurate comparison.
And if you’re relating to what I’m talking about right now, I’d encourage you to turn those urges to compare yourself to others into something more helpful—something like creative fuel and inspiration.
So, next time you read a really great book, and you feel the urge to compare yours to it, stop and challenge yourself to say something different.
For example, “Wow, this book is great. I can’t wait to be able to write books like this someday. And I can, if I hang in there, finish my draft, and keep doing the work to improve my craft.”
So, yes, it’s a small reframe, but it really does help.
And that wraps up the fourth thing that will NOT help you become a better writer—comparing yourself to other writers or published books.
5. Not Reading Published Books In Your Genre
Now, speaking of published books… The fifth thing that will NOT help you become a better writer is refusing to read!
And yes, I get we’re all busy and can’t carve out a ton of time to read books—but that’s what audiobooks are great for, right? You can listen to them on the go while you do other things, and that totally 100% counts.
But here’s what I see happen a lot…
Writers will be working on their WIP—waiting to feel ready to actually write it—and they refuse to read books in their genre because they don’t want to plagiarize.
And sure, that’s fair, maybe some of us would accidentally get inspired by the books we read, but hear me out.
If you’re someone who is guilty of waiting to feel ready to write, how many years have you been waiting to write? And how many of those years have you spent avoiding reading because you don’t want to be influenced?
The months and years can add up quickly, right?
I’m not saying there’s a certain amount of books to read per year or anything, but I do want you to consider the benefits of reading books, both inside and outside your genre.
First, reading books in your genre helps you see what’s currently happening in the market—What books are popular, what tropes are working, and which ones have been done to death, etc. It’ll also helps you participate in conversations with other writers about books—and having a community is important.
Second, reading books both inside and outside your genre teaches you things about the craft of writing and also about what you like and don’t like about other stories. All of this can inform your own writing and be super helpful.
One of the most helpful exercises I recommend to my students is to read a book they love and pick apart the scenes. Not only will this be fun because you’re dissecting a book you love, but it will also teach you how to write scenes that work, too.
Third, reading books outside your genre is just as important.
For example, if you’re writing fantasy but you want to write really juicy plot twists, read some mysteries or thrillers that have really good plot twists.
If you have a romantic subplot and want to nail the chemistry between your characters, read some romances.
So, all this to say, reading is super important for writers.
Avoiding reading other books while you’re writing is probably going to do you more harm than good, and it certainly won’t help you become a better writer.
6. Focusing On The Wrong Things
The sixth thing that will NOT help you become a better writer is focusing on the wrong things. And there are a couple of things I mean by this.
So, for example, many writers are super concerned with writing beautiful prose in their first drafts. This is the wrong thing to focus on in a first draft because that draft IS going to need revisions. And the longer you spend polishing your prose, the harder it wil be to edit that prose later.
So, what should you focus on instead?
Crafting a story that works! Once you do this, you can polish your prose all you like.
The other thing I see writers do all the time is spend too much energy fleshing out details (or researching details) while writing their first drafts.
Most of the time, you can get away with using something like “Details TK” as a placeholder for those details and then flesh things out later. If you haven’t heard me talk about this before, details TK stands for “details to come.” And it’s a K instead of a C because the letters TK are not found next to each other in any word in the English language, which makes it super easy to do a search for in your manuscript later.
A little trick like this will help you make forward progress to the end of your draft without getting too bogged down.
So, when it comes to details and research, you have to ask yourself, “What do I REALLY need to know (or have figured out) to write a solid first draft?”
And yes, those details and your polished prose will matter eventually, but again, not for your first draft.
So, instead, focus on building out the foundation of your story—the characters, the plot, the setting, weaving your theme through everything, hitting the requirements of your genre, and things like that. And worry about the prose and details and research later.
This will help you become a better writer, not agonizing over your word choice or minute setting details (again, especially in the first draft).
7. Writing And Revising At The Same Time
Speaking of focusing on the wrong things… The seventh thing that will NOT help you become a better writer is writing and revising at the same time.
And honestly, this is one of the worst things you can do.
Not only are you trying to use two sides of your brain at the same time—the creative side and the analytical side—it just doesn’t make sense from a big-picture perspective.
When you revise while you write, you don’t know where things are headed yet.
So, for example, you might get to scene 3 and decide your protagonist needs a sidekick, so you go back to scenes 1,2, and 3 to weave that sidekick in and then keep writing forward until maybe scene 12, where you realize that sidekick wasn’t really a good idea. Now they’re just kind of hanging out in the background, and you don’t really need them. So, again, you stop and go back to scenes 1-12, removing that character. Maybe then you write forward until scene 14, and you realize that maybe you should have kept the sidekick in, but as a budding love interest. So you go back again and revise scenes 1-14, and it just repeats and repeats.
It’s impossible to know what you’ll uncover as you write your first draft, so why not just wait and see where things land before going back to revise?
Now, on a smaller scale, I see other writers who will stop mid-scene because they want to find a better word for something. So, they’ll grab their thesaurus and spend 10-30 minutes picking a new word. That’s 10-30 minutes you weren’t writing, and who knows if that word will even end up in your final draft, right?
So, it’s like I said before, you need to focus on the right things. When you’re writing your draft, focus on writing. When it’s time to revise, focus on revising. It sounds simple and obvious, but it’s surprisingly hard to do.
However, writing and revising at the same time will NOT make you a better writer, so please, please don't do that to yourself.
8. Writing And Re-Writing Your First Chapter
The eighth thing that will NOT make you a better writer is writing and re-writing your first chapter over and over and over again. And I see this happen SO often!
These writers get stuck at the starting line and never make progress beyond the first few chapters, and they certainly don’t finish their books.
This ties back to what I was just saying about not writing and revising at the same time. Sometimes, you just have to let your first chapter be what it is until you know where your story is going at the end.
Once you get to the end of your draft, you’ll know so much more about your story that it will be easier to write a compelling opening chapter. You’ll know where your character’s arc ends (and therefore where it needs to start). You’ll know what worldbuilding details are important (and therefore what to set up in the beginning) and so much more.
Also, if we zoom out and think about what this behavior is rooted in, it’s most likely perfectionism. A lot of writers think if they can just get their first chapter “right,” then the rest of their story will work. But that’s not really true.
You’ll need to revise your story no matter what, and the opening chapter is often the thing that needs the most revising, no matter how hard you worked on it or how much time you spent on it. It’s just the nature of how things go.
So, please don’t let yourself get stuck writing and re-writing your opening chapter. This will not make you a better writer and will really just stall your progress and growth.
9. Learning Story Theory Without Putting It Into Practice
Now, similarly to what I just said, the ninth thing that will NOT make you a better writer is obsessively studying story theory or story structure without putting it into practice.
Many writers think they can write the perfect first draft if they study all kinds of story theory—or they think they can fix whatever’s wrong with their writing by studying story theory.
And yes, sometimes this can be helpful. But more often than not, writers will dig into a bunch of different writing methods like the Hero’s Journey, Save the Cat!, the Snowflake Method, etc. And they read a bunch of books on story structure and theory. They watch YouTube Videos, binge podcasts, go to all the writing conferences, etc. But they’re not actually taking action on what they’re learning. They’re just absorbing knowledge.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good thing to read craft books. But unless you’re putting what you learn into practice, you’re not really internalizing what you’re learning.
Now, a small caveat to this…
Sometimes writers take this advice too far and they try to layer all the different story structure methods or character creation methods on top of each other—adn they expect their draft to “tick all the boxes.”
That’s not going to happen.
Each method is someone’s interpretation of how to write a novel (or develop a character or build a story world or whatever it is). They’ll all get you to the same place, more or less, so just pick one or two that resonate with you instead of trying to layer them all together.
So, to recap, learning story theory and/or a new way to structure your story or develop your characters probably won’t help you become a better writer. It’s putting into practice what you learn that WILL help you become a better writer and finish your draft.
10. Not Investing In Your Craft
Now, the final thing that will NOT help you become a better writer is an unwillingness to invest in your craft. And hear me out because I don’t just mean financially investing in your craft, but we will talk about that in a second.
The first thing you can invest is your time. So carving out time and actually showing up to your desk to write.
Again, you’ll want to make sure you’re focused on the right things when you sit down to write—so crafting a solid story versus filling out a handful of character trait tables.
You can also invest in learning about something new, so let's say you sign up for a workshop on worldbuilding—that’s great, and that’s an investment in your craft, for sure. But what you need to make sure you do is take action on what you learned in that workshop.
Investing might also look like swapping first drafts with a critique partner—so, you’d be investing your time into reading their draft and offering feedback in exchange for them doing the same for you.
So, lots of ways you can invest your time. Now, what about investing your money?
I do think that at some point, it’s worth investing in your craft IF you can. I know not everyone can, and that’s okay, too. But what could this look like?
Well, if you’re struggling to get your story started and finished, maybe you hire a book coach to help you flesh out your ideas and get your draft finished.
If you’ve already written a draft, that would be a good time to work with a developmental editor before taking the next steps whether that’s self-publishing or querying agents.
You could also work with beta readers—and there is a great beta reading service I recommend, they’re called The Spun Yarn. They’re a professional beta reading service that gives you feedback from multiple beta readers at once, so it does cost money compared to finding a random beta reader on the Internet. But they are very well-trained beta readers, so you’re paying for that with your investment.
Now, why do I say it’s worthwhile to invest money in your craft?
Well, this is the best, most personalized way to learn what you’re doing well and what you can improve on. Whether you’re working with a writing coach or a developmental editor or whoever, you’re getting that 1:1 attention and feedback.
It can really help you grow A LOT in a short amount of time. So if you do have the budget to work with a professional at any point in the process, I highly recommend it.
I also recommend checking out online writing courses as long as you’re going to implement what you learn. So, like I said earlier, you can take all the writing classes in the world, but unless you’re implementing what you’re learning, it won’t really matter.
In my own course, Notes to Novel, I’ve scheduled implementation weeks where there’s no new content delivered, but I provide my students with time to catch up on doing the work. So, implementing what they’re learning. The students who go through my course love this part because it helps them actually make progress toward their goals, which is the whole point, right?
So, all that being said, I do think investing your time and/or money into your craft at some stage is important—it’s an investment in other people, yes, but more importantly, it’s an investment in yourself and your dream of being an author. And if you ask me, that’s pretty important. It’s definitely something you deserve.
So, that’s the last thing I have for you today that will NOT help you become a better writer: being unwilling to invest in yourself and your craft.
Final Thoughts
If you know you’re doing one (or more) of these ten things, that’s okay! Tomorrow is a new day, and you can always start with a clean slate. I hope this post has given you the insights and tools to avoid some of the most common mistakes aspiring writers make—and to become a better writer.
And hey, if you want MY help with your novel, consider joining me for the next live round of Notes to Novel! Click here to get all the details and join the waitlist.
