Becoming a Better Writer

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve received about writing is to rewrite something from a novel you love. It’s best to choose a work you admire that’s in your genre. After deciding which novel, you’re going to rewrite copy the first two chapters by hand. This gives you a good idea of how the author portrayed the characters and how the characters act and speak. You’ll also get a good idea of how the author piques a reader’s curiosity and gets her to keep turning the pages. After copying the chapters, rewrite them from memory using your style. This is a great exercise to fine-tune your writing chops. It’s also a great way to warm up when starting a new novel, which is something I’ll be doing soon. But first I need to finish novel four, “A Pocketful of Euros.”