Young Writers Society

Something I find hugely useful is to practice writing rather than just make it a hit-or-miss. If I'm overdosing on dialogue then I'll set aside a few minutes here and there to write a conversation that involves no dialogue, or if I start overusing commas then I'll practice writing a piece with none so that I get the hang of the alternatives.

Of course, I'm lazy, so I don't do this as much as I should =p But it really does give my work a boost.

I was wondering if anybody else does or has tried practicing or taking on challenges like this? Or do we just edit based on critiques and hope not to forget in the future?

Well, I consider everything I write to essentially be practice.

With a goal of to one day publish a novel, I have mostly short stories where I can run with, and complete several new ideas and challanges. Trying out different POV's, characters, telling more with the setting and backdrop and even, as you said, practicing dialogue.

Heck, I even try writing in my mother tongue every now and then, but I just don't like it.

I view it all as building towards one day realizing my dream.

Not sure if this was an answer you had in mind, but it's what I got from your post.

I'm kind of with Birkhoff here, and kind of not. I'm really comfortable with my first person abilities, for the most part, and usually, I just wing it. Honestly, my proofreading is a skim over things (which I regret and usually go back for heavy edits later, but). Any writing I do is technically practice.

If someone does tell me that I'm over-using commas, or throwing in too much dialogue, I do try to make the next scene more balanced, and I'll read the one that got the crit over a few times and make amends for it.

Also, I find that reviewing is actually the best writing practice? You pick out what not to do via nitpicks, and then you watch your own writing and try not to make the same mistakes. Reading reviews of other peoples' works (and your own, duh, but broaden your horizons!) works in the same way, I think.

/two cents

Totally agree!

I find reviewing is one of the best ways of improving your own writing. You almost gain an entirely new perspective on your own writing through combing through other works.

Definitely! Reviewing not only makes me stop and think about how the work I'm reviewing could be better but also about how elements of my own writing could be better. That's part of what makes this site so wonderful.