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How To Stand Out From The Crowd

By on April 11, 2018
How To Stand Out From The Crowd - Writers Life.org.

We all know that one of the most significant challenges any writer faces is trying to be original. There are so many books out there, so many stories, and we can’t help but be influenced and inspired by the things we have read ourselves.

Telling a genuinely original story is difficult, some might even say it can't be done. However, to make our stories successful, they do need to say something that hasn’t been said before. They need to have something about them that makes them stand out from the crowd.

So how can you make sure that you aren’t just writing the same old stories, ones that will get lost amongst the sea of the work that is already out there? Here are some tips and methods to try to keep your work fresh and original.

Use your intuition

There is nothing quite as powerful as your intuition to help you make the right decisions about your work. If you are following your gut and your instincts, you’ll know when you are being lazy or not pushing yourself creatively. Always listen to that and you’ll rarely go wrong and keep your work as unique and original as possible.

Don’t follow the rules

With every story, with every genre, there are sets of ‘rules’ that writers are supposed to follow. Be a daredevil and break a few of them - or at least push their boundaries, their limits. Do this cleverly, go too far off-piste, and you might confuse and upset your reader, but remember, rules were made to be broken after all.

Be honest

The more brutally honest you are with your writing, the more authentic it will be. Try keeping a journal to make notes of the things you have done, the conversations you have overheard, the things you have observed and use these in your writing. No one sees the world through the same pair of eyes as you do. Use your unique perspective to make your book different.

Ask yourself questions

Throughout the writing process keep asking yourself questions. Don’t let yourself rest or be average. Always push yourself. Ask yourself how you can make that scene, that conversation, that setting more interesting, more exciting, more attention-grabbing. Keep asking yourself how your characters could be more unique, more unusual, more relatable. Do this before you start writing, as you are writing and after you’ve finished too.

Be influenced, be inspired, don't copy

We are never going to get away from our influences entirely, and it is okay to ‘borrow’ some ideas from other writers. However, there is a very distinct line between letting what you’ve read and loved kickstart your writing and just stealing ideas from other writers. The former is OK, the latter is a massive no-no, and your readers will call you out on it every time.

Trying to make your work stand out can be tricky, and scary. It might involve pushing yourself, even going to places that make you a little uncomfortable and taking risks that may or may not pay off.

However if you aren’t willing to do these things your book may never get its chance to shine, so be bold, be daring and do everything you can to make your book stand out from the crowd, if you do the rewards could be incredible!

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

 

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