Writing How does one get better at writing (as a non-native English speaker)?

[Saibler]

As it turns out, writing a story isn't so hard, it's writing a good story that's hard. So before I go into the topic above and hammer down the questions I have, I will tell you a little bit about myself so you can better understand my situation.

I'm from Germany, so English is my second language, and while I'm confident in it, that doesn't mean it's perfect.
I'm 26 years old, have a full-time job and have only recently (June this year) started writing as a hobby. Since I have no previous experience as a writer, I don't have any guidelines, tips, etc., so I'm freestyling the whole thing so far.
My workflow at the moment is as follows (I started with three chapters a week, but currently it's only one a week):
I write a chapter in Word (~1.2k words), proofread it using deepl write, and then upload it here on scribblehub.

Yesterday I published my 20th chapter, and while my story currently has three ratings (3x 5 stars), which shows me that I'm not completely shitty at writing, I'm sure there's a lot of potential that I don't know about yet, simply because of my inexperience as a writer. Or maybe it's just my slight inferiority complex that makes me think my writing is a lot worse than it actually is.


Now back to the questions I have for you guys.

Let's start with the elephant in the room. How did you get better at writing? Are there any sites/courses or videos you can recommend?
When you want to write a new story, how do you go about it and how much planning do you do in advance?

In terms of word count per chapter, how long would it be if your goal was 1-3 chapters per week?
What about formatting, paragraphs, and especially when there's a conversation between characters?
How do I "fluff up" a scene in the right way without it getting out of hand?

What does a character need to have a good outline that I can use? How many traits are OK or too many?
What counts as good yet noticeable character development? How many chapters should this process go over or should it be the whole story?
I read somewhere that it's OK to introduce a new character after ~50k words. In my story, I'm just over 25k words in and the flow of what I've written so far is kind of forcing me to introduce the next planned character in chapter 21 or the one after that. How do I deal with this situation? Should I wait until I'm 100k words in for the third character and use the space I have up to that point to develop both characters at the same time, or should I flesh out the first character first and then the second?

Before I forget, any tips or constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated (native and non-native english speakers alike are warmly welcome).

 

[SailusGebel]

There is only three things you need to do to get better. Read more good works in English, write more since practice makes perfect, edit. I guess a very important advice is to not spend all your time on editing. You won't get better at writing if all you do is constantly editing a couple of chapters, you have to actually write. Everything else is irrelevant.

 

[Daitengu]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces

The Hero with a Thousand Faces book was really interesting in breaking down the commonality of myth and stories that carried on for centuries. I feel it's a must read, though there's vids on YouTube about it.

 

[Sebas_Guzman]

How did you get better at writing?
Sailus is right that you need to read more good english stories. You can't learn school english. You need to learn the english of the day. Reading good books teaches you the most optimal form of english, depending on genre.

Are there any sites/courses or videos you can recommend?
I personally recommend grammarly or pro-writing aid. There's a thing that happens where some non-native speakers put certain phrases in front of the other, when the most optimal form is the other away around. You'd notice you're doing it if you have a grammar checker. Otherwise, I dont ave good recommendations here.

In terms of word count per chapter, how long would it be if your goal was 1-3 chapters per week?
This is a really technical question that changes depending on if you're doing a web serial or a book. The site and genre might make a difference. I recommend reading this:

Running your story like the business it is. | Royal Road

Preface. I want to preface this whole guide by saying that I am writing this from a business perspective, and it is aimed at authors who want to make a concerted effort to transition their writing into a paying career, or simply are interested in the business side of writing. Furthermore, while...

www.royalroad.com

What about formatting, paragraphs, and especially when there's a conversation between characters?
You need to google "dialogue rules" and "dialogue quotation rules." Then, read a few sites with different examples.

When you want to write a new story, how do you go about it and how much planning do you do in advance?
Changes depending on the person. If you want to succeed on online platforms, I recommend doing A LOT--maybe even 60k words before posting.

How do I "fluff up" a scene in the right way without it getting out of hand?
Rule of thumb: If it adds nothing to the story, why is it there?
The line should convey relevant info, characterization, move the plot along, or incite some sort of emotion. Characters talking about a breakfast that will never come up again is not necessary.

What does a character need to have a good outline that I can use? How many traits are OK or too many?
Go to TvTropes, find a popular series you recognize, check the character page, and then look at how many "traits" a character can have.
Otherwise, a good starting point is for a character to have a goal, and to have a clear set of reactions to basic situations.

What counts as good yet noticeable character development? How many chapters should this process go over or should it be the whole story?
There are too many ways to do this. This question is so pinpointed, that I'm not sure answering this would help you more than limit you.

I read somewhere that it's OK to introduce a new character after ~50k words. In my story, I'm just over 25k words in and the flow of what I've written so far is kind of forcing me to introduce the next planned character in chapter 21 or the one after that. How do I deal with this situation?
What? Go read good books in english and check how they handle "this situation."

Should I wait until I'm 100k words in for the third character and use the space I have up to that point to develop both characters at the same time, or should I flesh out the first character first and then the second?
What are you doing? Do you have two PoV characters? What is this? This is extraordinarily strange.

 

[HelloHound]

I reccomend making friends with native english speakers and observe their conversational habits

 

[LilRora]

What Sailus said. Read and write. I personally wrote like ~300k words across multiple stories before I started the one I first published, and it was well over two years ago. I've written over a million words in total in all my stories, both published and not, and I still can't say I'm some amazing author. I'm still learning many things.

As for word count, When I'm posting a story I'm trying to publish at least 0,5k words a day (preferably ~1k) on average, so for 2 chapters a week they should be at least 2k words each. Don't try to cut them apart or stitch them together to meet those numbers though, it's fine if it's not consistent as long as the average stays similar.

The formatting thing is a little too vague for to answer, but a couple of important things would be not to put additional spacings between paragraphs and make sure you don't have walls of text. It's like 4-5 lines on PC and 15-20 lines on a phone, although do not adhere to these numbers strictly either since it's not something you should be focusing on.

Moving on... not sure what fluffing up means so I'm not gonna guess for now.

An ideal number of traits would probably 2-4, but again, it's the traits that are important, not numbers. Amke sure you also have quirks though, otherwise your characters will be boring.

As for character development, I'm tempted to say good character development is unnoticeable until it's put to test. That's because you shouldn't state that someone changed, you should show that someone changed.

If I haven't answered something, the answer is probably too complicated to explain in a reasonable amount of time.

 

[KrisVFX]

As it turns out, writing a story isn't so hard, it's writing a good story that's hard. So before I go into the topic above and hammer down the questions I have, I will tell you a little bit about myself so you can better understand my situation.

I'm from Germany, so English is my second language, and while I'm confident in it, that doesn't mean it's perfect.
I'm 26 years old, have a full-time job and have only recently (June this year) started writing as a hobby. Since I have no previous experience as a writer, I don't have any guidelines, tips, etc., so I'm freestyling the whole thing so far.
My workflow at the moment is as follows (I started with three chapters a week, but currently it's only one a week):
I write a chapter in Word (~1.2k words), proofread it using deepl write, and then upload it here on scribblehub.

Yesterday I published my 20th chapter, and while my story currently has three ratings (3x 5 stars), which shows me that I'm not completely shitty at writing, I'm sure there's a lot of potential that I don't know about yet, simply because of my inexperience as a writer. Or maybe it's just my slight inferiority complex that makes me think my writing is a lot worse than it actually is.


Now back to the questions I have for you guys.

Let's start with the elephant in the room. How did you get better at writing? Are there any sites/courses or videos you can recommend?
When you want to write a new story, how do you go about it and how much planning do you do in advance?

In terms of word count per chapter, how long would it be if your goal was 1-3 chapters per week?
What about formatting, paragraphs, and especially when there's a conversation between characters?
How do I "fluff up" a scene in the right way without it getting out of hand?

What does a character need to have a good outline that I can use? How many traits are OK or too many?
What counts as good yet noticeable character development? How many chapters should this process go over or should it be the whole story?
I read somewhere that it's OK to introduce a new character after ~50k words. In my story, I'm just over 25k words in and the flow of what I've written so far is kind of forcing me to introduce the next planned character in chapter 21 or the one after that. How do I deal with this situation? Should I wait until I'm 100k words in for the third character and use the space I have up to that point to develop both characters at the same time, or should I flesh out the first character first and then the second?

Before I forget, any tips or constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated (native and non-native english speakers alike are warmly welcome).

The best advice someone can give you is to read popular Novels written by Native English speakers.

 

[John_Owl]

As others have said, there are three important factor: Read, Write, Edit.

Lets start with the obvious: You can't be a good writer if you don't write. Same as a singer has to learn to control their voice better than others, a writer must learn to write better than simply putting words to paper. the specific word choice, the context surrounding it, and even the punctuation. But a key feature that not many writers will tell you is this: Formatting. The formatting is just as important and can add a unique voice.

Next would be editing. even Tolkien, Shakespeare, Rowling, Gaiman, etc. They all write crap first drafts. never expect your first draft to be special. It's literally just to get the words down. think of it like a rough stone. from there, you edit, polish, remove bits, shine up other parts to create a work that is entirely your own - it should be as much a reflection of your personality as it is a story you wish to tell.

Finally, read. This is the most important, in my opinion. of course you should read in the language you wish to write, but more importantly, look at the genres. obviously, you'll need to read in your chosen genre, but that shouldn't be your only reference, otherwise you'll end up just writing a rehash of an existing book. read other genres. read anything and everything. read good books, read crappy fanfics. Read. Everything.

I write fantasy smut. But two of my favorite books are memoirs of real life authors. First is Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom. And the second is A Child Called 'It' by David Pelzer. I reread each of them at least once a year, and I always get a different message from them based on what I'm going through at that given point in my life.

Reading outside of your genre will give you ideas for things to include in your own novel. Tuesdays With Morrie in particular taught me a lot about dialogue and how to include tone in written word. And more importantly, how to show body language when all you can use are words to convey it. And I'll admit, I'm far from perfect. I tend to get over excited and rush things, especially when the end is in sight (Read Lay the Dragon on my profile for an excellent example of this). But we're all still learning. What we call masters were really still just students, as language is ever evolving and thus, it's quite literally impossible to master.

That said, I wish you the best in your journey!

 

[K5Rakitan]

Grammar Worksheets | Free Printable Resources for the Classroom or Home

Free, printable grammar worksheets including parts of speech, mechanics, punctuation, word usage and sentence structure. Use in class or home. Visit Today!

www.k12reader.com

 

[Saibler]

I thank you all for giving me advice on practically all my questions. Even the simplest ones like ‘read books’, give me a direction to head towards, instead of letting me wander around aimlessly. Your links are also quite useful. So, thanks again for your kind words.

 

[Ruyi]

As it turns out, writing a story isn't so hard, it's writing a good story that's hard. So before I go into the topic above and hammer down the questions I have, I will tell you a little bit about myself so you can better understand my situation.

I'm from Germany, so English is my second language, and while I'm confident in it, that doesn't mean it's perfect.
I'm 26 years old, have a full-time job and have only recently (June this year) started writing as a hobby. Since I have no previous experience as a writer, I don't have any guidelines, tips, etc., so I'm freestyling the whole thing so far.
My workflow at the moment is as follows (I started with three chapters a week, but currently it's only one a week):
I write a chapter in Word (~1.2k words), proofread it using deepl write, and then upload it here on scribblehub.

Yesterday I published my 20th chapter, and while my story currently has three ratings (3x 5 stars), which shows me that I'm not completely shitty at writing, I'm sure there's a lot of potential that I don't know about yet, simply because of my inexperience as a writer. Or maybe it's just my slight inferiority complex that makes me think my writing is a lot worse than it actually is.


Now back to the questions I have for you guys.

Let's start with the elephant in the room. How did you get better at writing? Are there any sites/courses or videos you can recommend?
When you want to write a new story, how do you go about it and how much planning do you do in advance?

In terms of word count per chapter, how long would it be if your goal was 1-3 chapters per week?
What about formatting, paragraphs, and especially when there's a conversation between characters?
How do I "fluff up" a scene in the right way without it getting out of hand?

What does a character need to have a good outline that I can use? How many traits are OK or too many?
What counts as good yet noticeable character development? How many chapters should this process go over or should it be the whole story?
I read somewhere that it's OK to introduce a new character after ~50k words. In my story, I'm just over 25k words in and the flow of what I've written so far is kind of forcing me to introduce the next planned character in chapter 21 or the one after that. How do I deal with this situation? Should I wait until I'm 100k words in for the third character and use the space I have up to that point to develop both characters at the same time, or should I flesh out the first character first and then the second?

Before I forget, any tips or constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated (native and non-native english speakers alike are warmly welcome).

Hey there.

I wasn’t born in an English speaking country but I started in elementary school in the U.S. and I can tell you now that the easiest and most pain-free way to improve English is to read.

Read books and stories you enjoy and love, and keep at them. I don’t mean webnovels (it’s hard to guarantee quality when anyone and everyone can write something on the web) but printed, published works (paper copies or ebooks are fine). Don’t read too above or below your reading level but at a point where you know 97% of the vocab in a book. That means (roughly) that you’re pausing less than 6 times per page to look up a word you don’t know. If you DO come across unfamiliar vocab, don’t run for the dictionary; stop and reread the sentence to see if you can figure out the meaning from context clues and double check your guess with the dictionary afterwards. Same thing for general reading comprehension: if you didn’t quite understand a sentence or paragraph, go back and read it again to figure it out. If you still can’t figure it out, maybe try a different book.

If a book you’re reading gets boring for you, don’t force yourself to finish it, drop it and find one you actually like. Rinse and repeat.
Why?

For one thing, if you’re into your books your brain will enter a flow state where it’s naturally relaxed and absorbing information. Thus, books need to be engaging. For another, English as a language is so contradictory and full of exceptions to the rule that you can spend a lifetime memorizing all that and still write like crap. It’s easier to read books and subconsciously absorb the rules that way; plenty of native speakers might not have taken specific grammar classes but still intuitively know the “correct” way to speak and write a sentence because they’ve heard/seen/read other native speakers doing it that way.

Every time you read a book your brain is assimilating all this information and making sense of it, forming a habit/database of good English. You can even imitate styles of writers you like to get a feel for how they handle the language. Additionally, it’s just good research material for planning your own stories.

As for reading level, the best way to determine that is to take a LEXILE test to find out your level (scale of 0-1700+). Then subtract 250 from your score to get your ideal reading level and find books that fit that score range.

For example, if you scored 1500 on a LEXILE test, find books with LEXILE levels of about 1100~1250. Most likely you’ll know around 97% of words in the book so the last 3% of your brain is free to maximize language acquisition profits while you read in a flow state. To really maximize benefits, the sweet spot is to read around 90 minutes total a week. You don’t have to do the entire 90 minutes in one sitting—break it up in 1-3+ sessions as long as you keep it up. (You don’t want to forget the plot of your book between sessions, for example!)

There are other things you can do too, but reading is honestly the best and easiest method I can think of. I was an ESL-level student who didn’t even understand punctuation and grammar rules until, well, I turned into a bookworm. Nowadays I break grammar rules on purpose for dramatic effect and get away with it, so yeah…reading works. It’s like any skill: the more you immerse yourself in it, the more you absorb. Where else can you always find good writing to teach you if not in a good book?

Let me know if you need book recs for your LEXILE, I’ve got a nice database of them.

EDIT: I realize my answer doesn’t touch on your other questions haha but just consider it a great tip for improving English skills in general. I learned to write better from studying my favorite authors too!

 

[Saibler]

@Ruyi Thank you for your advice. I checked my LEXILE level and surprisingly I'm only at approximately 1030. I have borrowed two books for now. 'I, Alex Cross' by James Patterson and 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' by J K Rowling. I know that's about 900, so it's currently over what you recommend, but they're books I didn't need to buy. Anyway, if you want to give me some suggestions, I'm all ears. I prefer fantasy or sci-fi, but I'm not against other genres.

 

[Ruyi]

@Ruyi Thank you for your advice. I checked my LEXILE level and surprisingly I'm only at approximately 1030. I have borrowed two books for now. 'I, Alex Cross' by James Patterson and 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' by J K Rowling. I know that's about 900, so it's currently over what you recommend, but they're books I didn't need to buy. Anyway, if you want to give me some suggestions, I'm all ears. I prefer fantasy or sci-fi, but I'm not against other genres.

Hmm okay, here's a list of books comfortably in the 700s range. I'll link to the GoodReads page so you can see other people's reviews on them. Keep in mind that most of these are written for teens/tweens but again, you're focusing on English levels not age levels so check them out:

FANTASY
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea - Axie Oh (Korean fantasy, girl marries god of the sea)
Six Crimson Cranes - Elizabeth Lim (Chinese fantasy, girl has to save her 6 brothers who got turned into cranes)
The Dragon's Promise (sequel to above) - Elizabeth Lim (Chinese fantasy)
Blood and Stars series (Spin the Dawn, Unravel the Dusk) - Elizabeth Lim (girl who is a tailor disguises herself as a boy to sew clothes for the emperor's court)
The Dragon Keeper series by Carole Wilkinson (Chinese fantasy, orphan girl has to deal with the emperor and etc, good thing she has dragons)
The Ascendance series by Jennifer A Nielson (nobleman finds 4 orphans to pretend to be the king's long-lost son)
Mark of the Thief series by Jennifer A Nielson (slave boy finds magical cursed amulet and befriends a griffin while trying to save Rome)
Riders of the Realm series by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez (humans ride pegasi to fight against monsters in the jungle)
The Sea of Trolls series by Nancy Farmer (viking kidnappers, half-troll villains, and other fantastic beasts)
Disney's Twisted Tales series (basically Disney movies rewritten with what-ifs) - various authors, mainly Liz Braswell, Elizabeth Lim, Jen Calonita
The Books of Beginning series by John Stephan (3 orphan siblings find a magical time-traveling book and have to run away from bad guys while saving the world)
The Charlie Bone series by Jenny Nimmo (if you like Harry Potter for the magic school and various houses, this is similar)
A Pinch of Magic series by Michelle Harrison (3 sisters try to break a family curse that prevents them from leaving their island home)
Shadows of Winterspell by Amy Wilson (Stella lives in a magical forest, but it's been caught in the throes of dark magic)
The Magic Thief series by Sarah Prineas (street tries to pickpocket wizard, who takes him in as an apprentice)
The 13 Treasures series by Michelle Harrison (Tanya can see/hear fairies but pretends not to because everyone thinks she's crazy when she says so)

SCI-FI
Unfortunately I don't have much to offer here, but you can check out the Great Illustrated Classics version of novels like Around the World in 80 Days and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It's the same story but written in simpler English so it's easier to understand. I devoured these as a kid too!

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

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