Do writers train / practice their skills?

[Lensing]

As a musician and artist I´m into training/practice methods.
Most musicians I know have to practice regularly like someone
who is into sports. Artists too.
Is there an equivalent for writers? Do you have to practice and if
yes what would that be?

By practice I don´t mean writing a story. That would be like a musician
saying playing a show is the practice. I mean training/practice outside
of that

[WildMoonCrow]

I write based on prompts just to practice, where I challenge myself to write differently or use words in a different way from my usual writing style. Or sometimes I do free writing, where I just write whatever comes out. Idk, writing practice to me is just writing more lol. I think everyone practices differently depending on their learning style, I practice by doing, so writing a story would be practice for me

[Lensing]

That´s interesting. The prompt thing sounds like something which can be compared to for example
adding things to your visual library for artists.

I also think you do get better by simply writing just as a musician gets better everytime they play
a show or a comic artist gets better by drawing comics but it can also lead to staying on the
same level. I know examples from artists who draw a lot since years and didn´t get better,
the same for musicians

[Flios]

I write a fantasy novel named "The Prince of Chains", and I don't really write much outside of that. I do have to refine my vocabulary and story pacing, but I don't know if that's just me. Most of the time, I might be too busy to write anything else other than my novel.

[WildMoonCrow]

I guess you can easily end up in a comfort zone and only practice what you are familiar with. So I guess you need to challenge yourself a bit as you practice, it’s difficult to get really good at something if you only practice the same thing

[JaveCraze]

I don't know if everyone does this, but I like to write one shots that I may or may not use for the future. I'd assume it's like a "private rehearsal", or something. I usually try to do it varying genres to challenge myself.

[Lensing]

That does sound like a good challenge and practice, especially when you have to do research and read
other stories in that genre

[DiegoPalacios]

There are some methods to practice writing skills.

The most straightfoward would be writing a quick unpublished story. The unpublished part would be what makes it different from a musician playing on a show.

Other methods involve analizing stories with a critical eye to learn from the good and bad things. Analizing what works and what doesn't in that situation and why.

Also, one can study writing conventions and narrative techniques among other aspects.

For a more unhortodox approach, one could learn improv to quicken their ability to come up with ideas on the spot.

[wispysing]

I used to pursue writing more seriously when I was younger, so I'd usually read a novel a week and write a one-shot fan-fiction afterwards. I felt it helps a lot with learning how each writer has their own structure and flow–so you can eventually single out which part of the writer's style you like most.

I think our minds may unconsciously analyze these, so the more we do it, we may eventually develop our own writing style based on the writing traits we like from each author. Plus it's a pretty fun exercise.

[daeygurart]

When I practice my writing, I usually start with an idea for a novel and then start writing it without plot. Unfortunately, I have no interest in writing anymore since I prefer drawing. Luckily, years of writing and practicing has helped me understand story structure and plotting better.

[TheLemmaLlama]

I like to kill at least two birds with one stone, so I personally don't practice my writing (I don't practice my art either :P)

The university writing club I'm part of regularly gives us exercises and prompts in their workshops though (For example, I remember this worldbuilding exercise where we come up with something small scale (e.g. a macguffin/what it does) and extend to to something large scale (e.g. culture surrounding it) or vice versa)

On a bit of an off-topic note, do composers have training/practice methods? Or were you more talking about people who play instruments and such? (I would've imagined writing exercises would bare at least some resemblance to composing exercises o_o)

[coco-ji]

This is a really good question.
I think that in order for writers to know how to practice what they want to get better at, they first have to have a solid understanding of what they're actually quite good at. Whether that's a specific genre and/or certain writing styles or technique. For example, being able to convey ideas better in first person omniscient pov vs. having a weak grasp of third person limited pov.

once you know which writing mechanics are your strengths, then you're able to identify your weak points. then it's just about going out of your comfort zone and writing for prompts or opportunities where you can exercise that specific skill. and doing that as much as possible. another example, if I feel very comfortable in the genre of sci-fi, but i want to get better at mystery/thriller tropes and such, I would make a deliberate effort to 1. read more mystery by writers that i respect, 2. write for mystery-related prompts or maybe even write fanfic for a piece of mystery-driven media. you can improve your practice even more if you can get feedback on the piece you wrote.

[emersynnotson]

I don't know how you can just ignore storytelling as part of training. Writing a story is practice, half the time, the things you write won't see the light of day even if you intend to make them. Writers do train, but writing stories is part of it. Writers train by reading, taking workshops, and writing small things here and there. Its also fun to practice different genres you wouldn't normally write.

[Archetype_Moon]

Of course writers practice their skills, it's juts like any other skill, you use it or you lose it. I try to write at least six hundred words a day. My New Years resolution is trying to double that number.

[CarltonIsaac]

Writing doesn't need practice. The mind and imagination do. Reading is all the practice a writer needs. Learning to craft a story the right way also helps, but that's like swimming or riding a bike, once you know how you can never forget..

I've ghost written and sold hundreds of stories over the last twenty years.

Writing thousands of words each day does nothing if you don't have the imagination to create a story that you can sell. Reading is how you hone and expand your imagination.

[HGohwell]

You practice like you practice anything, by doing it. Funny (not funny) story, actually, I went through a period where I just didn't write smut scenes for a few years. Not for any particular reason, just the stories I was writing didn't require them and they'd feel shoehorned in if I put them in there. When I came back to a story and place that felt right to have one, I felt completely out of my depth despite having felt fairly good at them a few years prior, because I'd just got rusty.

Training is a little different, there's lot of books and youtubers who'll help you think about things differently (I often find, you know these things, but sometimes changing your perspective and wording them differently can help). Things like expand your vocabulary, but then learn restraint in using it. One thing I always love is find a random word generator, I like this one, pick up some random words and then write exactly 500 words of a self contained story featuring or inspired by one or more of these random words. It works well for forcing yourself to write a self contained story, how to edit down a story, focus on your choice of words for the most impact and a lot more. It's really helpful.

Another thing I find helps, in general, is to have either the most monotone person you can find, or a text to speech app, read your work. It a, helps you notice typos and b, helps you pick up on the impact of your work. If the tone and emotion can't be picked up when read in monotone then it needs work.

And also, yes, writing a story is practice. Publishing is going on stage or playing the big game. The same way having a practice game at a sport or playing your instrument in your practice is still practice. As a musician, I assume you practice the piece before you go on stage, right? That's what people writing stories in their own time is, especially with things like fanfiction. If we take your idea that writing a story isn't practice for writing a story and instead is going on stage, then you would practice your instrument by simply playing scales or practicing the fingers or reading the score but never doing a run through or attempting anything like what you're going to do one stage in full.

[powerplantanimations]

I used Redink to properly learn how to make sentences but other than that.... I just made a bunch of scripts because I thought they were all going to be hits... I was wrong, but I did manage to gain experience.

I WILL say I do listen to a bunch of video essays on writing so I guess that counts as practice.

[Lensing]

Playing the show, running the marathon, drawing the comic or writing the book is not the "training" for me.
I´m not ignoring storytelling as part of the training, I want to know if writers train outside of the time when
they execute

[Lensing]

This is a very straight forward and satisfying answer.
Reading a lot is the key.
I sometimes talk to people who want to do something, become a comic artist,
writer, musician etc and they don´t read, listen to music or read comics

[system]

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