Tip #1: VISUALISE

Hello everyone! This is the first of 12 writing tips to improve your writing coming your way. These 12 tips are from my experience of writing a book, writing poems and giving exams.

My first tip for you is VISUALISE.

Whenever writing a piece, whether it's a poem, a descriptive or a narrative, the first step is to visualise.

This is especially true for descriptive passages because descriptive passages aim to allow a reader to see, feel, hear, smell and taste what the writer imagines. However, if the writer themselves is unable to visualise what they’re trying to describe, it implies that the idea is not plausible. The reader will not be able to picture your text, and your writing would turn out to be futile.

This also applies to other sorts of text. Therefore, I think it is essential to spend a few seconds building the picture (descriptive), scene (narrative) or story out in your head before scribbling characters blindly onto a sheet. Picture the environment you would like to describe- build a world thinking about size, space, position, colour, shapes, details, smells and sounds in your mind. Create a vivid picture to refer to in your head when you write. Visualise your scene in your head- as if you are replaying a movie scene. Imagine the actions of the characters, and hear their dialogues. How do they sound- angry or polite? Is there quick-paced action, crashing sounds, and blaring alarms? What is the general atmosphere of the scene? Is it dull? If it was a movie, would there be quick-paced, intense music? Watching your scene play out in your head can allow you to feel the emotions you would feel watching a movie and make it easier for you to convey that emotion to your reader. After all, if you cannot feel something, how can you make your reader feel it? In the same way, you can picture the scene of a TV show or movie in your head, and create and play out a scene before you write.

Visualising allows the writer to have a clear vision of what they’re going to write while avoiding any ambiguity. If the writer can visualise their ideas, the reader has a greater chance of engaging in the writing.

Bonus digital art piece (my first attempt) using a tutorial by GenevieveDesignStudios.

Watercolour winter snow globe