Fug_the_system

You're welcome. I am trying to write as well. It's a tough process. But I'm better now at 30 than I was at say 26. If only because I can read what I write without cringing; my issues are with character development and plotting. But when it comes to writing, I'm much better at it because I got older as much as developing more of a creative eye and ear.

I was in the same boat.

If it helps, don't think about writing as a goal. Instead, think about absorbing language and using that journey to figure out what you respond to.

You might find it useful to read (a lot and widely).

In the last few years since finishing University, I've read books on Economics, Philosophy, Self-Help, Advertising, Politics, History, Anthropology, Religion, Music, Science and of course lots and lots of fiction. I would say reading fiction alone would not have helped; I would have gotten stuck in a rut.

I needed to understand how the world worked a little better before I delved into why Yukio Mishima was so introspective: reading and learning about WW2/post-war Japan helped with that. Or why did Paul Bowles write the way he wrote?: He was a gay man living in Morocco during WW2. Or why did Dostoyevsky write about what he wrote about? He was Russian lol.

But if you want to get better at writing, you need to find out how to write. And in order to find out how to write, you have to read. And in order to find out how YOU write, you have to find out who YOU are. And in order to find out who YOU are, YOU have to live.

I felt like I learned why she was a c*nt to Sydney though; Sydney's young and promising and Tina tells Richie she both hates and admires young people for having their whole lives ahead of them and something to work towards. But that was it.