I think with stories (and even more now with word processors) you can practice by writing stories over and over with different goals—trying to make a character more sympathetic in one version, trying to crate a surprise ending in another. Words are every bit as plastic as clay.

*nod*

That’s me. I don’t practice writing purpose. But I do experiment with different things, to see if I like the results. And I’ve got some works that I realize, in hindsight, were practice pieces.

Here’s what I do. A few years ago, when I decided I was for really real going to do this writing thing, I had two main story ideas to choose from. I deliberately chose the one I liked less because I knew the first one would be the worse novel.

So the first novel was to prove to myself that I could do it, that I could write a novel. It was practice in that sense, but at the same time I always intended to try and sell it. I know full well that I can’t sell everything I write, but why not try? That’s why I don’t practice; I try to sell everything because you never know what’ll stick.

And actually, I’ve learned a lot from trying to sell it, even though nobody’s bitten yet. So that’s practice too.

Or the week between D&D games crunching numbers daily, to see if we could take the next redonkulous fight in the Age of Worms.

I’m a’gonna go write about Neandrathals now, and not write Vampire Porn for XP.

He got better, and ended up writing some of the best Beatles songs. But it’s true; if you listen to/watch early shows, the songs by George sound almost like covers of other people’s stuff, while the Lennon-McCartney songs sound like the Beatles. Paul attributed that straight up to practice and experience that George eventually gained, but much more slowly than Paul and John.

Hmmm. Interesting topic.

For instance, one technique is describing scenic locations. When I first started, I would sit down and spend a page or so describing the area that I was in without worrying about character or plot or any of those things, just the elements that I was physically noticing.

To get deep penetration third POV down, at a workshop the instructor had us write about a recent hour in our lives in third person, without concern about plot. Again, it forced me to focus on that technique without having to worry about story.

On the weekends, (though I’m out of practice now) I did a flash fiction challenge with friends where we had an hour and a half to crank out a finished story from a trigger. It forces you to think about plot without giving you time to slow down and let the inner editor panic. It also trained me to write fast, clean first drafts.

I’ve taken third person stories and re-written them as first, to see what would happen.

I’ve played with authorial voice, deliberately, to see what happens if I have a visible narrator.

I was an art major and one of the things we do is learn to to hone our techniques without worrying about the art. I don’t see any reason that writers can’t and shouldn’t do the same.

Start thinking, “This is here, this is now.” Start thinking, “I have not yet succeeded or failed, my fate is my own.” Start thinking, “Before tales can be told of this it must first occur.” Start thinking like that and see how your approach changes.

As the battered and bleeding corpse disappeared into the darkness of the chasm the old guide shrugged his shoulders. He turned back to his mule, and leading back up the trail he said, “I keep telling them, and they keep on ignoring me; greasy fingers trumps ancient prophecy every time.”