What is a modern writer’s creative strategy? Do you have to write lots of words every day? You don’t need to force yourself to the point of misery. Utsudo believes writing every day keeps your fluency with words, and writing is a skill you master through lots of practice. But once you’ve practiced enough, you should start writing strategically: understand what you’re good at and love, find better outlets for your work, and learn marketing and run social media or a podcast so you get seen. This advice applies to Taiwan’s creative ecosystem; if you focus on mainland Chinese web novels, you still need to fight for word count.

Translated from Utsudo’s original Chinese column.

A question from a newbie

One day, an adorable newbie asked me this question.

They said they’d heard me mention on a livestream that I require myself to write a certain number of words a day, so they held themselves to the same standard to push their progress.

I think that’s a great mindset. It shows they’re someone who holds themselves to high standards, and I believe people like that can do well in any industry!

But I’ve also heard some people wail that they can’t possibly write that much, yet feel bad about writing too little, and writing becomes painful. What then? If you’re struggling with this right now, be sure to read this post to the end—it should clear up your confusion.

Write every day to stay in practice

First of all, writing every day is very important. It keeps up your fluency with words—what we call staying “in practice.” Even if you don’t write much each day, it adds up to quite a lot over a month. But I need to clarify: the daily word count I mentioned on the livestream was really about getting newbies to “practice a lot” and “build up a body of work.” These are very important in the early stages of writing!

Writing is a skill you can master through lots of practice. No matter how you write at first, after a great deal of practice you’ll definitely improve dramatically. Never underestimate the power of accumulation and practice—it’s basically the one sure path toward becoming a pro!

Once you’ve practiced enough, write strategically

Once you’ve practiced to a certain level, you need a more advanced strategy.

Besides submitting manuscripts, entering contests and publishing online, I believe you’ll gradually master your writing skills, and collaboration opportunities will start to appear. At this point, beyond word counts, you should strive for excellence—sacrifice quantity and spend more time planning and making sure the work you’re about to write might win better opportunities.

Simply put, you need to start writing strategically.

After all that practice, you should know what you’re good and bad at, what you like and dislike, and understand where your abilities lie. Try carving out your own writing path where your strengths are—that speeds up your chances of being seen.

Once you’ve achieved some results in your field, start finding better outlets for your work. By then, you’re considering more than just the work itself. Your word count only needs to stay at a steady level; you can even spend more time finding partners and collaboration opportunities, because your writing skills are already solid and you can use them freely.

Learn to get yourself seen

Next, start learning how to get yourself “seen”—for example, learning marketing skills or expanding into media that make you more visible, like social media, podcasts or writing reviews—while continuing to create. You’ll find your life becomes colorful and full of possibilities.

But I must stress that I’m talking about the creative ecosystem in Taiwan. If you focus on mainland Chinese web novels, please keep fighting for word count and prioritize stable updates and high output, because the ecosystems differ, and so do the strategies.

FAQ

Further reading

• Previous: Hey! I Heard You’re a Writer on Ghost Island #247: I Can’t Keep Up With the Times Anymore
• Start from the beginning: Hey! I Heard You’re a Writer on Ghost Island #01: Utsudo’s Debut — A Road to the Dream Covered in Frost
• Utsudo’s books

About the author

Utsudo is a Taiwanese light novelist and novelist VTuber with more than ten years in the industry and 40 commercially published print books. Her novel 《遺失的情書》 received a 2022 Ministry of Culture youth creative award. The 《嘿！聽說妳在鬼島當作家》 series records her experiences as a novelist in Taiwan.