The Word Squad

Featured Student Author: Olivia Mohning

Olivia Mohning Offers Advice for Aspiring Writers

Quite Simply, How To Be a Writer

Olivia Mohning

Open your eyes and Listen. If you turn in a circle, you will notice that there is something to be seen from every angle. Above and below you. There is an entire world around you, and an entire universe around that. So open your eyes and Listen—watch how it works. Pay attention and learn. Notice that cobblestone road and the hooves and carriage crunching on a grey English morning. The old woman in a pink sweater with large blue eyes and a sweet disposition. The sexy barista with her hair in a bun and glossy lips and the Hollywood smile. How that couple in the apartment above you argues constantly, always about the same menial things.

You don’t need to record everything, just observe. Don’t lose yourself in your observations. Remember to be at that 5 o’clock meeting, and to pick up the kids, and do your homework, and call a friend; but be open to the world around you as well. Don’t get caught up in your own affairs so much so that you become oblivious to the massive oceanic universe that surrounds you—the little ant on the hill.

Read books. Your favorite books, the ones you like, not the ones most critically acclaimed. Get inspired. Because when you read, your subconscious absorbs more than you know. Instead of learning facts like in history class, you’re learning how prose works. Think about it—the more time you spend observing paintings, the more likely you are to pick up techniques and notice the different styles. Writing is similar; it’s an art. You’re painting a story with words. So, yes, read books, so that you may understand this art.

IMAGINE! A writer’s best tool certainly isn’t the pen he uses, or thesaurus, or degree, or ability to mimic someone else. It’s to let their imagination roam freely, to fantasize. About food or phone calls or snowball fights or tea or pain or the sun or a person they made up using their glorious imagination.

Learn to write in a grammatically-appealing manner, free of errors, crisp, clean-cut way. Don’t limit yourself. Everyone has a unique style. Some of the most famous poems and prose pieces are just flat-out weird. And lastly, when the urge strikes (be it at three a.m. or otherwise) put your thoughts onto the paper.

Olivia Mohning is seventeen and a junior in the EDGE program at Visions. She is passionate about everything creative and artistic. Olivia writes song lyrics, prose, and poetry. In her free time, she sings and plays the guitar, piano, and the cello. Olivia wrote "Quite Simply, How to be a Writer" with the idea that she could guide aspiring writers in the right direction. She wanted to show how simple writing is and that the biggest obstacle is our own self-doubt that we make for ourselves.  She says to always remember, "You are the only person in the world who can tell your stories, and no one can do it better." "Quite Simply, How to be a Writer" is published in Paper Wings, a collection of prose and poetry by students from Visions in Education.