In the below video, Neil Gaiman shares his tips for aspiring writers during his talk with Daniel Handler at BAM.
What advice would you add for new writers?
On Writing : Neil Gaiman's Advice For Aspiring Writers by Ashley Renee Smith
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Neil Gaiman shared great tips, Ashley Renee Smith, especially "finish things"! There were so many scripts I didn't finish when I was a new screenwriter. They might've been terrible, but I could've rewritten them later on when I knew more about screenwriting. And who knows what could've happened to those scripts (option, sell, etc.).
My advice to new writers is get feedback. I didn't get a lot of feedback on my work as a new screenwriter, and I'm pretty sure I would've had more success early on if I did get feedback.
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Stay Curious! Keep observing the world around you. Inspiration can come from anywhere, so stay open to new ideas and experiences.
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"Finish Things" is so good. My hard drive used to be filled with the corpses of half-done (or less) story ideas. It's why I've become such a fan of using outlines, even with fiction, because it adds in the motivation to actually finish (but still gives me flexibility to change if the characters take the story a different direction).
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Feedback is essential, Maurice Vaughan. It's scary and that never really changes, but it's so important. Just like every other writing skill, practice makes perfect when it comes to hearing and processing criticism, both good and bad.
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Giovanna Silvestre, I love that! I love to go places like a busy mall and just people-watch. It's interesting to observe how others interact in the world and with the people around them.
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Jonathan Jordan, I'm determined to avoid my common mistake of getting 3/4 into a project and then getting distracted by something else and moving on. It's why I'm determined to fully outline my current project before I start writing. It's a new experience for me as I've always been more of a pantser, but this project means a lot to me and I'm determined to finish it. What I've learned while outlining is that I can actually identify the holes and problems that used to stop me in my tracks. It's slowing me down, but in a good way. Every time I hit a wall in the outline, I can reassess and find a fix to the problem so that hopefully when I start writing, it's smoother and the complete first draft is stronger ahead of revisions.