WRITING TIPS #1
THROUGH MY YEARS writing on Wattpad, there was always one thing in which many readers constantly asked me about: what are some of your writing tips? Hence, this blog post will contain some of my essential and primary writing must-haves whenever I am writing my own works and hopefully, these might help you on your writing journey as well.
Do remember that I am still a novice writer so these writing tips might not exactly be the model set of tips. Read at your own discretion.
#1 -- PLAN AHEAD
This may seem like a given but I realized that there are some authors, on Wattpad especially, that tend to "go with the flow". While that may seem like a good idea at first, it will eventually lead to multiple different drawbacks as you progress in the story plot. One of these drawbacks include the dreaded writer's block, something that may set you back in your writing for up to a good few weeks.
Personally, I like to plan my stories ahead by drawing up loose timelines that can keep me in track. Writing up character profiles that include how the characters appear, their immediate relations, and general personality can also help to reduce plot holes and enhance character development.
Besides, there is no harm in being safe. Let's say your document screws you over and accidentally deletes your latest chapter, you'll always be able to rewrite the chapter following the general idea that you've already planned up from earlier (albeit still be a little mad, but with the right reasons).
#2 -- SHOW NOT TELL
One of the things in which my English teacher in school lived by when it came to writing essays was "show and not tell". You might ask, "what do you mean by that?"
Well, to "show" a reader what you are thinking of in your mind, be it a scenery or a character, is to vividly describe the topic on hand. To "tell", on the other hand, is to, well, tell. If you are still very much clueless about what I am saying, let me show an example.
Let's just say that we are describing about a certain female character named "Bella." Here are the two different variations of "show" and "tell":
TELL: Bella is a blonde with blue eyes. She is always seen smiling.
SHOW: One thing in which Bella always had on her face would be a beautiful sunny smile. The edges of her lips are forever curved into a stunning grin, one that would melt the hearts of men and women alike all over the world. Her hair was of sunshine blonde, running down the curve of her back like a luminescent waterfall that never seemed to run dry. Every single day, Bella wears her hair in a different style as of the last. And her eyes, gorgeous orbs of robin blue that seemed to trap the entire summer sky in them. Flecks of silver dotted the rims, always catching the gleam of the unforgiving sun and reflecting them in such an ethereal angelic way. She was a work of art, one that no one seemed to ever completely understand simply because she was an unrivaled enigmatic beauty.
See, equipping "show" instead of "tell" also helps to dramatically up the word count, which is always a plus. Of course, there are some exceptions where "tell" should be used instead of "show" and that would only be for dramatic effect. All in all, describing tends to bring the story to life and help the readers to live in the scene rather than read about it. Ultimately, it is all about the experience.
#3 -- PACE YOURSELF
When writing, different authors and websites will probably provide you with different preferable word counts for a chapter. Ultimately, it all comes down to what genre of a story you are writing about. Most novels are about 40k - 100k in length, anything less being a novella (a short novel) then a short story. Some adventure books tend to be longer as well and may even progress to become a trilogy.
Personally, I try to write as much as possible for my books. Each chapter, I set a minimum word count of 2000 words at the very least. If I can, I tend to push the word count past 3000. With around, let's say, 30 or so chapters, you will have an average of 60k words and more which is a pretty average number for a novel.
Pace your story well to ensure that you do not rush past too many topics in one chapter. Approximately, one chapter should contain about one or two major scenes (unless it is the climax). Always stick to where you are at and remember to explain as many things as possible as you go. Of course, that last sentence would not apply if you are trying to hide information for a big plot-twist reveal at the end.
#4 -- MAKE YOUR STORY UNPREDICTABLE
Nowadays, people want a new story, a breath of fresh air. Try to refrain from overdone topics like the cliche good girl x bad boy or alpha werewolf falling in love with a rouge/ nobody. Honestly, these stories are pretty overdone and it is hard to weave a good story out from these topics.
Try to think out of the box and imagine a new never-before-done situation. Something different will, needless to say, capture attention much faster than something that is repeated and overdone. Plus, writing a story based on an overused cliche may end up causing you to unknowingly use ideas that already exist in other completed stories. Plagiarizing is a huge no-no so you should be very careful about that as well. Refrain from copying and come up with something by yourself. Trust me, it is much more rewarding.
#5 -- WATCH YOUR GRAMMAR AND INCLUDE GOOD VOCAB
One of my greatest pet peeves (and sins) is an unedited work. And I am not talking about a few innocent grammar mistakes here and there like accidentally typing "its" instead of "it's". I am talking about full blown and common mistakes that make the story almost unreadable.
I get it, sometimes, good grammar is hard to master even for some professional editors, much less for a beginner writer. So, I have a little cheat code for you. Personally, I rely on a add-on called "Grammarly" to help edit my works as I go. You can add it as an extension to your browser or to your Microsoft Word applications. They point out your mistakes in an instant and they provide alternatives for you to change the wrong word to. Grammarly is a free add-on but also offers a paid premium version that will thoroughly check your writing structure even more than the normal one. At the end of each week, a writing report will also be emailed to you for you to check up your own progress.
Try to include as much vocabulary as you can. Do not repeat the same few descriptive words throughout your entire story and try to broaden your vocabulary range. If you think that you don't know enough words, you can always depend on google. Just search up synonyms of a certain word and more options will always appear for you to take your pick!
We've come to the end of my first writing tip entry. I hope that this article will help you in your writing journey and remember to always let your imagination run free. It is your story, not someone else's, so do not let another person tell you how unrealistic it is. If it's your story and you deem it possible, then it is.
Best of luck, my darlings, and until next time.
xoxo