Bonnie’s Top Writing Tips
Oh, I know. Who am I to give writing tips? I still need writing tips. (Seriously, please give me some).
Still, I’ve been writing for a while now, and I’ve picked up a few things. They’ve helped me. Maybe they’ll help you?
Show Don’t Tell. Haha, you thought I was going to give writing advice without including ‘show don’t tell?’ Nope! It’s the most crucial thing. Don’t tell me Fred was a bad-tempered man. Show me Fred losing his temper! Don’t tell me it was hot. Make me feel the sweat trickling down my neck.
Not everything can or should be shown – a good story will have a mix of showing and telling – but most people do too much telling and not enough showing when they start out.
‘Said’ is your friend. Fancier words like ‘exclaimed’ and ‘sobbed’ are okay from time to time, but too many will pull the reader out of the story. Most of the time, ‘said’ is the right choice!
Adverbs aren’t your friend. Some writers say you shouldn’t use adverbs at all. I guess I like adverbs more than your average bear, but if you want to use one, make sure it’s pulling its weight. ‘He sobbed sadly’ isn’t a good use of an adverb – sobbing is usually sad, so the ‘sadly’ doesn’t add any new information.
To get rid of adverbs, try using a stronger verb instead – ‘he sprinted’ instead of ‘he ran quickly.’
Watch out for ‘to be’ verbs. You can’t avoid ‘to be’ entirely, but using it too much makes the scene flat and static, like a snapshot. Again, look for those stronger verbs. ‘There were trees on the hill’ is pretty boring. How about ‘on the hill, the wind ripped at the trees?’ Okay, not the best example, but at least it describes something happening rather than a flat state of being.
Writing isn’t a visual medium. Sometime’s it’s tempting to write like you’re watching a TV show, describing every punch and dodge, with a cool soundtrack in the background. It’s okay to write with an eye for the visual, but we don’t need the blow-by-blow. Think about the stuff you can’t see – the thoughts, the emotions, the language, the stakes. Otherwise it’s just noise.
You don’t need a thesaurus. The biggest, longest, fanciest word isn’t necessarily the best word. You don’t need to impress the reader with your vocab — they’re not your English teacher! Even Hemingway, who knew lots of words, said ‘there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use.’ Don’t be sesquipedalian.
Watch out for comma splices. Also known as run-on sentences. They’re a common mistake, but easy to fix! Arthur checked his watch, he had to be at work soon. This sentence is a comma splice because you’re joining two independent clauses with a comma. You can spot it here because the second clauses contains a pronoun (‘he’) connecting it to the first clause. Try Arthur checked his watch. He had to be at work soon. Much better!
Know when to start. Don’t open with ‘It was a day like any other.’ Don’t start the novel with your character waking up and looking in the mirror. Start at the inciting incident. Make us care!
Filter words. Does it need to be ‘she heard the traffic crash by,’ or does ‘the traffic crashed by’ work just as well? It’s understood that in third person limited, the narration is describing things as they are perceived by the viewpoint character. No need to qualify.
Prologues. They’re not automatically bad — The Ninth Sorceress has a prologue. But you shouldn’t use your prologue to infodump a bunch of background about your world. Nobody wants to read an encyclopaedia before the story even starts. We have to care first.
The Other Dimension: Time. Um, I don’t know how to describe this tip, because I just kind of made it up. But when you’re describing how something looks and feels and smells and sounds, you should think about time as well. Instead of just describing a stone passageway, think about how the floor has been worn down by centuries of feet. Or how the end of the character’s pencil has been chewed down to the nub. It’s the same principle as avoiding ‘to be’ verbs. You’re not describing a snapshot – it’s a living, breathing world than continues before and after you’re describing it.
Just Write. I know — it’s literally the most obvious and hated writing advice in the world. But it’s true! Don’t get so bogged down in researching and planning and thinking about writing that you forget to write. Even if it’s crap, you’ll learn something, and you can always fix it later. You can’t fix a blank page!
You don’t have to write. Wow, that’s some conflicting advice. But honestly, writing just because you think it’s a good way to make money, or because you want to be famous — not a great idea! The only good reason to write is because you like doing it. If you hate every second — find something fun to do instead! Life is too short.
If you like writing but you’re struggling with a novel, don’t forget there are other avenues. You might be better suited to script-writing, or games, or comics, or news articles.
Aaaand that’s all! Don’t forget to sign up to my mailing list so you can stay up to date. I’ll be doing another newsletter in October, so you won’t want to miss out.