Category Archives: Writing Tips

Today’s Writing Tip

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Editing your own work is always a challenge. It’s easy to read over typos because your brain tends to see what it expects. You also have your own writing style, which of course will seem natural to you, even if it has something fundamentally unclear that a reader will trip over.

One way to help overcome these obstacles is to read your story aloud. You can tell more easily if the flow of the words is natural, often discovering a better way to arrange them. If nothing else, read the dialog out loud, which helps determine whether or not it sounds authentic.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Watch for proper subject-verb agreement. This may seem obvious, but beyond the basics, such as “Writing skill IS important” vs. “Writing skill and grammar ARE important”, it isn’t always so clear.

This is often the case if there’s a prepositional phrase somewhere between the subject and verb. It’s really easy, and I’ve done this a lot myself, to take the subject of the prepositional phrase as the subject for the verb. I’ve even seen such things slip past editors from time to time. For example, “The mother of the kittens IS grey and white”. To get rid of the troublesome prepositional phrase you could say “The kittens’s mother is grey and white.”

I think everyone hated diagramming sentences, but this is a good example where having those skills helps. Too many people think because they can talk that they can write. Thus, they “may be talking as they be speaking”. Correct grammar is important if you want to build a solid reputation as a professional writer.

Today’s Writing Tip

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If a paragraph is too long, it’s hard on the reader’s eyes. Break them up for visual appeal, even if in a technical sense it’s only one thought. I don’t know about you, but when I come to a paragraph that takes up an entire page, there’s something daunting about it. Sometimes they’re even hard to read, depending on the font size and spacing.

There are so many ways to distract a reader it’s pathetic. Long, run-on paragraphs are one of them. Even if it’s the same thought, be sure to break it up if it takes up half or more of the page. If it happens to be dialog, you may want to break it up with some action. Otherwise, remember that when the same speaker continues to the next paragraph, you don’t use a close quote on the previous one.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Paragraphs should contain connected thoughts and have an introductory and closing sentence. Of course, this is not always easy to do when writing a novel, but essential for nonfiction.  However, they should have some degree of coherence. If the subject or thought line changes, then start a new paragraph.  More on this tomorrow when I’ll talk about paragraph length.

 

 

Today’s Writing Tip

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Using correct punctuation in dialog is essential, yet it is one thing I see done incorrectly as much as anything. For example, when someone asks a question, be sure to punctuate with a “?” I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve seen dialog that was clearly a question, yet didn’t employ a question mark.

Admittedly, there are times when this is not 100% clear.  “He wondered whether the police had all the evidence” is a statement, but “Did the police have all the evidence?” is a question. One way to figure it out, if you’re in doubt, is to say it out loud.

Today’s Writing Tip

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There are several ways to say “said”, but don’t overdo it; that gets annoying as well. In other words, if you get too creative, that’s another distraction. These should also be commonly used/familiar words such as “replied”, “answered”, “stated”, etc. Using a word like “opined”, while perhaps correct for the dialog, may be unfamiliar to your average reader. Depending on the story, there could be exceptions, but how many times have you seen that word at all, much less in a novel?

Using the correct synonym for “said” can also help you avoid adverbs. It’s much more efficient to say “he yelled” or “he hollered” or “he bellowed” than to say “he said loudly.”

Today’s Writing Tip

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There’s a place in your story for description and there’s a place for action. When something intense is happening, such as a chase scene, you don’t want to slow down the pace by stopping to describe the locale. This is not to say the imagery isn’t important. However, one way to avoid interrupting the flow with descriptions is to tell your reader what that area looks like BEFORE the action begins, perhaps in a much earlier scene.

Then all you need to do is include a couple brief reminders, then let fly with the action.

Today’s Writing Tip

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The appearance of your book’s interior is every bit as important as the cover.  It should be formatted for readability. This involves the cover page, copyright page, font, font sizes, spacing between lines, headers and footers, pagination, and chapter headings to name a few.

If you’re formatting the book yourself, there are numerous “How To” documents available that you should read and follow. At the most fundamental level, the main body of your story should be in a text that’s easy to read. These are usually a serif font such as Times New Roman or a similar one. Sans serif fonts such as Arial are not as easy to read.

For fiction, the first paragraph of a chapter or section is NOT indented, but subsequent ones are. Nonfiction often uses block paragraphs that are not indented, but have a double-space between them.

The space between sections is more easily identified with a divider of some sort whether it’s * * * or even a small graphic that represents your story. You can simply use a double space if you like in a print book, but for an ebook that doesn’t work due to the fact the pagination is not static, but adjusts to the ereader. This means that sometimes the new section will also be the next page and the reader won’t have that clue that it’s a new section. Remember that one of the worst faux pas’s is confusing your reader and throwing him or her out of the story.

Print books need, as a minimum, to have page numbers. Headers and footers with the title, chapter title, or author name are options.

The main thing to remember is that poorly formatted books lose readers and will also label you as unprofessional. This can be a tedious and frustrating job in which case you might want to find someone on Fivver or some other service to do it for you. Just make sure they know what they’re doing and thus do it correctly.

Today’s Writing Tip

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No matter what anyone tries to tell you or the old cliche may imply, readers DO judge a book by its cover. Especially in this day when anyone can publish a book and there is a plethora of pure, indie trash out there, nothing screams “amateur” and someone with a major ego trip than a canned or unprofessional cover. Most readers can spot them a mile away. The main one that comes to mind has a black square where you place your title with a photograph or some other graphic behind it.

In other words, make sure yours looks professional. Put as much thought, time, and money into your book’s appearance as you do your story. Don’t think that you have to spend a fortune. Many cover designers, including myself, will put one together for a very reasonable price. If you want to see some of the ones I’ve designed, you can see them on my Kalliope Rising Press website here.

The cover should represent your story, its theme, and/or main character as clearly as possible. This is not always easy, but is well-worth the thought. I’ve seen great covers that fronted for a lousy story and great stories fronted by a lousy cover. Do everything in your power to make them both the best. Your readers will appreciate it.

Today’s Writing Tip

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You’ve probably heard it over and over to “Write what you know”, whether it relates to your hero’s job or where he lives.  This is all well and good, but depending on your education and experience, what do you do when you get an idea where you main character is an archeologist, but you know precious little about it?

If you don’t know first hand, then learn via research. I have found research to be some of the most satisfying and enjoyable part of writing. It always provides additional ideas for plot twists and story details far beyond what I originally conceived.

Accuracy is essential if you want to maintain credibility as an author. Fiction or not, there are limits to what you can make up off the top of your head. Believe me, anyone who knows something about that particular profession, location, or whatever, is going to be on you like a duck on a June bug if you get it wrong. When a reader is rolling their eyes at your story, don’t think they’ll give you a favorable review much less ever become a fan and be back to check out your future work.

Even if your story is well-written otherwise, huge inaccuracies are unforgivable. It’s better to be a little vague than to get it wrong. But getting details spot-on are a bonus that give you credibility and respect as an author.