Tag Archives: Writing Tips

Today’s Writing Tip

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In most cases, it’s unnecessary to use phrases such as “he knew”, “he thought”, or “he saw” when dealing with your viewpoint character. Just dive right in and say it as it would be going through his or her head. This is something to definitely watch for during your final edit.

For example, instead of saying, “He saw that it had started to snow, covering the mountain peaks in the distance” you can simply say, “It had started to snow, covering the mountain peaks in the distance.” See how simple it is? One advantage is that this helps pull readers in, as if it’s happening to them. Saying he saw/she saw or thought or heard can act as a subtle bump out of the story. Besides, you want to eliminate unnecessary words, anyway, and this is one place to start.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Many authors note that writing the book blurb and slug are as difficult as writing the book itself. I certainly agree. These are extremely important, since they introduce and hopefully lure potential readers to your story. Give it all the time necessary to do the job.

It’s a good idea to have your book blurb in several different lengths. What you include on the back cover can be fairly long. However, when you post your book on certain sales or promotional sites, they may have a word limit, sometimes as short as 100 characters! Thus, it’s handy to have them already written so when you’re in the middle of posting your book somewhere you don’t have to stop and edit it down on the fly. Thus having one ready that is full, medium, and super-short in length will save time and frustration as well as assure top quality.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Have you ever thought of what your protagonist’s (or other characters’) favorite music genre or even favorite song might be? Think about how old s/he is and what type of music was popular when they were in their teens & early 20s.

This is particularly useful in character development since it helps define the person. For example, if someone prefers Beethoven to acid rock it clearly tells you something about them. When you’re getting to know a character yourself, listening to “their” favorite music an help you get in their zone as well. When your character comes to life it makes writing so much easier.

This is also a way for readers to relate to a character, especially if they share a favorite song with someone in your book. Just be aware that you can’t include lyrics of a song without permission, but the title works if it’s a popular song with which most of your fans are familiar.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Here’s another tip for you serial writers: Don’t forget your minor characters!  You never know who might be your readers’ favorite. Believe it or not, they often get attached to supporting characters as much or more than the protagonist. Thus, if a minor character goes away, they’ll be disappointed if they disappear from subsequent stories.

Another thought is that popular minor characters make good fodder for spinoff stories, whether as a short story or another novel. When my fans told me how much they loved Thyron, the telepathic walking plant in my Star Trails Tetralogy, I wrote up his background in a short story that I give away. In addition, I eventually wrote an entire novel with him as the central character, which in the beginning I’d never thought I’d do.  However, his popularity warranted the effort.

Today’s Writing Tip

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If you’ve written a series, consider packaging them as a boxed set when it’s complete. This is a chance to revitalize it with all the push of a new release and it also eliminates the cliffhanger issue. While pricing may be a challenge since you probably won’t have much success by making it the same price as if they’d bought each one separately, they do tend to be popular, especially for those who are familiar with the story or your work.

Including bonus material is another way to lure in readers. As far as I know, none of the POD paperback suppliers make it easy to do this as an Indie writer as far as packaging. However, you can do so yourself for signing parties and book fairs.

Today’s Writing Tip

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If you’re writing a series, have you ended each volume with a cliffhanger? Most series constitute an ongoing story, but if you end each one in the middle of a nail-biting scene, bear in mind that there are pros and cons.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve encountered such endings before and actually said something out loud that wasn’t very nice. In other words, sometimes they irritate your readers.  If the sequel has not yet been released, it’s even worse. In that case, if a reader has to wait, they may forget all about your story in the meantime or remember how frustrated they were at how the book ended. Granted, if your reader really loves your story and characters they’ll deal with it and look forward to the next book, but otherwise it could backfire. Mainly, be aware it doesn’t always work as expected.

Another thing to consider is that not all readers will start with volume 1. Starting a book in the middle of an intense scene carried over from the previous book is likely to be confusing, not something you want to do to a reader.

What do you think of cliffhangers? Feel free to leave your thoughts on them in the comments.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Another way to get out of writer’s block is to create a promotional video for your book.  Videos are another excellent way to express your creative energy. You can find still pictures on Pixabay while Videezy has video clips to liven it up. For your script, your book blurb is a good place to start. In fact, if you haven’t written your book blurb yet, this is the time to work on that, too.

You’ll be surprised how easy it is to create a basic video on sites like http://spark.adobe.com. The basic online version is free and even includes some images and music you can use. There are more sophisticated subscription sites like the one I use, http://www.wevideo.com, if you really want to get into it and customize your message.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Here’s another cure for writer’s block: Design some memes to use on social media to promote your work, whether for existing books or your WIP. Sometimes the visual stimulation coupled with creating matching phrases can be the boost to your imagination you need to get back to writing.

If nothing else, go to Pixabay or wherever you get your graphics, and download a few that work well with your story. The visual stimulation never hurts, whether you’re looking for landscapes that represent your settings or people who look like your characters. Often when you figure out what to say on each one it helps you get back to writing your story.

Today’s Writing Tip

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One of the most frequent criticisms for a book is lack of challenge. One way to avoid this is to make sure that every time your protagonist is within reach of what he or she wants  that something gets in the way to prevent it. This builds suspense as well as character engagement. You want your readers rooting for him or her and they’ll be a lot more sympathetic if it’s not easy.

I don’t know about you, but I tend to baby my favorite characters and don’t like for them to suffer or be discouraged. However, that is not how life really is. If the plot proceeds too smoothly, it will make readers roll their eyes and maybe even throw the book across the room (not advisable with an ereader). While a satisfying ending may ultimately see them getting what they want, they should work for it, the harder the better. In good rule to follow is if things are going too well, stop and figure out what could go wrong. Then throw that obstacle in their way.

Today’s Writing Tip

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When doing your final edit, it may be helpful to do so on a print copy. If you’re an indie author who uses POD (print on demand), this is easily done. I’ve found it’s much easier to spot typos and other issues in a print book than on the computer. It places me more firmly in the position of a reader than going over it on the computer screen. I don’t know why, it just registers in a different way.

This is probably because I’m old-fashioned and spent most of my life reading physical books. It may be just as effective on an ereader, which I’ll have to try, though marking anything you want to change isn’t quite as easy or satisfying as using a red pen. I do a lot of reading on my exercise bike, which obviously gets complicated with regard to reading anything on the computer screen, especially if you have a desktop. When I’m reading a physical copy of my own book on that exercise bike, however, it’s much easier to see it through a reader’s eyes.

A print copy is also a lot easier to flip through or go back and forth to check for continuity. Then again, this could just be me and my propensity for a tangible book with real pages. Nonetheless, you might want to try it and see how it works for you.

Various reviewers always want a print copy. I can understand why.