Tag Archives: Writing Tips

Today’s Writing Tip

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Give your supporting characters unique talents that fit your plot so each contributes something to the story. This enhances their individuality and helps avoid redundancy in your characters by justifying their existence in the story.

If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, think about your favorite sit-com and the differences between the characters. These traits are also useful for creating conflict. Weird habits or talents can also be useful in describing their appearance and contribute to imagery. For example, if someone is a mountain climber they’ll have a different appearance than someone in a garage band.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Giving your protagonist a unique or unusual name can make him or her more memorable. However, if it’s so weird or impossible to pronounce that your readers stumble every time they see it, then it can be a distraction, which is something you never want to do. It works best if you keep it short and easily recognizable. If you have several such names, make sure they’re of different length, and don’t have the same first letter, which makes them easier to tell apart.

This seems to happen a lot in science fiction and fantasy and something I’ve struggled with from time to time.  Now that my series is being made into audio books, I have to admit I’m wondering how my narrator will say some of those names! I’m reminded of the movie, “Men in Black”, where some of the space aliens have some pretty strange names that I’d have no clue whatsoever how to spell!

Today’s Writing Tip

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Giving your characters names that fit their personality is one way to enhance imagery. Think about it–when you visualize someone named John or Michael you probably get an entirely different image than someone named Homer. Does your image automatically drift toward someone you know with that name?

Need ideas? Search on any given name on IMDb. Think about what the individuals who come up have in common and whether it fits your character.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Make it a habit to “people watch” when you’re in places like the grocery store, the mall, waiting in the doctor’s or dentist’s office, or Walmart. When you see someone who catches your eye, think of how you would describe that person if s/he were in one of your stories. (Try not to stare, it could get you in trouble.)

As they say, truth is stranger than fiction, and you can often see characters far beyond anything you could imagine, unless you’re deep into fantasy writing and this sort of thing comes naturally. Even then, it can fuel your already-fertile imagination. This is also one way to put your time to good use while doing routine errands that can sometimes feel like a nuisance when you’d rather be writing.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Do you know the difference between a red herring & a plot hole? Red herrings, usually used in mysteries, distract suspicion from the true villain and point toward other possible culprits. These can also be used in similar situations to keep your readers guessing.

A plot hole is something implied that you never brought to closure. While you may plan on doing so in a sequel, it’s best to nonetheless mention it in some way so your readers don’t think you forgot and it slipped through the cracks.

Today’s Writing Tip

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If possible, include keywords that describe your story in the title. This will help it appear in more searches. If you have a great title that doesn’t include them, you can always cheat a little and add a subtitle.

Make sure the categories you can include in various places are accurate as well. The more accurately you can place your book in one of them, the more likely it will show up there as well. The BISAC  codes are especially important since they are what librarians and other book professionals depend upon. You can find a complete listing here. You can sign up for free to get more information.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Perfect people are boring, the same with those that are too predictable and have their lives entirely together. You don’t want your readers to get bored reading about your character, so they need to have some issues. Even if they’re a very strong person, then they need to have a challenge before him or her that tests that strength.

However, don’t make your characters such a piece of work that they’re off-putting to readers. I have read books where the character, or at least one of them, was so dysfunctional that I was rolling my eyes and wanted to slap this person upside the head. I came very close to not reading any further, except I usually give a book about three chapters before I ditch it.

Interesting characters and plots are essential and character growth through the story is essential, but remember, if your reader doesn’t like or can’t relate to him or her at all, they may quit reading.

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How many award winning books have you read? These are great reference points for what constitutes not only a good read, but excellent writing. Don’t just read them for enjoyment, study them for what makes them special.

When a book wins an award or is a finalist, the author is given a seal or medallion that recognizes their status, which they place on their book cover. Thus, you can tell by looking at the cover if it’s been given an award. Another way to find them is to go to the websites for the organizations that provide awards. If you don’t know where to find them, here are a few, though there are numerous others: ReadersFavorite.com; BookExcellenceAwards.com; NewAppleAwards.com.

If you think your book is top notch, enter one of these and get a professional opinion. However, bear in mind that as with all reviews, there’s a level of subjectivity. I know one author who got blasted by one of these and awarded the top award for the same book by another. Nonetheless, it does provide a baseline.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Many authors will tell you, including myself, that book blurbs are harder to write than the book itself! After creating numerous characters, devising a complex plot, and describing the time and place over hundreds of pages, distilling this down into a few sentences is no easy task.

Some great advice from author Nicholas Rossis that he passed along in a recent writers conference stated that the main elements to include are your main character, what s/he wants, what’s in the way, and the consequences of failure. Whatever you do, don’t include any spoilers or too many extraneous details. You want the reader’s curiosity to be aroused enough for them to want to read the story.