5 Incredibly Useful Writing Tips You Need to Know

I’ve struggled with writing in the past. Not for a lack of creativity but for a lack of how to write. I look constantly online to better both my productivity and writing. Here are the best tips and myths I’ve collected over the years.

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Show not tell is misunderstood

Show not tell is something we’ve all heard before. It originally applied to scriptwriting and screenplays and was never truly meant to be applied to novel writing. It shows up in a lot of modern-day writing, with the goal being to show the reader what’s going on instead of simply *gasp* telling them. You’d think it’s a cardinal sin at this point, but it’ll hinder you rather than help you if this is what you keep at the forefront of your mind while writing. There is no need to show everything. If your character Cheri woke up with a piercing headache, you do not need to describe every detail of it with simile and metaphor. As an example:

“Cheri felt as if the world had split in two. Her heart pounded in her head, each throb bringing a fresh wave of pain and a grimace. She inwardly laughed at herself as she wiped the yellow crust out of her eyes and drool off her lips, amused at the fact that it took six bottles of vodka to take her out.”

Showing she had a headache here is unnecessary. Not only does it add tremendously to your word count for no reason, but if you have too many of these back-to-back, the reader will likely be annoyed. However, I will say that knowing how to show something when it is needed is a good skill to have. It is far better to look at it as show VERSUS tell rather than Show DON’T tell.

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Don’t prescribe yourself to what you think you should do

It’s easy to say you will write. Often, we set it up the day before and try to make it a habit. Avoid this; do not wake up and say tomorrow I’ll write at 6 am for four hours every day. While it’s good to write every day, focus on what works at the present. Are you most productive in the evenings after a workout? Choose that time instead. Craft your writing habits after keen observation of yourself and off of your foundation. You must play into your strengths.

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It’s okay to use said

When you use dialogue tags to pad your dialogue, it takes away from the natural feeling of it. Avoid using too many murmured, whispered, shouted, thundered, etc.. It’s best to think of them like baking cookies. You put one chocolate chip and it’s too little. Put too many, and it’s no longer a chocolate chip cookie. In almost all cases, dialogue tags are vastly unnecessary. Lean on the strength of your dialogue, the settings, and the character actions to convey what the characters are feeling. If dialogue tags must be used it’s best to put them BEFORE a sentence. Consider the two:

Amelia sneered “I’ve always hated you, Lisa!”

Compared to:

“I’ve always hated you, Lisa!” Amelia sneered

One is unlikely to sneer, laugh, or hiss a line of dialogue. Think about how weird and strange it would be for someone to speak with you and hiss their sentence out.

Be a bad writer

Hear me out here. When you write you want it to be perfect. Even in a rough draft. Even thing has to flow smoothly, sentence structure has to be excellent, and the setting has to be perfect.

“You have a hard time writing because of a conflict between the goal of writing well and the fear of writing badly.” – Dan Harmon

Dan goes on to say that you need to switch from trying to write everything brilliantly and just writing knowing it will be bad. If you can switch your perspective from trying to write well and trying to write badly, you’ll get far more work done and become a fountain of information. You are your worst critic. You know exactly where you are weak in terms of writing. Don’t focus on trying to make every line perfect on the first try, focus on writing with the expectation that it will be bad and work from there.

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Immerse yourself in the POV

I was always guilty of this mistake. We often write about our character’s points of view as if we are slightly disconnected from them. That’s because we are. When you write, really get down into your character’s head. Visualizing helps with this but here are two examples. First, a typical sentence you’d find in a ton of books.

Janice wondered if Shane liked her.

Compared to:

Janice watched Shane carefully for his reactions, hoping for a sign he liked her too

In the second point of view, you allow both yourself and the reader to see Janice’s point of view on a far deeper level. In the first example, you are reminding your reader constantly of a point of view that is unnecessary. Get in your characters head, fully immerse yourself in them, and the reader will know exactly who and what your characters are doing and thinking.

In Conclusion

Don’t be afraid to get out of your comfort zone. These tips helped me tremendously with my writing, but at the end of the day, remember that how you write is up to you. I hope this helped and if you have any writing tips for me, please share them in the comments. Have a good day.

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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