The New Writer's Guide-Tips To Writing.

Writing is tiring. I'm not gonna lie; it was wonderful to be able to leave my own world and jump into my book, but it can become a bit exhausting (just a bit, when I realize it doesn't fit together; I LOVE writing). And when I first started writing, I ignored some definite flags that my writing was unstable and weak. But luckily for me, I managed to stop and think, and now I'm here with some tips for both you and me to keep in mind while writing next. 

"Start writing, no matter what. The water doesn't flow until the faucet is turned on." 

1. Don’t set a limit (in the long term), set an outline.

I had tried to work with this, originally setting a goal of seven chapters in my mind but as I went forward with it I realized it would be much more productive to have an outline. What I mean is, try to write down what you know will happen in your book. Highlight all the big events that will occur. Write down what you want your characters to be. Define their character sketch, their family backgrounds, and even things like what their favorite color is or when their b-day is. Sit with it for some time and give it a lot of thought. You might not see the effectiveness of this when you start, but as you write on, you will notice that this helps in keeping the tiny details in the book stable and consistent. It can also help avoid gaps in the book. If on page 47 your character has an allergy of oranges and then is happily slurping on orange juice on page 101, your readers are bound to be confused. 

2. Leave the title for the last.

Now, this might be a very obvious tip or something absolutely ludicrous. How do you brag about your book if it has no name? But even when you start to write the book, you will still make a whole bunch of changes to it that could influence your book title when you’re done. If it helps, you can make a working title. A working title is what a lot of authors use, it is a temporary title that will most definitely change when the book is complete. This helps when you use a small phrase in the book that essentially becomes your book like ‘The Fault In Our Stars.’ 

3. Set a limit in the short term.

I know, I’m confusing you big time but think about it. The same way we have a limit to our energy and a limit to our patience, we may have a limit to our productivity too. Rather than sitting for hours on end with your book and making no progress, make it a routine to write only for up to two hours, and break it up throughout the day if it's easier for you so that your writing is fresh and smart. When you write for too long, it could end in your writing being dry and boring, which is easily avoidable with breaks and stops. It is essential to know when to stop. When you are out of ideas, stop for the day, and continue the next. This tiny idea helped me write four chapters more, filled with better ideas. One of my crazy ideas is that because we dream every night, our brain can refresh its imagination quotient and restart the productive writing cycle. 

And of course, it's always better for your book to take a few months or years and be fresh, creative, and attractive than for it to take a few days and be dull and dry. 

"There are three golden rules to writing; fortunately, no one knows what they are."

4. When you are writing the first draft, don’t stop to edit.

This is very important. A lot of us have an urge to edit and fix every wrong idea and every spelling mistake while we are writing. This is a big NO-NO during your first draft. Editing overrides creativity because it can become hard to put some ideas into words at first. I got this idea from the NY Book Editors blog, it was to either change the color of your text to white, or the background of the text to black. The aim is to hide the words from you so that you don’t have the urge to edit your text in your first draft. Just keep writing until you are done. Your draft should not be edited because, in the following drafts, that will have to be the only thing in mind, edit. You will change a lot of things, but your first draft will very definitely hold the essence of the story that you want to put forward. Refining that is a later issue, focus on writing all your ideas in your first draft.

5. Write in one format.

Keep the format of your story the same throughout. If you start to write formally, then write formally throughout. If you start casually, then keep it casual all along. If you change the style while writing, it could deeply affect the readers and their interest, because most of the time, the format of the book is like another feature of a car; it's one of the reasons you want to read it.

6. Leave in the mystery.

Try to induce mystery whenever possible. Don’t give long-winded explanations about how your character was hurt in the very first chapter, even if you want your readers to know about it. This often convinces your readers to want to read further, especially if you give slight clues but don’t let the whole thing on. It can be very alluring and will draw more readers to not only start reading but also to keep reading. ( Remember to let them know what happened somewhere along the way, or your readers will be pissed.)

"A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit."

7. Be picky with your words.

You want to be careful with your language when you start writing. I mean to say, be careful with the way you choose your words. You not only want to use big words and draw readers in, but you also don’t want to annoy them by using so many words that they need to sit with a dictionary when reading your works. It should sound smart, yes, but you need to draw the line between smart and incomprehensible.

8. Make your characters sweat.

This idea too I received from the NY Book Editors. We all love the characters in our favorite books, and that’s because they have been drawn wonderfully. But if your character doesn’t have to work for it, then your book essentially has no plot. Your characters are the main reason readers are reading your book, the characters hold the attention and emotions of your reader. So when your character doesn’t sweat, the reader has no reason to keep going in your book. The struggle doesn’t have to be a physical one; it can be a mental one too. 

9. Do your research.

When you write a book in an existing place, then you need to do your research. When you use certain chemical terms, do your research. Basically anything that happens IRL, do your research! This is because while you might not think it, readers do pay attention to the tiny details. So if you use laughing gas in your book, then you need to know what it is, how it works, and what it does. Everything! This applies to everything. If you start your book in a city in LA and then say the streets were empty, well, I know I wouldn’t believe you. 

10.  Describe everything. And I mean, everything.

Whatever it is, a dragon or a cave, palace or a serial killer, your character or the street, describe anything you can from a to z. Readers read books because they want to form a mental picture of the book and stay in it to see what happens. Make this easier for them, and describe whatever possible. This also adds weight to your book and draws readers in. Think about it this way, which sounds better;

1. My mother looked very strange.

Or

2. My mother had a strange look on her face, dark circles underneath her eyes and sunken, black lips.

 

"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass."

 

11. Edit your heart out.

There I go again with the confusing thing. But I’m saying, once your first draft is done, your main focus should now be editing. Change up words, refine the writing, describe everything; anything you can do to make it better. Just remember not to go too overboard and not change the essence entirely, and you’ll be fine. Although editing may override creativity when you’re writing, it also perfects it to the edge of the sky.

12.  A fresh perspective.

A fresh perspective is the most important thing you can have when you write an article or author a book. It’s hard to not have a bias towards your work because it’s your creation, you are going to be proud of it. So it can be hard to spot mistakes or gaps in it. Getting a friend or a proof-reader to read through it can help find anything that needs to be fixed/repaired. This can be a person who has read it before, it just has to be a person who has a fresh perspective. 

13.  Use a good platform.

This applies to all the authors who are going to start by publishing their book online. It can be far more helpful to use a good online platform like Wattpad to gain a larger reader base but to earn money it won’t be your best choice. For budding authors who do it for the thrill (like me), Wattpad is the best writer base as it eliminates all other competitions like GIFs, videos, or other articles. The only competition is between authors which is pretty much how it is anyway. It’s also free to create an account and read/write so a lot more people use this platform, serving my point in gaining a larger reader base. 

There are a lot of good authors and a handful of great authors, but there are no bad writers. Because every story is a story and every story has a reader. Writing is is like a fingerprint; it is unique to its possessor. Which is why writing is so important. It defines you; it defines your life; defines your goals; defines your favs and not-so-favs; it defines your everything. 

Now the only reason I am writing this is that these are some things I noticed in my writing. You don't have to follow any of them, and it wouldn't matter, because like I said, your writing is yours. I do want you guys to read my novel so you can read 'Scarlett Conner And The Bracelet' by clicking on it. And it's absolutely free because it's on Wattpad (A good thing, at least some masterpieces should be available to everyone, don't you think?😉).

"You can always edit a bad page. You can't edit a blank page."

 And, I'll see you guys next time.