I began writing fiction last year and have learned a lot along the way. I was lucky to have two great editors who taught me as we went through the editing process. I also belong to a great creative writing group whose members have helped me grow in tremendous ways. Here are five tips to becoming a better writer.
- Reduce the use of the words “that” and “just” in your writing. These words weaken your writing. After you complete a draft, use your Find function to find all of the places in your book where these words appear and see if you can remove them without changing the meaning of the sentence. You’d be surprised how often you can!
- Add layers to your writing. As your characters talk and engage one another, add layers that show your characters’ actions, reactions, thoughts and senses. For a great article and examples, check out this great article by Rebecca Zanetti: http://rebeccazanetti.com/writing-craft/1745-2/.
- Always, always, always have people read your work. Even if you can’t hire a professional editor, have at least five friends or family members read your work and mark it up with a red pen. Typos should be rare to nonexistent!
- Join an active creative writing critique group. Good critiques are worth their weight in gold.
- Don’t get stuck in the first few chapters. It’s all too easy to begin writing and then get stuck going back over and over trying to perfect the first few scenes of your book. Instead, sit down and get a draft out, even if you know it’s crap. Just get it on paper before you start going back to rewrite!
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Genre – Romantic Suspense
Rating – R
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