Ten Tips for Writers

You’ll find lists and lists online of the most important things for a writer to remember, so just add mine to the mix. I chose tips that I need to hear as well, so in writing to you all I’m also writing to myself. I struggle with many of these and need a constant reminder of them. So, like them or not, here’s the Top Ten.

1. Write–Sure, this may go without saying. But it’s easier to dream about writing than it is to actually write. Writing is a discipline and requires training, like training your body at the gym. You don’t like to work out, but you do it because it’s the only way to get in shape. See writing in the same light. Don’t just wait for inspiration, or you won’t write anything. Sit down and do it. Worry about the quality of your writing later on.

2. Edit–A great plot and compelling characters will be undone by misspellings and bad grammar. So edit like crazy. And if you don’t trust your own editing skills, find a professional editor. But find a professional. An English degree and a love for books don’t make someone an editor. But the editing process also involves taking out unnecessary parts. Rule of thumb: If you can shorten a passage, do so. Avoid unnecessary, distracting, or repetitive description. Are adverbs always necessary? Often they’re not. Oh yes, and there are times when sentence fragments are appropriate. It’s up to you to find out when.

3. Learn to Read Out Loud–You assume that what you’re writing is good. But does it sound good? This is especially important for dialogue. Our written dialogue often sounds stilted, formulaic, and awkward. Read it to yourself. Or better yet, get a friend to read one part, and you read the other. Make it like a screen test or a play rehearsal.

4. Know Your Limitations–We’ve all heard the old adage, “Write what you know.” You love romance, you read romance, you know romance novels better than anyone, so why write historical fiction? Stick with what you know. Now, this doesn’t mean you can’t someday write historical fiction, but you’ll have to get to know the genre in the same way that you know romance.

5. Research–Get the details correct. It’s like in so many Hollywood action movies, where the hero slips a magazine into his gun and starts firing, without ever chambering a round! Investigate everything in your story, from clothing to buildings to food choices. If you don’t catch an error in a detail, one of your readers certainly will. Do your research. In fact, you might find that you enjoy doing it.

6. Read–Yes, it seems obvious. But to many aspiring writers, it isn’t. Read classic literature, best-selling novels, poems, plays, non-fiction, essays, anything and everything. You’re reading not just for pleasure or information, but to see how other authors do it, how they craft characters and navigate plots and paint scenes with words. By reading, you’re learning from experts.

7. Avoid Clichés–When everything you write “shines like the sun” or “runs like a bat out of hell” or “fights with the strength of ten men,” then your stuff is full of clichés. This goes for characters as well. (See my post on character clichés for more on this. I struggle mightily with this one too.) Boxing priests, reluctant vampires, cynical but tender-hearted bad boys, etc. Kill them off, all of them.

8. Trust Others–I’ll admit that this one is tough for me. My stories are my babies, and I hesitate to let anyone get too close to them. But I have to. I had my wife read the opening chapter of a novel I was once working on, and she finished it, completely confused. I realized that if I couldn’t get through to her, then I wouldn’t be getting through to most other people. Everyone needs feedback.

9. Be Your Own Best Salesman/Saleswoman–Even if you get an agent and a publisher to publish your book the traditional way, odds are that you’ll still be doing quite a bit of the marketing yourself. Unless your last name is Koontz, Clancy, Steele, or Meyer, your book won’t be getting a million-dollar advertising budget. So trust that you’ve written a good story, a story that people want to read, and get out there and tell people. Facebook, Twitter, blogs, websites, all of them and more. Tell people why your book matters, and don’t stop.

10. Try to Enjoy It–Writing and publishing a book isn’t easy. You spend countless hours in front of a computer screen or scribbling into notepads. You get frustrated, you get writer’s block, you pitch it all and start over, and eventually, you expose yourself to the public. But guess what? You can still love it. Isn’t that why you started writing in the first place? Love it like you love your family members: They can get you mad, and while it’s not always easy to love them, you still do. It’s essential to who you are.

No, this isn’t an exhaustive list, and maybe I’ll add a tip or two now and then. If you’d like, leave a comment about any tips that you think are important. I’d love to hear them.

C.T.

Character Clichés

As readers, I’m sure we recognize them. But as writers, do we?

I’m talking about the brooding–yet thoughtful and tender–bad boy, the hooker with a heart of gold, the cutthroat and greedy business owner, or, frankly, any of the characters from the Twilight books.

We can so easily fall into the character cliche trap when we write, because we can’t look at our work from the outside in, and because they’re so darn convenient. You need a hero, for example, and you’re not too sure about all of his characterization yet, but you have some ideas about what you’d like to see in him. So you fall back to your own memories watching 80s action movies, or reading the latest spy thriller, and before you know it, you’ve got yourself a carbon copy.

Many of these character cliches are also traditional literary archetypes (a subject for its own blog post), and they’re so embedded in our culture and entertainment that it’s hard to avoid them.

In my mind, the most grating of character cliches is the corrupt, greedy, evil capitalist millionaire. I’ll call it Gordon Gekko Syndrome, and it’s an appealing character in part because it’s so easy to write.

Gordon Gekko

You remember Gordon Gekko from Wall Street? Who doesn’t? Because even if you didn’t see the movie, you’ve seen the character in plenty of other films since then. He’s pathologically greedy, a thief (because, apparently, all wealthy people are thieves, I’m told), a cheater and liar who’d sell his own children into slavery for a slight uptick in his stock holdings.

It’s an interesting movie, and Michael Douglas’s performance was excellent, but the character ultimately loses his punch because he’s so predictable. He cheats on his wife, he commits insider trading, he’s aggressive, he’s unabashedly greedy (“Greed is good” he says), and, well, and nothing else. That’s all that there is.

And I think this is the greatest pitfall of the character cliche: ultimately, you have nowhere to go. You’re telegraphing to your readers, at least in part, what’s going to happen. And you’re limiting yourself in terms of character development. Is the brooding bad boy in your YA romance novel going to go on a murderous rampage, or become a priest, or an accountant? Maybe, but probably not. You’re setting him up for a certain number of predetermined endings, endings that your readers can guess.

Now, people often like these kinds of characters because they’re comfortable and predictable. They know what they’re going to get, and they’re fine with it. And I’ll admit to liking my character cliches from time to time. I knew what I was getting with Rambo, but still, I loved the last Rambo movie. (And I did see both of The Expendables movies in the theater, and yes, I liked them both.) And I’ll also admit that I fall into this trap in my own writing as well. I try to be aware of it, but if most cliches are literary archetypes as well, then they’re very difficult to avoid completely.

Anyway, am I overstating my case? Let me know if you think I am. Also, I’m curious about some of the character cliches that you find particularly annoying. Drop me a line!

C.T.