5 Writing Tips
Some of the most common questions I receive are regarding tips for writing a novel and getting published. Below are some of my favorite tips I have given out or lessons I have learned the hard way.
This piece of advice actually came from a very good friend and a fellow writer. The idea behind this snippet is to treat writing as if it were already a paying job and not just some idle dream. The key is to write every day . A writer should have either a set word count goal that he/she works toward each day or a specific allotment of hours. It is also important that the writer try to write at the same time every day. This time frame is different for each person. Some writers prefer the early morning hours, while others are night owls. I have found that my most productive hours are during the late afternoon through the early evening. By setting this routine, a writer will be at his/her most productive.
The Internet can be an amazing tool, providing you with copious amounts of valuable information, but it can also prove to be a massive time drain. Instead of writing your novel, you could end up wasting valuable hours searching for a scrap of information that will be nothing more than a line or two in the entire novel. If you are making good writing progress and need to look something up, leave yourself a note to look it up at a another time when you’re not writing. Also, use the Internet as a reward. After each hour of writing or each 1,000 words written, give yourself a fifteen-minute break to surf the web, check up on email, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Don’t let the Internet steal valuable writing time.
I grew up in writing hearing the saying: “Have one reader who loves your work and another reader who will tell you the truth.” Beta readers offer a fresh perspective on a book. After spending countless hours with characters, plot, and dialogue, we lose perspective. It becomes too difficult to see the forest for the trees. Beta readers are often able to spot flaws like plot holes and poor logic when the writer cannot. An honest, detached beta reader is an invaluable source to the writer, but they can be hard on the ego. The important thing to remember is to listen to their suggestions with an open mind. Their goal is to help you become a better writer. Furthermore, beta readers and writing groups can help keep the loneliness and isolation at bay. Writing books is an isolating activity, which can make finishing a book very daunting. Writing groups and beta readers can offer advice and encouragement.
This bit of advice is particularly important if you’re working on a series or writing something that involves intense worldbuilding. This will help save you from digging through other manuscripts to find the information or worse … using the wrong information in a book. Some writers have been known to create spreadsheets of character descriptions such as eye color, hair color, height, weight, mannerisms, hobbies, likes, dislikes, age, and family relationships. Note taking on your world can also help stir potential plot ideas and future novels. Well-organized notes can not only be a time saver, but also a source of inspiration.
I’ve have my own bad experiences with this one. Roughly 95% to 100% of manuscripts reside exclusively on computers. This can be a scary figure when you consider that hard drives can go back without any warning. Save your work on external flash drives, external hard drives, or other computers. Back up your work at regular intervals such as daily or weekly. You don’t want to run the risk of losing everything you’ve written during the past several weeks or months. A flash drive is a small expense when it comes to saving your sanity.
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