Tips for Writing Succesful Stories

As I have read through the many stories on Wattpad, I have noticed many re-occurring problems. Don't get me wrong, every book I have read so far has been good, but there are errors or mistakes that made me shake my head or get bored with the story. Iâm not saying Iâm a perfect writer, because Iâm not. But I wanted to share some tips with any writers who are looking to improve their writing and get more readers. This is mostly for fanfics (because that's basically all that I read) that have common themes in their writings. I am here to offer any advice to those who want it. I donât want to offend anyone, but here are a few tips that you might want to read.

1. Have a Plot Line

I cannot count how many times I have been reading a story, and the author stops writing because they ran out of ideas, or the story just keeps going on forever with 10 different conflicts. This can be easily avoided by planning out what will happen in the story before they start writing it. It doesnât have to take that long, just write a list like this one:

-Bob and Sue meet

-They start dating

-Bob thinks Sue is cheating on him

-Sue proves her love to him

-He forgives her and they live happily ever after

Obviously that wouldn't be a very long or exciting story, but you get my drift. It really bugs me when stories have a million conflicts, one after the other. If you can, narrow it down to 1 major conflict, and maybe a few small ones here and there. If you want to write more about the people or events in your fanfic or story, you can always add a prequel or a sequel.

2. Proofread

This is such an easy and simple thing to do, but it seems like no one wants to do it. Typos are much to common, and all that you need to do is go back and reread what you wrote before posting it. Your stories will be so much better if you just went back and changed it. It will make your writing more professional and you won't have to worry about ruining a moment like this:

âSue, I have been with you through everything, and I want to be with you forever,â Bob said to me, staring deep into my eyes, âSue, will you marrt me?â

See? What a beautiful moment ruined by a dumb typo. It is worth it to take 5 minutes to go back and make sure your story is perfect.

3. Use the Right Homophones

For anyone who doesnât know, homophones are words that sound the same, but have different meanings and are spelled differently. For example:

-To and too

-your and you're

-There, their, and they're

-And the one that bugs me the most, threw and through

When you use the wrong word, it can seriously confuse the reader or just make them annoyed. The writing seems juvenile, and it looks like you didnât put much effort into the story. Not to mention you will get a million comments saying, *you're, not your.

4. Stay Away from Common Plot Twists

There are so many stories that are the exact same, or have the same events that happen. I could write an entire book about this subject, but I will keep it short. This problem often comes from not planning ahead, and so the writer has to come up with yet another plot twist to keep the story going. Some of the most used plot lines include:

-She is kidnapped

-She gets into a car crash or some other fatal accident and has to go to the hospital (Side note, if your going to make someone go to the hospital, make it realistic)