Write Better: Tips and tricks

By WriterKellie

151K 4.6K 897

The guide for aspiring fiction writers who want to improve, sharpen, review, and/or learn. Warning! This bo... More

Introduction
Genre vs Category
How not to spoil your story :: Criticism and the Writer
Resting before editing
Apples and Oranges and Grammar, oh my!
Cleaning out the fridge (of critiques)
What do you say after receiving critiques and comments?
Following the Recipe (IE: The Rules of Writing)
How do I Improve?
What is the right tense and pov?
Those Foul Flaws
When to Tag
Dialogue Tags
Action/Description Tags
Said vs Whispered, spoke, lied, etc.
Consistency
The Eyes Have It
PSA for Writers: Editing or Beggaring?
PSA for Editors: IDing Red Flags
Shortening word count without losing content
To Use or not to employ: the Thesaurus
Adverbs
Dates
Tell v Show, part one
Chapter Length
What is Suspension of disbelief?
Basic (small-scale) Pacing
Fight scenes
Young Writers
Blurb vs Synopsis
Who do I ask for help with my story?
You have to read BOOK TITLE before you can write.
How do I write [X]?
I keep getting the same feedback!
Swearing
Ways to start a sentence
Rewrite from scratch
Little did he know....[aka spoilers]
Will someone steal my idea?
How much description is too much?
A Likable Main Character
Is my idea interesting/original/unique?
Character X wouldn't do [action]
Mystery in Chapter One
Perfection
Getting readers to flock to you
Accuracy
Why didn't I win?
Making Paragraphs
Sentence Order
6 Tips to Make Your Story Spookier
Crafting Visual Atmosphere
Soundscapes That Win: Mastering Auditory Atmosphere in Your Wattpad Stories

What comes first: the grammar or the rewrites?

4.4K 181 9
By WriterKellie

When you look at your stack of critiques and you know something is wrong and you wholly agree with the critter, just change it. Don't sigh. Don't wait for more critiques to compare it to. Don't ponder if you'll even keep the sentence when you make your big edit. Just grab your draft and change it.

It's like having a side of peas with your chicken. You know you have to carve it, but if you eat a pea here and there, you'll do a little less scooping later. For some people, especially beginners to editing, this is a useful exercise in getting into the editing mindset and gives you one less thing to drag your feet about later.

About 80% of all quick fixes are grammar-related.

Here's a short list of some repairs that take little to no time to complete:

Typos,

missing or incorrect punctuation,

sentence needs to be broken into two or combined into one,

sentence needs a re-write to be less confusing,

wrong word,

odd word choice,

misspelling,

incorrect verb conjugation,

wrong pronoun,

passive to active voice,

past to present,

etc.

As you can probably tell, this guide is designed for writing posted on websites and forums, so I want to stress the importance of making some changes immediately.

If your story is the kind that's posted somewhere, and as you continue to write it or edit it, it's still available for comments and critiques, seriously consider making quick fixes right away.

Here's why:

Having people agree that you made the same mistake can be wonderful. It'll make you a little more confident that there is a problem there, and that more than one person sees it (which can make you feel like you're changing it for the better, instead of for the individual).

BUT

One of the best ways to improve is to do everything to the best of your ability. That way, when people come in and offer their input, you aren't rolling you eyes and going "I know, I know."


Think of it this way. Your mom comes into your room and tells you that you need to dust. You know you need to dust. Dad says the same thing. And Aunt Sue, and your sister, and your little cousin.


Instead of getting new, unique comments from Dad, Aunt Sue, your sister, and your cousin, you just get more of the same and it doesn't help you because you already know it.

Comments can be hard to come by. Do you really want to waste them all on the same issues?


If everyone's flagging the same mistake, they might not catch something else.

In my experience, issues such as bad grammar can detract from the critique process. Instead of enjoying the story more, or being able to pick up on plot issues or sentence structure or voice, if I'm stuck in a sea of typos and misspellings, I might be too tired or completely miss an underlying issue.




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