Writing Tips

I've been writing for many years and there are many things I've learnt along the way. Here are a few of my best tips:

(1) Avoid the words 'was', 'began', 'felt', and 'wondered'. Instead of 'It was raining and Alfred began to wish he'd brought his umbrella. He felt water drip down his neck and wondered if it was not too late to go back for it' is better as 'It rained, heavy droplets splashing against Alfred's head and dripping down his neck. He wished he'd brought his umbrella. Would it be too late to go back for it?'

This is a change that immediately improves a story. Every time I come across one of these words in my own writing I try to take out the word and change it as I've done below:

- 'I was running', 'He was looking out the window', 'She was smiling' becomes 'I ran', 'He looked out the window', and 'She smiled'.

- 'I began to pick up my pace', 'He began to turn away', 'Her smile began to falter' becomes 'I picked up my pace', 'He turned away', and 'Her smile faltered'.

- 'I felt my heart pounding in my chest', 'He felt the hairs at the back of his neck stand up', 'She felt his hand creep up her leg' becomes 'My heart pounded in my chest,' 'The hairs on the back of his neck stood up', and 'His hand crept up her leg'.

- 'I wondered if I could catch up', 'He wondered if he'd seen what he thought, 'She wondered if she should say something' becomes 'Could I catch up?', 'Had he seen what he thought?', and 'Should she say something?'

Changing these words might not always work but for the most part it does.

(2) Reduce adverbs. These are typically the words that end in 'ly', such as 'easily', 'slowly', 'loudly'. A few are fine but too many weaken the story. If you use an adverb try rewriting the sentence to show what the adverb is telling the reader, such as 'I moved quietly down the hall', 'He knocked lightly on the door', 'She spoke softly' becomes 'I slipped down the hall', 'He tapped on the door', and 'She whispered'.

- 'I walked quickly', 'I walked slowly', 'I walked loudly', 'I walked gracefully', 'I walked joyfully' can come across as lazy and unimaginative and does not have the same variation as 'I jogged', 'I dawdled', 'I stomped', 'I danced' or 'I skipped'.

- Sometimes it's not about replacing adverbs with something more descriptive but losing it altogether. In my opinion, 'I really wanted to win', 'He was very tall', 'She sneered at her rudely' becomes stronger as 'I wanted to win', 'He was tall' and 'She sneered at her'.

- Adverbs are often the worst in speech tags, either because they are redundant or are telling the reader something that should have been obvious within the spoken words. With '"I hate you!" Lovino shouted angrily' the 'angrily' is redundant because of both the anger is shown through the speech and though the shouting. 'A smile spread across Feliciano's face. "Thank you for the present," he said happily.' Again tacking 'happily' at the end is not needed because of the context.

(3) Show don't tell, is what writers often hear (and what I have already mentioned) and that's because it's a good piece of advice. This means not telling your reader directly who your characters are or what they are feeling, but instead letting your reader weed their personalities and motivations out through description. For example:

- 'He was angry' becomes 'He slammed the door', 'He glared at her', 'He punched the man', or 'He gritted his teeth and counted to ten.' How characters react in anger shows what kind of person they are and also their relationship with the other (assuming it is the another person that caused their anger).

- 'She was upset' becomes 'Tears poured down her face', 'She blinked back tears', 'She shifted on the spot and avoided eye contact', 'She swallowed a lump in her throat', or 'Her voice cracked'. Telling the reader the character is upset doesn't indicate how upset she actually is and doesn't create a strong image. Saying she is upset is not the same as saying she is curled up in bed, her face blotchy and covered with tears and snot.

- 'Alfred liked video games and junk food' becomes 'Alfred flipped through several stacks of video games to find his current favourite. He brushed aside chocolate wrappers and empty soda bottles to make space on his bed for Kiku.'

(4) Use description sparingly, or rather, don't info dump. When I was first writing I would introduce a character and spend two pages explaining her looks, personality and history; or when creating a fantasy world I would write a prologue detailing the past one thousand years and all the races and creatures I'd made up. Don't do this.

- In fanfiction the characters already exist so there's no need to give a lot of detail about what a character looks like unless they differ to canon. Still there are times when you do need to introduce a character (such as during a first meeting) but don't waste three paragraphs describing the colour of their eyes or the hue of their hair. I would suggest picking out a few of their key physical characteristics and combining that with first impressions. Because I'm too lazy to make up new descriptions I'm gonna use a few from my fic The Dead Days:

- 'Back when the military had rolled into town, Alfred had expected the Major to be an overly muscled white dude with a greying buzz cut, not a thirty something year old Cuban with dreadlocks and a laugh that boomed through the building. The only thing he had in common with Alfred's movie infused version of a Major was the cigars he liked to chew on.' - Two sentences was all I used to describe Cuba/Carlos Machado and that was because I didn't want to lose the pacing of the fic and I didn't want to bog the reader down with unnecessary description seeing as how they've read the manga/seen the anime and know what he looks like already. I also made an effort to write Machado from Alfred's point of view and Alfred, being a game and film fan, would likely be expecting a stereotypical military man.

- 'On closer inspection he guessed the kid wasn't so much a kid but a young adult, maybe late teens, but it was hard to tell with Li's short height and the smudged dirt on his face. Choppy dark brown hair framed a stoic face and clothes that were at least two sizes too big emphasised his slim frame. Above brown eyes were thick eyebrows that wouldn't look out of place on a Kirkland.' - This time it's Hong Kong/Li from Arthur's pov. Here I included more physical description, including height, weight, hair and eye colour but I tried not to write it as if I was checking off a list. This description also came during one of the slower paced scenes so I could afford more information without detracting from the story.

Machado and Li's introductions were short and spread out in different chapters. I didn't describe everything to the letter but picked a few things to mention. When describing a character it's also important not to dump in everything at once but slip it in throughout the story. When a character meets Gilbert the first few things they're going to notice is his unusual red eyes, white hair and arrogant attitude. However later on they might pick up on his methodical nature and hidden loneliness.

Also the more impact a character has on a story, the more description is needed. If Roderich is only going to be in one scene than a single sentence is sufficient. If Yao is a main character then a paragraph is better. There will probably be more details in a romantic fiction because people notice more about someone they're attracted to and will pick up on little things that others wouldn't notice.

(I hope these tips have been somewhat useful and I may add more in the future but for now I'm done. If anyone has any questions or would like some advice then send a PM my way.)