Learn The Basics

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The first thing you need to do is learn the rules of writing. The best way to do this is to read all the books you can on writing and editing. It will often take years of reading, writing, editing your own work, then other people's work, and discussing these things with other writers to truly become great at editing. And just when you thought you knew it all, along will come someone that knows more than you and you will realise how much you do not know. So, keep reading, keep writing, and keep editing.

 

You will often be tempted to break the rules regarding your writing. And that is fine if you do not want to have your work published. In fact, I would encourage you to write how ever you want and often, just for fun. Then, when you are ready to get published, then go back to sticking to the rules. It will increase your odds of getting published.

 

So, you still do not want to stick to the rules? Or is it too hard? I remember wondering why editors would want to change my work, and decided they were idiots for not realising my work was unique and did not need to be changed so drastically. They were always telling me that I needed to make my masterpiece into something it was not, and I never wanted to do that. Writing is a creative past-time, and I should be able to write how ever I want!

 

I was wrong. If you want to be published, do not break the rules. Once you have learnt all the rules and received your writing back from an editor with no red marks, then you can start thinking about breaking one or two rules. But only then, and only if you really really have to get your scene to work correctly.

 

Here are some common errors with writing:

 

Over writing: Writing more than is required to get your point across: The dog wandered past the trashcan sniffing and smelt a delightful left over sandwich while wagging its tail because it was happy.

"because it was happy" is not required. The reader will already know this. Plus the sentence is too long anyway.

 

Telling instead of showing, or as I like to put it, expressing: Regardless of how you put it, it is better if you let the description of a room or person be a part of the story.

Rather than: In the room was a chair and a table.

Write: I often sat in my old wooden chair that creaked and rocked while tapping away on the chestnut table to...

 

Sometimes "was" can make the sentence sound like it happened earlier rather than right now.

"He looked to be in his fifties and was sporting a goatee that was graying around the chin" becomes:

"He looked to be in his fifties and sported a goatee graying around the chin"

 

Passive writing is mostly putting the subject after the object. It takes a while to learn, but is great once you know what the difference is.

Active: John loves May.

Passive: May is loved by John.

In passive voice, the target of the action gets promoted to the subject position.

 

Using other words instead of "said" as a speaker attribute: Only "said" should ever be used. Please do not break this rule.

 

Adding words to tell us how a person is feeling: "No way," John said, emphatically. Please do not add these additional words. These are rules that should never be broken. Instead, you need to change your sentence so it shows us how the person is feeling when they talk.

 

"ly" adverbs. Either use them not at all, or sparingly. A few every 5,000 words if it is the only way the sentence works properly.

 

Using words in a story that you would say in real life, which should not be used within a story: This is for non-dialogue within a story.

 

Using dialogue that is simple, but not too simple, easy, but not too easy, and only rarely using, "umm" and "err". Instead we should see that a person is nervous in your description.

 

Having dialogue on the same line as regular story telling is fine. However, do not mix two actions by two different people. Or dialogue from two different people.

"I'm hungry." John opened the fridge and found a pizza slice, which he popped into his mouth. "Yum, you want some?"

Julie shook her head. "You're a pig. I'm going home."

The above is fine.

"I'm hungry." John opened the fridge and found a pizza slice, which he popped into his mouth. "Yum, you want some?" Julie shook her head.

 "You're a pig. I'm going home."

The above is not fine. Julie is doing an action within John's dialogue.

 

Not a good idea: Changing POV (point of view) to another person within a short story (depends on the size of the story and how you do it), or in any story in a jarring way, or without leaving a space to show you are changing POV.

 

The below is fine, but often the reader will know that the person is already looking at the person he is talking to. So is not required. Or, more information would be better.

He looked at her face.

Maybe instead: He stared into her eyes. Or, He scanned her face for a reaction, then looked back to his notes.

 

More will be added as time goes along.