Random Writing Tips vol. 1

1. Great characters don't have flaws they have personality disorders.

2. Belief creates conflict. Your characters believe something and act according to those beliefs.

3. Be specific. Remove generic words that don’t inject images in the reader’s minds. Use specific exotic nouns to draw the reader into your description.

4. If your characters don’t care then we don’t care about them.

5. No one is truly evil, even the devil thinks he's the good guy from his perspective.

6. Inject the five senses into descriptions to pull the reader into your world. Sight, smell, touch, sound, and taste. 

7. Cut the fat. Remove cluttering words.

8. Read your work out loud. Fix what doesn’t sound right.

9. End sentences on powerful words. Use them to create theme, tone, and mood.

10. Use the end of scenes to create momentum and propel the plot and characters forward. Use dramatic reveals, cliff hangers, and dramatic revelations.

11. A person is what he/she does not what he/she says. Actions make the character not words.

12. Avoid stating emotion. Mad, scared, and happy are telling not showing.

13. If you can't be witty, poetic, funny, or artsy with your sentences then use as few words as possible to get your point across. K.I.S.S. Keep it simple stupid.

14. Readability is the number one priority. Making it good comes later. If great writing is confusing to the reader then it's not great writing.

15. Withholding information is just as important as giving it. Mystery is a good thing.

16. Small details add reality, a sense of place.

17. Characters must change. Those who can't inevitably die before the story is through.

18. Character conflicts must be both internal and external. Your Characters should struggle with themselves, fears and desires, and with other characters.

19. First impressions are everything. Characters introductions should be memorable.

20. Don't sweat the opening. The only job your first sentence has to do, besides tell a story of course, is make the reader read the second. And the only job the second sentence has to do is make the reader read the third. You can see a pattern here.