Random Writing Tips vol. 4

61. Great writing is remembering the details. What details do you remember about your most vivid memories and dreams and why? Use them in your writing.

62. If it’s a chore writing it then it’ll probably be a chore reading it. Writing is hard work but you should also have fun. Enthusiasm is a must, or writer’s block will set in.

63. Don’t just “write what you know”, write what comes out naturally and fills that blank page, because you’re going to need to fill a lot of them.

64. The only sin in writing is being boring. And the penalty is death by yawning.

65. Structure fuels creativity. Staring at a blank screen does not. Outline, write a spine, use index cards, and take notes. These things are useful tools in the writer’s toolbox.

66. Dialogue is a form of dramatic action that is said for a reason, to obtain an objective of the character.

67. Avoid being “too on the nose” when writing dialogue. Often the most dramatic bits of dialogue are the words not spoken but implied.

68. Cutting creates story. The human brain adds the missing connections between images, whether on screen or in the mind’s eye, and fits them logically into a story sequence.

69. The villain who always loses becomes a joke. Avoid the ultimate goal of taking over the world or destroying it, in each scenario the villain must lose for the story to continue. Break down those goals into stages or create different smaller ones. The tension rises if the audience doesn’t know whether the hero will succeed or not.

70. Great sentences multitask. They move plot, reveal character, set mood and tone, show the writer’s voice, and tell a story all at the same time.

71. The best titles will make the story stand out and entice readers. Bad ones are like inside jokes; you shouldn’t have to read the book first to understand a title. Avoid the cliché so you’re not 1 millionth to last on the Google search.

72. The best writing makes the reader forget they’re reading.

73. Readers usually believe the unbelievable if the characters on the page don’t. Suspension of disbelief fails if no one questions the bizarre and fantastical.

74. Avoid the sudden info dump. Dish out exposition like a formal full course meal, in small need-to-know stages.

75. You can break scenes into five parts: dialogue, description, action, character's thoughts, and exposition. Balance is key, too much of one and not enough of another can spoil the whole pot.

76. Descriptions of the mundane in fantasy worlds can give them a sense of reality.

77. Start your story with the inciting incident, the reason we’re sitting down for this story in the first place. Avoid prologues and first chapters that have little to do with the main characters and story.

78. Secondary actions are not secondary. Subtle gestures and activities reveal character personalities, thoughts, and feelings. Don’t write about talking heads, in other words scenes about people just standing around and talking with nothing but facial descriptions.

79. If the monster is only scary when the audience can’t see it then it was never scary to begin with. Real monsters are terrifying up close with the lights on.

80. Careful with too much or too little back-story. Rule of Thumb: If you need back-story to understand a character enough to write them then your readers need it too. Likewise if it’s not plot relevant cut it.