Improve Your Writing
Once you have gotten the basics down, you can delve deeper and refine the finer details of your writing.
Characters
Compelling characters are what make your readers care about what happens next. Here are some important points to keep in mind:
- Develop a character arc: Within a story, characters often go through an arc where they experience growth and change. Start your storyline by planning out their goals and how achieving or not achieving them would change them as people.
- Experiment with different approaches: Try writing a character from a different point of view, such as their family or friends. This opens new ways for the character to be viewed and analyzed by readers.
- Give them flaws: Characters are usually viewed through a human lens. Giving characters flaws allows them to feel believable and helps readers root for them.
- Play characters off each other: One of the benefits of having a wide range of characters are the various ways characters interact and influence each other. This can further serve the story in its conflicts and resolutions.
More tips can be found on the MasterClass website.
Setting
A vivid setting sets the backdrop for the characters and events that unfold. Below are crucial details for your setting:
- Show, don't tell: Too much exposition can bore the reader. Instead of stating facts, let readers experience the setting through action and detail.
- Convey a mood: Your setting does not need to simply be the backdrop of a scene. Describe the mood as well to let the readers immerse themselves in your writing.
- Use the senses: We don't just use our sight when exploring a new area. Utilize your character's senses to describe the setting.
Hungry for more? Check out the Dabble website.
Dialogue
Good dialogue makes characters feel like real people talking, not just words on a page. Let's see how we can improve our dialogue:
- It is not just to convey information: Dialogue is much more than that, as it can characterize, provide exposition, set the scene, and provide foreshadowing. Try making your dialogue achieve more than one goal.
- Cut filler: Although you might think to replicate ordinary conversational dialogue, you actually need to do the opposite. Remove conversational filler and keep your sentences short.
- Choice of language: A character's choice of language is oftentimes intentional by the writer. It can reveal their upbringing, education, and personality. Avoid making characters that sound exactly the same.
- Dialogue as action: Let dialogue propel characters into action. Use their underlying goals and personality to influence their words and in turn, their decisions.
There's more information found on the The Center for Fiction website.
Editing
You finally have your first draft ready. Now comes the constant cycle of editing and revision. Check out these tips:
- Approach with a fresh look: After spending so much time on your draft, it can be hard to edit it without getting out of that headspace. Instead, approach it as if it was another writer's work.
- Consider the genre: You will have to critique your work based on its genre and intended audience. If you choose to add elements of other genres in your work, step back and see if it makes sense in the context of the storyline and characters.
- Check the story arc: Often the backbone of any literary novel, it is important to see if the events are in order and if any scenes are missing. Would the reader be lost while reading your work?
- Go line-by-line: After the general layout seems good, it is time to do some line editing. Go through each sentence and check if you used the intended words. If too much information is packed within a sentence, consider breaking it up. Watch out for repitition of words, phrases, adverbs, similes, and dialogue tags.
For more, be sure to visit the Curtis Brown Creative website.