Writing is a skill that you can constantly improve – even if you have published a few books. The truth is that many writers who have published a few books already still believe their writing to be mediocre, which is also an essential part of one’s writing journey.
To make things easier for you, we have made a list of six essential writing tips that can help you boost your skills and start writing like a pro.
Read on to learn more.
Skip the Prologue
Some writing tips aren’t just for novice writers; they are for everyone, including the tip that you should avoid prologues. A prologue is usually used by a beginner writer as an easy way to give a backstory.
Ideally, your readers should get their backstory through scenes depicted throughout the book. The exception to this rule might be when the prologue is out of time sequence or when the prologue reveals something super essential to the plot.
Nonetheless, if you are sending query letters to literary agents, you must make sure not to tell them that you are giving them the prologue. All you need to do is give them the first chapter. If you ever feel like the prologue is super important and that it needs to be included in the copy that you are sending the literary agent, then make sure not to title it as the prologue.
So, you should give the literary agent a prologue but label it as the first chapter.
Remember that you will also have to write a query letter to your literary agent. For instance, if you reside in Atlanta, Georgia, you might want to opt for the literary agents in Atlanta, Georgia, as the literary agent will be responsible for getting your writing in front of the publication house.
Integrate Conflict
As an aspiring writer, you must certainly be an avid reader, and as a reader, you must have many favorite books. Have you ever wondered what the basic thing is that keeps you hooked on a book? It is the integration of internal conflict, which is also what you want to focus on when you are working on your book.
So, the best thing that you can do is to introduce some sort of conflict, which can be internal or external, at the very start of your book. Here is what you will want to do: on your first page, you will want to depict a problem that is apparent from the very beginning. The underlying reason is that problems are intriguing, and your readers will be instantly hooked to the plot and the character, and they will be naturally curious to know more about what is going on, why it is happening, whatever is happening, and what will happen next.
Show More Tell Less
Another thing that you will want to keep in mind so that you can write like the pros is that showing is extremely crucial, and to hook the reader’s attention; you will want to show more and tell less. It is important to show the right kind of detail. In other words, it should have a purpose.
It is important to mention here that you should be absolutely clear about your genre instead of mixing different genres and leaving the readers confused. Ideally, your readers should be able to guess the genre right away or get the feel of the genre on the first page. This aspect is especially true for potential agents and editors, as these professionals will be looking for whether or not your thriller actually sounds like a thriller.
Incorporate An Inciting Incident
Make sure to integrate an inciting incident from the hero’s journey, which would also be the call to action. This potential inciting incident is supposed to be the catalyst that initiates your character’s journey. If you are a fan of the book series “The Hunger Games,” you already know that the stimulating incident is when the female protagonist Katniss chooses to take the place of Prims.
In the given example, the inciting incident also sets the status quo for the book.
Active Voice vs. Passive Voice
If you really want to write like a pro, you will want to write in active voice instead of a passive voice. For instance, you will want to write “She runs to the room” instead of writing “She was running.”
Apart from writing in an active voice, you will want to ensure that the dialogues are shorter rather than longer dialogues. Longer dialogues should help readers understand the characters, their intentions, and what is going on in their minds.
You will want to use dialogues to get information across, but the information should be of the right amount instead of imparting tons and tons of information. Speaking of information, you should not dump information into your story. Information dumps are boring to the readers and the worst thing you can do is to have the readers lose interest midway and leave your book in the corner to never be picked again.
That said, if you ever want to impart back story to the world or you want to give back story on the character, you will want to try to weave it in and out the scene instead of dedicating entire pages and boring the readers with the information dump.
Ideally, you will want to opt for information that is sprinkled throughout a scene as it is a way more interesting method to impart the much-needed back story.
Use Hooks
Another writing tip that can help you write like a pro is to use hooks. You might want to end each chapter with a question so that the reader is intrigued to know what will happen next. You will want to integrate a question that needs to be answered.
Why, you might ask. The underlying reason is that by ending each chapter with a question, you will force the readers to read on to get their questions answered. Also, when it comes to creating characters, you will want to create flawed characters so that your readers can relate to them because no one wants to read about a perfect character.
