#writers tip

Whether you're just starting out or you're a seasoned pro, these writing tips will help you refine your craft and elevate your stories to the next level! 🔥

1. Show, Don’t Tell: Instead of telling your reader how a character feels, show it through their actions and dialogue. For example, instead of saying "She was nervous," try "Her hands trembled as she reached for the door."

2. Create Relatable Characters: Your readers should care about your characters. Give them desires, flaws, and emotions that make them feel real. The more your readers connect with them, the more they’ll invest in your story.

3. Vary Your Sentence Structure: Avoid repetitive sentence patterns. Mix it up with short, punchy sentences and longer, more complex ones to create rhythm and keep readers engaged.

4. Don’t Fear the Edit: The first draft is just you telling the story to yourself. Don’t be afraid to cut, rearrange, or rewrite sections during editing. The best stories are made through revision.

5. Write Every Day: The more you write, the better you’ll get. Set aside time each day, even if it’s just 15 minutes, to keep your creativity flowing and your skills sharp.

🔑 Bonus Tip: If you're struggling with a tough scene or need fresh ideas, don’t be afraid to ask for feedback from a fellow writer or editor. A fresh perspective can work wonders!

🌟 Keep pushing forward—writing is a journey, and every word gets you closer to your goals.

so since my last one got so much love here’s pt 2! god im gonna kill myself this got deleted like three times

first of all, make sure your writing (this one mostly applies to fiction) is an even balance of dialogue and action. now there are exceptions to this rule. for example, if your character is alone with no one to talk to, you want more action than dialogue. i suggest as a replacement for dialogue you share the characters inner thoughts. not in the italic way like “Wow this sucks, she thought.” but more in a. “She thought that this sucked.” (bad example but-). but if there are two characters in the setting then i would suggest a nice even balance of dialogue and action like; “He walked over to the table, ‘And what do you mean by that?’”

don’t use dividers in your works please. it’s just. not ethical? i don’t know what i dislike about them they just seem... unprofessional? of course, use them if your going for stylistic writing.

VOCABULARY IS KEY. i know i said this in my last post (briefly) but even if you’re not a natural vocabulist (is that a word? edit: it is, indeed, a word) you can pick up vocabulary super easily! reading a book is a good way to do this, or even listening to documentaries.

don’t overuse pronouns. you know when people are just like “she went to [place]. she did [thing]. she...” that’s overusing pronouns. try to get a proper noun in there here and there. and ALWAYS start your work with a proper noun. if you go into introducing the character with “She is...” that’s just confusing. unless, again, you want to be stylistic.

make sure you have at least a hazy idea of the plot you want to follow when you go into writing your story. of course, some things may change along the way, that’s bound to happen. but you want to make sure you keep your readers captivated rather than confused. this is especially for if you update your work every day/week/month.

numbers! try not to have them as 10 and more as ten. it just makes the story look less choppy. i promise you that 10:30 your about to write looks much better as ten-thirty.

this is like basics 101 but please use periods quite often. here’s a little lesson that’s kind of a complex (ha) one; complex sentence- “independent clause (a sentence that can stand on its own), conjuncture (a connecting word such as and, but, because, which, etc.) dependent clause (a sentence that depends on the independent clause.) simple sentence- independent clause compound sentence- ‘independent clause’, conjucture ‘independent clause’ now be careful with compound sentences; sometimes they can be deceiving. they have to be two independent clauses that relate to eachother. if they don’t relate to eachother, there should be a period in between. you should also use a period after you use a complex, simple, or compound sentence (i almost forgot to add this in lmao that writing really took it out of me)

Stop in the middle of a sentence.

If you feel like you’re getting bored or your idea’s are slowing, walk away. Leave in the middle of your paragraph, don’t end it in a way that solidifies that piece.

Decibels = louder/softer

Octaves = lower/higher pitch

I recently bought a new journal, and as somebody with a terrible memory I know I’m going to set this one down and lose it while at college, which is why I cannot stress enough for writers (and artists) to put your contact information in your journals/sketchbooks.

Imagine putting so much hard work into making your journal aesthetically pleasing. You’ve finally gotten a journal that’s familiar and comfortable, you get to flip past all of the ideas you’ve already written down and see blank pages where you’re going to put more ideas...and then you lose the journal. You leave it at the library, somebody picks it up, and it’s never returned to you. Don’t let that happen.

It can be as simple as putting your phone number on the inside of the front cover. I personally always label my journals following this format:

If found, please return to [name].

[Phone number] [Email] If found and returned, a reward will be provided. Thank you!

Don’t lose your journals at college and just hope that somebody turns it in to the campus lost and found office. Make sure to put your contact information in there so that whoever finds your journal has a way to get it back to you.