Writing Tips

Thumbnail image for 10 New Year’s Resolutions for Novelists

10 New Year’s Resolutions for Novelists

I will decide on one genre of novel—the genre I most enjoy reading—and stick with it. I will study novels in this target genre to get a good idea of the kinds of stories they tell. I will work hard to come up with a story idea that fits my target genre yet is fresh [...]

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Thumbnail image for Fiction Technique Tip: Writing with Clarity and Precision

Fiction Technique Tip: Writing with Clarity and Precision

Polish up your writing with these easy tips. 1. Seek and destroy clichés: butter-soft leather, a mighty oak, a trusted servant. 2. To show habitual action, use the past tense rather than would. Not “Each morning he would walk to the Y and swim twenty laps,” but “Each morning he walked to the Y and [...]

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Thumbnail image for Fiction Technique Tip: Describing Action

Fiction Technique Tip: Describing Action

Four quick tips for improving descriptions of action in your novel. Use adverbs sparingly. Delete unnecessary ones, and certainly delete strings of them. Often an adverb is trying to strengthen a weak verb: “Allen went quickly down the street.” Instead choose the perfect verb that needs no strengtheners: “Allen hurried down the street.” Mark Twain [...]

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Thumbnail image for Your NaNoWriMo Manuscript: Making Adjustments

Your NaNoWriMo Manuscript: Making Adjustments

You did it—you finished a manuscript by the end of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, but it falls short of your goal of 50,000 words. This often happens: novelists find themselves typing “The End,” only to realize their word count is too short. Here are some tips for adding additional pages to your novel without [...]

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Thumbnail image for Fiction Technique Tip: Knowing What to Describe

Fiction Technique Tip: Knowing What to Describe

Every scene of your novel should focus on a specific viewpoint character. Regardless of which other viewpoint characters might be in the scene, the reader will be let in on the thoughts and feelings of this particular viewpoint character only. The scene itself will be written according to the perceptions and awareness of this character. [...]

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Thumbnail image for Fiction Technique Tip: Summary Mode

Fiction Technique Tip: Summary Mode

Of the various writing modes in The Marshall Plan® novel writing system, perhaps the least understood and most underused is summary mode. In summary mode you report your story action in a condensed, narrative form. You tell the reader what is happening rather than show it; there’s no blow-by-blow description of events as there would be [...]

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Thumbnail image for Fiction Technique Tip: Showing Emotion

Fiction Technique Tip: Showing Emotion

What’s wrong with this line from a novel? Sharon became upset. It’s a classic case of telling rather than showing—a fiction-writing no-no. If you tell your readers that Sharon became upset, you have interpreted and labeled her emotional state for them, rather than letting them do this for themselves. Showing a character’s emotion in your novel [...]

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