A DOZEN TIPS FOR WRITERS

by Joelle Steele

As an editor, writers are always asking me for tips and advice on writing and how to get published. So I created a list of a few writing tips based on the most common writing errors I encounter when editing. I also included some more general writing tips for those who are thinking about pursuing writing as a career.

1. Get your act together as a person. This is the 21st century, when responsible adults make good professional writers. Expect and accept criticism and learn from it. Meet all your deadlines. Return calls and answer E-mail promptly. Develop self-confidence and good people skills. Seek professional help for whatever you need, whether it's psychotherapy, bookkeeping, editing, or legal advice. Cut out the drugs and alcohol. Believe in yourself and in something greater than yourself. Do things. Participate. Meet people. Volunteer. Make a life for yourself and then go out and live it to the fullest. You deserve a great life, no matter what you choose to do for a living!

2. Surround yourself with positive, supportive people. Stay away from negative people; they will suck the very life out of you and keep you from achieving your dreams. Don't let anyone dump their negative attitudes about writing or anything else on you. And don't listen to the naysayers of the world who tell you it's hard to get published. It isn't. If you hone your craft and diligently market your writing, you will get published. There's no "magic" required to be a professional writer, just plain old perseverance and hard work.

3. Approach writing like a business. That's exactly what it is. Get those romantic notions out of your head about writing in a candlelit garret with ink-stained fingers from your leaky quill pens. This is the 21st century, and when you become a freelance writer you join the ranks of the self-employed. Take a second job, if necessary, to pay for the basic tools of the trade: a computer, a laser or inkjet printer, Internet/E-mail access, and the necessary software to run it all. Find a quiet place for your equipment and learn how to use it. Keep organized records and files, and back up your work onto external hard drives and/or flash drives on a daily basis.

4. Build a good writer's reference library and use it. This is essential to the writing profession. You might want to start with the four books I refer to most often: Webster's New World College Dictionary, The Chicago Manual of Style, The New Fowler's Modern English Usage, and Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus. If you're short on cash, you can find these at used book stores and online at places like Thrift Books. Since you'll be selling your work, you'll also need a copy of the most current Writer's Market. My own library also includes numerous foreign language dictionaries, dictionaries of literary allusions, and books of famous quotations. Since I write a lot about certain subjects, I have specialized references for those topics as well. You might also want to consider keeping a clippings file of things you come across that might be of use to you on a future writing project.

5. Read and learn. Read everything: books, magazines, poetry, and especially a daily newspaper. Some of the best ideas for novels are born on the pages of the morning paper, and being informed helps you understand the latest trends which may need to be incorporated into your non-fiction. Read a wide variety of authors so that you can get a feel for how each handles character and plot development, dialogue and dialect, descriptions for a sense of place, explanatory and expository writing, how-to and educational instruction, and anything else you can possibly think of. You will ultimately develop your very own unique style, and the works of established authors will provide the building blocks for that style. Take classes. Study writing and writing trends. Study other things that interest you. Take up a hobby. Become an expert in at least one field. Your writing will come alive with new ideas. Learn what the writing markets are and who is publishing what. Spend time at the library and your local bookstores to see what's hot and what's not.

6. Don't put limits on your writing. Take every opportunity you can to tackle a variety of writing projects. Stretch your writing muscles by trying your hand at poetry, fiction, non-fiction, essays, screenplays, short stories, articles, etc. The more you write, the better skilled you become, the more proficient you become in the use of words, and the more opportunities will open up for you to earn income from writing.

7. Do your research. There's nothing that I find more discouraging than when I'm editing a manuscript (or even a published book!) and I catch errors and misinformation in the content when I myself have only a passing familiarity with the subject matter. Whether you are writing a novel or a work of non-fiction, take the time to thoroughly research your subject. Don't rely on the Internet alone for information. Go to the library and read as many books as you can find on your subject as well as related subjects. The various viewpoints from multiple authors, written during different time periods and from different perspectives, will provide you with a strong and credible wealth of knowledge on which to base your work.

8. Learn how to create a plot chart and an outline Plot charts are the first step in writing a story. They are best created in table format showing all the chapters listed down the left side and all the characters across the top. In each intersecting box, you organize the story line of who does what, when, and where. Once the plot chart is done you can write the outline from it. Writing plot charts and outlines create the necessary structure that all written works must have in order to be informative, persuasive, entertaining, etc. Then you can write your first draft.

9. Learn how to create characters that are REAL. If I can't understand what your character is all about, you have not done your job in this area. Every character must be believable because the reader needs to identify with them or feel empathy or loathing or something, anything, towards them. If they don't, they will not want to read further. So give your character a full-blown personality. Read Stephen King and Charles Dickens for examples of how to do it effectively. And, if you feel so inclined, you may also want to purchase my free PDF on character development called Living and Breathing: How to Make Your Characters Come Alive.

10. Learn to write good dialogue. I read more horrible dialogue than almost anything else when I'm editing. Read your dialogue aloud to see if it sounds "real" and if it makes sense. Go easy on dialect; a little bit goes a very long way! Don't rely on "throwaway" lines (e.g., "Okay." "You bet." "Goodbye."). These are wasted on the reader, who doesn't need you to end a conversation the way it would end in real life. (Reading the works of great authors will help you learn how to write great dialogue.)

11. Write every day. If you want to be a writer, you must WRITE. Don't just talk about it; do it! Never leave home without a blank notebook and a pen, or a phone or tablet with a voice to text app. Keep track of your ideas, even if they are only fragments. You become more proficient through practice. Whenever an idea crosses your mind, write it down. If you think of a unique name for a character, an unusual plot twist, a new pitch for an advertisement, a great line for a poem -- anything -- write it down. Keep a file of ideas on the computer and add to them as you get new inspiration. I usually have about 100 or more book, story, or poem ideas in my file, and I am usually actively writing about ten books at any given moment -- fiction and non-fiction -- and I work on them a little at a time according to which one I need to finish first or am most motivated to work on. If I'm in the short story mode, that's what gets my attention. When I find myself in the poetry mode, I switch gears and work on a poetry collection. In between these projects I also write and edit for hire. In other words, I am always writing.

12. Query, query, query. Then query some more. Don't give up! Author John Jakes said, "Too many beginning writers give up too easily." The same is true of experienced writers. You simply cannot send out enough queries. Send at least ten every month. Don't miss a month. This is how you get your books in print, get article assignments, and keep your cash flowing. Publishers are not going to come looking for you; you have to go looking for them. And your search for new markets for your work must be ongoing. Prepare to spend at least one-fourth of your time marketing: querying, researching writing markets, and writing book proposals.