Top 5 Tips: As an agency, we see the same mistakes again and again. Once we drift off to sleep, our dreams are haunted by cardboard characters, cliche dialogue, comma splices, affectation, and (rather unavoidably, perhaps) cryptic, uncessary dream sequences. We compiled the list below to keep us better rested and, more importantly, to assist writers who really are serious about finding a agent and becoming talented, published writers. These tips are primarily written for novelists; however, creative writers of non-fiction may also find some applications.
- Know your Market: How important is it for your work to be read? Most people have to juggle busy schedules and have an abundance of ways to spend what precious little free time they can afford. Would other people really want to read your writing after, say, a hard day at work unsuccessfully trying to avoid their boss? What is the size and characteristics of your intended audience? Study your most popular and respected competitors. If you do not know what people are reading, and you are not comparing your work alongside the work of successful writers, then what makes you think it is commerically viable?
- Study your Craft: Many people seem to believe that writing a great novel does not require any practice. Anyone can write a story, it just requires a little imagination and natural ability, right? Don't believe it. Almost all the great writers seriously studied the techniques of effective writing. In many cases, they were taught by other gifted writers, taught writing and composition courses themselves, or kept detailed writing notebooks. For example, one of our favorite guidlelines to add a layer of sophistication and interest to story is to 'show, not tell'; let the reader figure out how your characters feel indirectly through the clues you provide. In other words, they both took the craft of writing very seriously and were eager to enhance their native ability by learning from others. After all, writing is a shared practice.
- Don't Fake It: 'Write what you know.' What writer has not heard that maxim? If writers so limited themselves, however, their work would probably be rather narrow in scope if not outright boring. A better maxim might be: 'know what you write.' Make sure your thoroughly research your setting and the characters you choose to inhabit it. Some writers spend months doing this. Thoughtful character actions and well placed plot details will greatly enrich the reader's experience. Sure, at some level the reader knows it is a work of fiction, but who wants to read a story which sounds like it was just made up?
- Be Inventive: Always use some imagination. If your are writing within a genre, such as mystery, differentiate the characters and elements of your story from those of other mysteries. Play with the readers expections. Don't let the butler do it. Let the Viscount's angelic, pre-adolescent nephew Ambrose do it with a pair of rusty tweezers if necessary. Use inventive dialogue and descriptive passages rather than cliches and soporifics. For instance, change 'John sat down on the chair and drank some coffee while listening to his wife' to 'John Ollypot sat stoically, upright, staring listlessly into the boiling, impentrable coffee-like liquid his wife prepared especially for him every morning of his life. Little dear, she began, I invited the women's club over for dinner again. How do you feel about potluck?' Let the reader know your story is in some way unique.
- Keep Writing: Your writing will improve as you actively work toward that end. Don't forget to revise and proofread each work until you pass out. If you keep at it, and your writing eventually becomes competitive with those who are published, an agent and a publisher will take a chance on you. Why wouldn't they?
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