Tip No. One
As I've been going through and thoroughly editing not only all twenty-five of the stories I had at ffnet, but also the forty-three (or forty-four?) chapters of a story for someone who requested my skills as a beta-reader, I figured this was the best time to start posting some of the things I've learned from writing classes, workshops, professional writers and through my own experiences.
I debated with myself for a long time on just where to start with this. There's so much that can be taught and it is amazing how much you can learn once you start looking into writing. I finally decided to start with the very basic issue most people don't even think about when writing. It will also allow me to jump into certain other points when I do this again.
That issue is: writing too much. And I don't mean entirely in the word count sense, because I believe a story should be as long as is necessary for it to be told -- be that a hundred or a hundred thousand words. What I mean by that is that so many writers, especially at the beginning, make the mistake of writing too much.
The area where this issue comes up the most in is description. The internet has made the wonderful art of describing anything nearly obsolete. However, that doesn't mean don't describe anything, it means to keep them to a minimum. Fanfiction writers make this mistake quite often, and it's cropping up in published fiction as well (because editors don't actually do editing anymore, but that is a rant for another time). We, as readers, don't need to know that your character has eyes the color of the sky that turn green when upset, or every little detail of the clothes that they wear. We don't need to know the layout of houses, what color the bedroom is, nor do we need to know what type of music they enjoy listening to. The only times it is acceptable to go into details about clothing or music is when the story focuses on fashion or music, or it's something subtle that is absolutely necessary to the scene or character. And the latter mainly applies to clothes. Sorry, music lovers (Life does not happen to music, but it does happen with clothes on).
Instead, when faced with the dreaded description paragraphs (because they are necessary at times), follow the K.I.S.S. Rule: Keep It Simple, Silly. If your character has blue eyes, say they have blue eyes. It may seem boring, but anything more makes it overdone. If some of the chapters take place in a house, keep the descriptions small and simple. Give us an idea about it, but let us imagine the finer details. If you absolutely must include descriptions about clothes, say what they looked like on the character, how the color complimented their skin/hair/eyes/makeup. You don't need to go into what type of cut a dress was or how sharply a tux was pressed. But do feel free to point out unusual things, such as, an obvious clip-on tie, mussed dress shirts, lipstick-stained collars -- those things can make a plot, or a character trait, at the very least.
Secondly, remove unnecessary repetition. Especially when it occurs in the same paragraph. When certain points get repeated because it's trying to be conveyed, it gets confusing. Again, the K.I.S.S. rule falls into effect here: if your character has a deadline to meet and has taken to sleeping at the office and eating instant ramen, and so can't go out for drinks with friends, say that. Readers are not stupid creatures that need to have their hands held and lead through every scene with the obvious constantly pointed out to them. Readers do have minds that they can use to connect events and ideas without having them explicitly spelled out.
I can easily sum this point up as: Don't over-explain anything. Just don't do it. Not only does it make you, as a writer, seem like you don't know what you're talking about, it makes readers feel as if you think they're stupid.
Thirdly, make sure you know where you're going with your writing. Generally, I've found that when writers don't know exactly what point they're trying to make with their story or even know what the main plot points are going to be, they meander through scenes. If you ever find yourself losing your direction in a story, stop writing it and instead write out your key plot points, or what you want the ending to resemble and work backwards from there. You'll find that a lot off-topic scenes and parts will be cut.
My last point on this involves two, usually connected, points of grammar -- speech tags and adverbs. On the first, they are not always necessary and the reason why ties into the second point. Your readers are intelligent human beings just like you and they can infer who is talking easily enough. I recommend using speech tags in moderation because having to repeat "s/he said", "s/he exclaimed", etc... gets repetitive after a while. Instead replace them with actions that let us know who is talking. People do talk as they're yawning, stretching out, cooking, and smacking people around.
And now, the grammar outcasts who were once resented as much as contractions. However, while contractions have become almost acceptable, the writing world has yet to embrace adverbs outside of dialogue. People speak with them and removing them from dialogue causes the way certain characters speak to become unnatural. Yet, in narration, adverbs are almost unnecessary. Especially after speech tags. This is such a point of contention that I don't even bother bringing it up anymore when I do editing. (And also, I even use them in non-academic papers and anyone I try pointing this out to in editing notes throws my own use of them in my face.) People are attached to their adverbs and can't bring themselves to remove them. Even though adverbs are nothing more than "fluff" words, meaning all they're good for is taking up space. Not to mention, it's just weird to imagine writing without using adverbs.
Basically, in the writing process, as you're writing, ask yourself this question: "If I was reading this, would I skip over this part?" If you can answer "Yes," then delete it because that means you're writing too much. And writing too much does not a good writer make.
And if you cannot bring yourself to delete certain scenes, pieces of dialogue, or even descriptions, open up a new document, and cut and paste those sections into it. They can be recycled into other stories if you have a burning desire to use them. But they don't belong when they add nothing to the story.
I debated with myself for a long time on just where to start with this. There's so much that can be taught and it is amazing how much you can learn once you start looking into writing. I finally decided to start with the very basic issue most people don't even think about when writing. It will also allow me to jump into certain other points when I do this again.
That issue is: writing too much. And I don't mean entirely in the word count sense, because I believe a story should be as long as is necessary for it to be told -- be that a hundred or a hundred thousand words. What I mean by that is that so many writers, especially at the beginning, make the mistake of writing too much.
The area where this issue comes up the most in is description. The internet has made the wonderful art of describing anything nearly obsolete. However, that doesn't mean don't describe anything, it means to keep them to a minimum. Fanfiction writers make this mistake quite often, and it's cropping up in published fiction as well (because editors don't actually do editing anymore, but that is a rant for another time). We, as readers, don't need to know that your character has eyes the color of the sky that turn green when upset, or every little detail of the clothes that they wear. We don't need to know the layout of houses, what color the bedroom is, nor do we need to know what type of music they enjoy listening to. The only times it is acceptable to go into details about clothing or music is when the story focuses on fashion or music, or it's something subtle that is absolutely necessary to the scene or character. And the latter mainly applies to clothes. Sorry, music lovers (Life does not happen to music, but it does happen with clothes on).
Instead, when faced with the dreaded description paragraphs (because they are necessary at times), follow the K.I.S.S. Rule: Keep It Simple, Silly. If your character has blue eyes, say they have blue eyes. It may seem boring, but anything more makes it overdone. If some of the chapters take place in a house, keep the descriptions small and simple. Give us an idea about it, but let us imagine the finer details. If you absolutely must include descriptions about clothes, say what they looked like on the character, how the color complimented their skin/hair/eyes/makeup. You don't need to go into what type of cut a dress was or how sharply a tux was pressed. But do feel free to point out unusual things, such as, an obvious clip-on tie, mussed dress shirts, lipstick-stained collars -- those things can make a plot, or a character trait, at the very least.
Secondly, remove unnecessary repetition. Especially when it occurs in the same paragraph. When certain points get repeated because it's trying to be conveyed, it gets confusing. Again, the K.I.S.S. rule falls into effect here: if your character has a deadline to meet and has taken to sleeping at the office and eating instant ramen, and so can't go out for drinks with friends, say that. Readers are not stupid creatures that need to have their hands held and lead through every scene with the obvious constantly pointed out to them. Readers do have minds that they can use to connect events and ideas without having them explicitly spelled out.
I can easily sum this point up as: Don't over-explain anything. Just don't do it. Not only does it make you, as a writer, seem like you don't know what you're talking about, it makes readers feel as if you think they're stupid.
Thirdly, make sure you know where you're going with your writing. Generally, I've found that when writers don't know exactly what point they're trying to make with their story or even know what the main plot points are going to be, they meander through scenes. If you ever find yourself losing your direction in a story, stop writing it and instead write out your key plot points, or what you want the ending to resemble and work backwards from there. You'll find that a lot off-topic scenes and parts will be cut.
My last point on this involves two, usually connected, points of grammar -- speech tags and adverbs. On the first, they are not always necessary and the reason why ties into the second point. Your readers are intelligent human beings just like you and they can infer who is talking easily enough. I recommend using speech tags in moderation because having to repeat "s/he said", "s/he exclaimed", etc... gets repetitive after a while. Instead replace them with actions that let us know who is talking. People do talk as they're yawning, stretching out, cooking, and smacking people around.
And now, the grammar outcasts who were once resented as much as contractions. However, while contractions have become almost acceptable, the writing world has yet to embrace adverbs outside of dialogue. People speak with them and removing them from dialogue causes the way certain characters speak to become unnatural. Yet, in narration, adverbs are almost unnecessary. Especially after speech tags. This is such a point of contention that I don't even bother bringing it up anymore when I do editing. (And also, I even use them in non-academic papers and anyone I try pointing this out to in editing notes throws my own use of them in my face.) People are attached to their adverbs and can't bring themselves to remove them. Even though adverbs are nothing more than "fluff" words, meaning all they're good for is taking up space. Not to mention, it's just weird to imagine writing without using adverbs.
Basically, in the writing process, as you're writing, ask yourself this question: "If I was reading this, would I skip over this part?" If you can answer "Yes," then delete it because that means you're writing too much. And writing too much does not a good writer make.
And if you cannot bring yourself to delete certain scenes, pieces of dialogue, or even descriptions, open up a new document, and cut and paste those sections into it. They can be recycled into other stories if you have a burning desire to use them. But they don't belong when they add nothing to the story.