A lot of people have started asking me for helpful tips for writing so I decided to make a book! For all of my tips I will have a basic story to show the difference between the mistake and correct.
The story:
I skip into a room with a bright smile and over to my purple haired boyfriend. I smile brightly at him, "Hi!"
"What do you want Denki?" he asks without looking up from his book.
I pout and look off to the side as I shift in my spot, "Nothing. Sorry for bothering you."
He pauses from where he was flipping the page and looks up at me with a frown. He quickly folds the corner of his book and sets it down on the couch. "You aren't bothering me Denki. What did you want to say?" he asks concerned.
"It's embarrassing," I mumble while looking down at my hands and fidgeting.
"Tell me," he demands but with a kind tone.
I look up and let a nervous giggle slip, "A kiss?"
He smiles at me and waves me closer. I bend down and wrap my arms around his neck. He pecks my lips and I pull away with a bright smile.
"Better?" he asks.
I nod my head.
11. Pre-Write and Have a Schedule
I live by this! Before I post even one chapter to a new story I have at least chapters 5 prewritten. I also have a alarm for every Tuesday that is labeled 'Bookie'. It is so important so have a dependable schedule.
I have clicked on a story, read a few chapters that were okay but not great, and then never added it to a reading list since last time it was updated was so long ago.
12. Practice Makes Perfect
Don't be mad that your writing isn't as good as blahbabah's writing because it takes time and practice to become good. Also you are a different person therefore your styles will be different. Everyone's writing is good but with more time writing gets better!
13. Word Count
Have a goal of a word count and try to keep that number constant. For beginners 500 is a good goal, 800 would be the next step up, and the word limit I have is 1000.
14. Characters Speaking
Yes, there is more.
Another thing I see is when dialogue comes up people do this;
What not to do:
I skip into a room with a bright smile and over to my purple haired boyfriend. I smile brightly at him, "Hi!"
(Kaminari Speaking
Shinsou Speaking)
"What do you want Denki?"
"Nothing. Sorry for bothering you."
"You aren't bothering me Denki. What did you want to say?"
"It's embarrassing,"
"Tell me,"
"A kiss?"
He smiles at me and waves me closer. I bend down and wrap my arms around his neck. He pecks my lips and I pull away with a bright smile.
"Better?"
I nod my head.
Like I said before, even though we are missing less detail, we still are missing a lot. Also it looks lazy.
15. Hatuis/Discontinued
Try not to discontinue too many books or have long hatuis's (if that's how you spell it). If you need to cool, I have had to, but it makes less people want to read your new works if they think it is going to be discontinued.
Also, put that it is discontinued/ on hatuis in the description or title so readers aren't shocked once they realize that it is.
16. Completed
Once you complete a story press the completed button. It bugs me when I have to go to my library to archive something instead of being able to at the end of a story.
Also, I love when people put in the description that it is done but that's just brownie points.
17. Adding Things in the Middle of the Book
A lot of people add random things to the plot half way through the book. I was just reading a book on this app and halfway through the book they made Kaminari trans for no reason. They even added a A/N to tell the readers to act like he was the entire time.
When you add random things in the middle of the plot it looks unprofessional. When I say the word professional I don't mean uptight, not funny, and stuff like that. I mean that you don't care much for your writing. That might not be the truth but that is what it feels like to the reader.
18. Painting Characters in a Bad Sense
There are three different story conflicts, Nature VS Man, Man VS Man, and Man VS Self. In Man VS Man someone has to be the bad guy and in the other two there are sometimes some people who make the conflict worse along the way. If it is a fanfic a lot of writers end up taking those characters from the existing plot. PLEASE DON'T DO THAT!
Even authors that I love do that and it drives me nuts. Remember that not everyone shares your opinions on characters so if you do end up doing this put a warning in the description. You can also describe the character but don't use their name when referring to them.
19. Warnings
Please put warnings! I don't mean every chapter but at the beginning of the story. You don't want someone to unknowingly open your book and it have some abuse aspects that might trigger something. Having said that, don't let someone bully you into changing your story/put warnings every chapter like I was. Once is enough,
YOU ARE READING
Helpful Story Tips and Tags
Fanfiction^^^^^^^ (also the first chapter is me as a BNHA character)
