My Favorite Writing Tips

As someone that loves to write and whose dream it is to one day be a published writer, I've done my fair share of research on this topic. I've always loved to write and I can't remember a time in my life when I wasn't either writing or stuffing my nose in a book. I'm fascinated by the idea of telling a good story and having people respond to it in a positive way. I'd love to be able to write a book that someone loves so much that they can't put down. Of course, I'm no expert but I thought that it would be a good idea to compile a list of my favorite writing tips so that they could be shared with all of you. I incorporate these tips into my writing and I've found that they're very helpful. I hope that you find them helpful as well.

1. Make sure that if you are incorporating a villain into your story that they are present throughout the whole story. 

This doesn't mean that your villain needs to be physically present in various scenes interacting with your protagonist. However, the since the protagonist/hero of your story is going to spend the entire novel constantly working towards their goal, the villain should as well. Take Harry Potter for example. Even when Voldemort isn't fighting with Harry, he is still a huge part of the story. We know that he is always working towards getting stronger. Harry can feel his scar burning, further showing his connection to Voldemort and many times, he has dreams about Voldemort's actions. This allows Voldemort to be in the story without actually having to be with Harry.

2. Don't add more to the story than is necessary. 

Some writers want their word count to be higher, so they put in unnecessary scenes or dialogue. In other cases, some writers write unnecessary sequels to prolong their stories. The problem with this is that a good writer can tell their story simplistically and genuinely. If you are just adding extra things in, the readers are going to get that vibe and they won't enjoy it as much. They will know that those extra scenes or extra books were unnecessary and not coming from a genuine place. When a person reads your book, they are investing a lot of time with it. So when they read unnecessary scenes or sequels, it can upset them. I understand loving your characters and wanting to spend more time with them. But as writers, it is our responsibility to tell their stories to the best of our abilities, as efficiently and simplistically as possible.

3. Don't include unnecessary characters. 

This is kind of piggy-backing off of the last tip but this tip has been very important for me. I used to include characters in my stories that were just there because I thought that my protagonist needed more friends or siblings. But then I realized that they were just filler. Every character in your story should be necessary or fulfill some kind of purpose, even if their purpose is only to die. By that I mean, maybe your protagonist becomes depressed because of a loss or maybe an important character's death sparks a war. Either way, every character should be vital to the story, whether that person is comic relief, a love interest, an antagonist, etc.

If you're also an aspiring writer and would love to get some more tips, I have plenty more to share with you. So, if you enjoyed this, please let me know and I'll post more tips soon! Happy writing!

-Chelsea