Writing Tips

Show, dont tell

o Dont just say there was a tree, describe it.
Sounds, Smells, Colors, Textures
o This goes along with show, dont tell, invoke the readers senses when
presenting a scene. Going with the tree example, dont just describe the basic
outline of a tree, what kind of tree is it? Is there a breeze? How do the sunlight
and shadows look filtering through it? What does it smell like? How about the
weather around the tree? Is the bark rough or smooth?
Believe in the power of understatement.
o You dont want to be redundant. If you describe a beautiful scene, your
description should be enough for the reader to see it was beautiful, even without
you flat-out saying that is it is.
o Also, there is a fine line between not enough description, and too much. Find
ways to describe the scene and the mood as completely as possible, with as few
words as possible. Poetic elements are helpful, Ill give an example of that a little
later.
Use your verbs
o Verbs are powerful, and they themselves can set the mood and carry a story along.
Try re-writing a sentence using verbs that basically mean the same thing, but
invoke different emotions. i.e. Her hair floated around her face vs. Her hair
whipped around her face
Adjectives
o I know that this is a no duh tip, but a lot of people tend to use them rather
sparingly, for some unknown reason. Adjective are important, just make sure you
dont overuse them. I would suggest investing in a thesaurus when youre writing
your story, to make sure it doesnt get repetitive.
The best example I can give your for this isnt very good, but its all that I have at the
moment. I will try to find a better one later. This is an exercise where we wrote about three
seconds in some event, I chose a car crash, the Hospital, and the Funeral. Like I said, Ill go
through my books and the internet and try to find a professional example, but for now Im
afraid this will have to do.

Three seconds of a car crash and the aftermath
Second 1: Shrieking tires halt, as metal grinds and screeches, splintering into razor edges and twisted
swords.
Second 2: The stench of cleaning supplies fills the air, permeating the crisp, white, sheets and mangled
skin. Labored breathing slows to a stop as quiet beeps blend into a screaming line.
Second 3: Dark, heavy soil falls with a thud into the pit below. Salty tears mix with rain, falling from the
swimming clouds and turning the brown earth black.
Obviously you wouldnt want to write a story like this, this is a bit too vague, but I think
its a pretty good example of some of the tips above. If you look at the verbs in the first
second shrieking, halt, grinds, screeches, splintering all of them are somewhat abrupt
sounding words, and sounds as though they are causing the destruction of something (I
think). I you look at the second two, it manages to include smell, texture, color, and sounds,
and (I feel like it) does a pretty good job of invoking the image of a hospital room. The
third second includes very few verbs, and but uses heavy-sounding adjectives and colors to
create the mood instead. Colors are good at creating mood, but it is easy to get clich with
them so be careful. Like I said, Ill do some material gathering, and see if I can find a better
example from an author who was actually published.

Use poetic elements
o Use all that crap they made you study freshman and junior year, poetic elements
make a story flow easier and help reel your reader in.
I managed to find a good example of poetic elements in a story from this story I
stumbled upon online. It does a very good job of illustrating how poetic elements
can be used to draw a reader in, sucking them into the world that you created. This
is the opening paragraph to the story.
Hurrah for the harlequin, the sunshine dancers high heal kicking into windows of
nouveau and shattering the full swell of zydeco with raunchy screams for more. Gold
trombones honk and catcall at women in sequins, feather boas and masks blurring in and
out of focus through a cloud of glitter and jewelry drinks in crystal glasses. Breaking out
the wine and cider, the men in monocles and hats and finery obscene, welcome me into
the amour of a party drowned in confetti and Venetian glass beads on strings along the
side plastic slicked with shiny lacquer. I laughed a loud in merry cherry candy glee, the
girl with the vanilla hips catches my eye across throng of strangers waving rattles and
heaving, laughter is their music above all and honey mead lips glimmer and gloss words
in a babble of sophisticated mess. Garish floats flounced with flowers blast, rabbit eared
women with pillow breasts cast wrapped sweets into the crowds, shes across the street in
bouncy jewels and furs,(.),eyes twinkling starry behind horn rimmed glasses and
begging, begging for my kiss.
(Mardigras by Bekie Marie)
I did a little bit of editing, because it cussed a little bit, but the part I took out wasnt
necessary. Basically it was the speaker appreciating the fact that the girl had a nice butt.
The opening scene is at a Mardi Gras party, and I feel like it does a very good job of
painting a picture of whats happening. In addition to using a lot of imagery, the entire
thing reads like some kind of prose. A good thing to look at is the repeated sounds that this
displays, like Hurrah for the harlequin, the men in monocles, merry cherry candy
glee, glimmer and gloss words, all of these give you a good mental image of the party,
and do so in a unique enough way that it remains intersting. Also note words that dont
seem to go together, or that dont fit the mood. Like when the author describes everything
as finery obscene. The word obscene has a very negative connotation, but when placed in
this context it does a very good job of invoking the image of over-the-top gaudy jewelry and
clothes. Garish has the same effect. Shifting between writing styles can make the story lack
flow, but if done properly, using prose to write descriptions makes things far more
interesting. Using prose in this way allows you to thoroughly describe a scene without
making it too wordy. If you look at it, in a little under 200 words, the author paints the
entire scene of the party, introduces the main character, as well as introducing and
describing the love interest.
(P.S. Im not sure if youre allowed too, so Im saying this just in case you are. Do NOT
look up the rest of the story. I can assure you you will regret it. I got caught by the intro
and read the rest. It was very well written, but it was pretty much a two thousand word
romance novel, and had very little actual story. It was unfortunate, because the author and
story had a lot of potential, but to each his own, I guess.)

Use metaphors and similes.
o I dont think that I need to explain this one or give examples, but I feel the need to
point them out, because they are often overlooked. They really are useful, so long
as you dont overuse them.
Avoid clich at all cost
o It is very, very, rare to have a good reason to use something clich. They lose the
readers interest and bring down the quality of the story. If you absolutely have to,
and can come up with nothing better, find some way to alter it, at least slightly, to
avoid making the reader feel like theyve read a thousand books like yours.
Dont underestimate your ideas
o When in doubt, just write. Original ideas can come at the strangest times, and
from the strangest inspirations. When you have writers block, or are just
wondering where to start, just start writing down and describing random scenes
and whatever you happen to see. Interesting things can come from this, and this
can also lead to an epiphany.
Dont worry about other people
o No matter what you do, someone is bound to be offended by it. So dont worry
about being too edgy or anything like that. One of the most successful book
series out there is called flowers in the attic, and believe when I say that that
book is pretty much a study in taboo. I wont tell you what happens, because you
really should read it, V.C. Andrews is an amazing author. My point is, give your
story what it needs, dont disrupt it/censer it because other people might get mad.

Its okay to jump around
o Write scenes based on how youre feeling that day. If youre angry, write a battle
scene, if youre sad, write a death scene. Allow your emotions to decide what
youre writing, they will color it and make things seem more real for the reader.



GOOD LUCK!