Creative Writing Tips

    • Let Your Readers Be Cheerleaders

    • To ensure your audience enjoys your book, it's good to provide them with a character they can root for. If your reader feels no sympathy for any of the characters in the book, or never develops an attachment to their cause, then the reader will lose interest.
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    • Elmore Leonard - Never Start With Weather

    • It's the classic awkward conversation piece. Talk about the weather because you have nothing else to say. It's also an easy thing to describe. However, when opening a story, nothing ostracizes a reader more than starting with the weather. Talk about something relevant to the story, or something that will lure them into it. Don't tease them with useless information.
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    • Experiment Using Writing Prompts

    • We've got a ton of great writing prompts on this site. Use them. These prompts will help you experiment with new writing techniques and can help inspire different ideas in your head. Even if the piece you write based on the prompt isn't the one you're looking for, it can help open the floodgates to a new piece.
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    • Elmore Leonard - Don't Waste Reader's Time

    • Make sure to write so that your reader feels like their time is being well spent. Cut out the filler words that drag the story and clog up your sentences and spare the details that your reader would skip anyway.
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    • Don't Be Afraid to Stink

    • Sometimes your writing isn't going to be the best you want it to be. Your first drafts will almost always come out poorer than you'd like them to be. It's okay! It's part of the process. Look at what you like in the poor material and run with it.
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