Digging Deeper into Four Common Writing Tips

by Cindy K. Sproles @CindyDevoted

We’ve heard them—writers, who offer all the best tips for writing. Is there ever anything new? Well, new isn’t always best. There’s validity in what works, but do you fully understand what lays below the surface of each tip? 

What’s not to understand about love your story or don’t tell readers everything you know? Seasoned authors do their best to share their knowledge, but there are times it seems the reader is hearing the same ole, same ole. Let’s dig deeper into a few writing tips we hear continually and see what we are missing.

Digging into Common Writing Tips

Simple is best: Some of the most profound lines in fiction are simple. “To be or not to be.” Simple and effective. There is something to be said for brevity. What are writers trying to tell you? Lines filled with compound-complex sentences, that, by the time the reader reads through the details, absorbs it, and makes sense of it, (inhale here), they have a greater understanding of what the writer was trying to say. The reader doesn’t need long, drawn-out sentences to help them understand. Unnecessary information kills a story. 

Keep important details, but watch those rambling sentences that bog your story down. It’s a proven fact that the majority of the readers, read on a seventh-grade level. This doesn’t mean our readers are primary, it means that their comprehension is best at this level. According to the Literacy Project, dumping long heavy sentences on readers inhibits their comprehension. Readers grow frustrated, read slower, and lose interest. Writing tight and concise is not only good grammar, but it benefits your readers. Simple, well-constructed sentences move your readers quickly into the story and help them enjoy the experience. Keep it simple, not dumb-downed. 

Know the basics: Stories come easily to us, but just because we can put a story on paper doesn’t mean we can write a good story. Writing consists of specific basics—good, dimensional characters, plot, structure, and pacing. I’ve had writers “tell” me about their story. It’s gripping and unique. Yet when I sit down to read the manuscript it’s poorly written and the story fails. There’s a reason well-seasoned writers are successful. Not only can they tell a story, but they’ve learned the basics. They can manipulate those basics in ways that draw the reader into a bubble they never want to leave. You can’t write a good story until you master the craft of writing. Study good authors. Follow in their footsteps. Eventually, you’ll pen a story that takes the reader’s breath away. Learn the basics then build on them.

Kill the dog: Okay, it’s an expression. Hear me out. Sometimes the best move we can make in our story is to kill a beloved character. You can’t imagine doing that? That character is central to your story. But are they? There are times we hold our story hostage to a character that is beloved and the story can’t fully materialize as long as that character is in the way. It’s hard to send a character packing when we love them dearly. Many times those particular characters are based on personal attributes and none of us want to die. When you’ve grown enough in your writing that you can let go of the beloved secondary character, suddenly the protagonist spreads their wings and takes flight. Your story will go amazing places. So, keep the dog, but kill a beloved character…occasionally.

Write daily, edit tomorrow: There are a billion reasons to write daily and equally as many if you don’t. Writing daily allows you to practice, sharpen your skill, and learn personal self-discipline. Writing daily keeps you fresh in the skill. It’s like a beginner cook making biscuits. In the beginning, the biscuits come out flat and hard, but with continued practice, those biscuits come from the oven perfectly shaped and browned to a tee. Writing daily makes you a better writer and when you hit a snag, pushing through helps you keep normalcy in an otherwise chaotic world. What about editing? A good rule of thumb is to write today, edit tomorrow. Writing is a creative process. When the process is happening, don’t interrupt it. Allow creativity to happen. You can always edit when you don’t feel inspired to write. The advantage to editing later allows your mind to clear. You can see what is on the page and not allow what you wrote in your head to stand in the way. Waiting a day to edit gives you a sense of discernment as well. What sounded good yesterday, may not ring well tomorrow. Write daily and edit later—again, a method to the madness. 

Think about publication: It’s good to set a goal and follow through. We always benefit from the accomplishment, but when I say think about publication, I’m referring to the quality of work you produce. Whatever you write, always think about publication. Moving from the writing process into publication can take years. Your writing may be good, but it’s not publication-ready. Make yourself aware with every blog post, comment on a social media, article, or story that you write, to be your very best. This trains you to present the best you can at the place you are in. Do your best work. 

Here’s an example: our local television station newscasters run a continual ticker tape on the bottom of the screen as they do the news. There is rarely a day that I have not read multiple misspellings and typos. This ticker tape runs for thousands of people to see, yet not one newscaster or writer at the station cares enough to do their best and check it before it rolls. It makes the station look bad, and the newscasters look bad. Think about your quality of work. Think about the demands of publication on the craft of writing and always, always, write for publication. 

We’ve delved a bit deeper into these four tips of writing to see the whys. Take your notes from conferences and delve into the underlying skill. You’ll be surprised how, once you apply it, your writing will improve.

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Cindy K. Sproles is an author, speaker, and conference teacher. She is the cofounder of Christian Devotions Ministries and the executive editor for christiandevotions.us and inspireafire.com. Cindy is the lead managing editor for SonRise Devotionals and also Straight Street Books, both imprints of LPC/Iron Stream Media Publications. She is a mentor with Write Right and the director of the Asheville Chrisitan Writers Conference held each February at the Billy Graham Training Center, the Cove, Asheville, NC. Cindy is a best selling, award winning novelist. Visit Cindy at www.cindysproles.com.