Tips For Novel Type Writing

Hi, I'm a semi-professional novel writer and I've noticed there's a lot of very talented writers who seem to struggle with very similar issues. Here's a few tips that I think could help elevate your writing to a new level! This isn't a specific roast against anyone, by the way. I'm just very passionate about writing and I love teaching what I know and seeing people become stronger writers!

#1: You need to separate yourself from the product you're creating if you have any hopes of getting better. This is also unfortunately the hardest lesson and its one I just now am beginning to learn in college. Most people nowadays don't know this one, but it's crucial to getting better. Criticism towards your art, your writing, whatever it may be, is NOT criticism of you as a person. A well thought-out critique should be honest, thorough, and as objective as possible. It should not bring you down, it should encourage you to change aspects of your progress. Now, I will 100% agree that many people don't take this approach. A lot of people, especially online, are terrible at critique. "This sucks" or "you suck because ____" are subjective opinions that do nothing to help the receiver and are only used to belittle. It's about as helpful as saying nonsense, so you should treat them as such. Those are not real critiques.

#2: Critiques are suggestions and opinions, not facts. You do not need to heed them if you don't wish to. This is your baby, don't let anyone bully it.

With those out of the way, we can focus on actual writing mistakes:

* When writing, MAKE SURE to read it in your head like you were talking out loud. It will help you catch mistakes.

* If you're writing in a character's point of view, write it as if they were talking out loud. Use slang and common phrases if appropriate.

*Your and You're: Your is possessive, it refers to someone's belongings. You use "your" the same way you would use his/hers/theirs. You're is the shortening of "you are". If you get confused (it's common, I do too sometimes), say out loud.

*To, Too, and Two: This one's annoying, gets me all the time. To refers to a location, as in going TO a place. Too is another way of saying "as well". Two is the number 2.

*Commas: Commas should be used whenever there is a break or change in a sentence, like if there's additional information. This is one where saying it out loud is very helpful. Where ever you pause to take a breath in the sentence, but wish to keep going, use a comma.

*Run On Sentences: This one is kind of subjective. Another one where saying it out loud becomes helpful. I tend to use run on sentences just because that's the way that I talk. Basically, if you're reading a sentence out loud and you find that it's too long, too wordy, or you run out of breath, split it into multiple sentences, or change the wording.

*Use thesaurus.com if you need help with finding similar words and try not to use the same noun, verb, or adjective in the same sentence.

If I have more tips, I'll make a part 2. I hope this helps!