What are some good writing tips?
Well, the first would be to take my course on Udemy. While that might seem self-serving, I created that course after I began my journey as an author, and I couldn’t find the kind of information I was looking for, which was for a system that allowed me to become the best author of high-quality work possible. I think my biggest suggestion is to keep writing. If you’re going to be an author, you need to be consistent.
My next tip is to have your rules. Here are mine; perhaps they will help you create yours:
Rule One: If you can create stories and characters that your readers fall in love with, despise, laugh with, and cry with, you did your job.
Rule Two: Do not put yourself between your story and its readers. Unless you are writing your autobiography, stay out of it… no editorializing. This can be a bit tricky, but avoid offering opinions, observations, or explanations that come from you, the author. If you need to clarify something, have your character provide the clarification.
Rule Three: Do not distract your readers with clumsy writing. Your job is to be invisible and reduce conflict between the story and the reader. If their attention is drawn to punctuation, spelling, factual errors, or anything other than the story itself, that detracts from their experience. The system and tools you will learn from me will eliminate this issue.
Rule Four: Your readers came for entertainment. Don’t preach. If you have a message you want to present, have your characters do it in a manner appropriate to the plotline. Be cautious with this; even having your character come off as preachy can be off-putting.
Rule Five: Be authentic. Unless he was being sarcastic, a Navy SEAL wouldn’t say, “Oh, piffle, that’s annoying.” Career military members don’t speak like Victorian schoolgirls. If you are going to write about something, do it accurately by knowing how your characters would act, speak, and live their lives.
Rule Six: Try not to be predictable unless that’s your intention. Leave that to Hallmark. There are times and places for everything, but I believe most readers will tell you that they appreciate a twist or two in a story.
Rule Seven: If in doubt, ask yourself W W K H D, meaning, what would Kristin Hannah do? Of all the authors I have read, my standards as a wordsmith are Kristin Hannah, Luanne Rice, and Susan Wiggs. For me, each contributes a standard of quality I try to achieve.
What is the best way to start writing my first book?
In my Udemy course, I describe a methodical approach to creating a novel, which is:
Create Facts that relate to your plot
Create your presumptions, which are if/then or what if statements.
Then we write out a list of questions that will be asked by our readers. Those should be answered in the story. We want to avoid what I call Plot Holes, obvious questions that we don’t answer.
Now we have enough that we can create a premise. That becomes the brief outline of our story.
From there, the story usually starts writing itself. Just remember to set your hook in the book's opening lines. If you fail to hook your reader, they often drift away to something more interesting.
Why do so many people want to write novels?
There are as many reasons as there are authors. They have a creative element to their personality that needs to be expressed. Some have a story that inspires them to tell. Others want to see if they can make a living by entertaining others. I think many writers are simply curious to see if they can, and once they start, they get hooked as they fall in love with their characters. Telling stories can be very addictive. There is something magical about being able to retreat into a world where you can live your fantasy.
What mistakes are the most common among upcoming writers?
The first thing I see very often is writing in the first-person present tense. This is fine for short stories, but it has serious limitations that almost all great authors avoid. The most powerful perspective is past tense omniscient.
The other thing I see a lot is that they use mixed tenses. For example, “Sarah started the car and gripped the steering wheel tightly. She shudders as the freezing mountain air creeps in the window.”
In that example, I started in the past tense and then shifted to the present tense.
In all cases, I suggest giving them the Udemy referral link and code. It is good until the 24th of July,
Here is my suggested wording:
We are currently offering a promotion that ends on the 24th of July. Get a $149.99 value for $19.99 at this link!
https://www.udemy.com/course/becoming-an-author-the-master-class-series/?couponCode=VSCAMPBELL
