baileyfourakerbooks

[baileyfourakerbooks]

my 10 holy grail pieces of writing advice for beginners

from an indie author who's published 4 books and written 20+, as well as 400k in fanfiction (who is also a professional beta reader who encounters the same issues in my clients' books over and over)

show don't tell is every bit as important as they say it is, no matter how sick you are of hearing about it. "the floor shifted beneath her feet" hits harder than "she felt sick with shock."

no head hopping. if you want to change pov mid scene, put a scene break. you can change it multiple times in the same scene! just put a break so your readers know you've changed pov.

if you have to infodump, do it through dialogue instead of exposition. your reader will feel like they're learning alongside the character, and it will flow naturally into your story.

never open your book with an exposition dump. instead, your opening scene should drop into the heart of the action with little to no context. raise questions to the reader and sprinkle in the answers bit by bit. let your reader discover the context slowly instead of holding their hand from the start. trust your reader; donn't overexplain the details. this is how you create a perfect hook.

every chapter should end on a cliffhanger. doesn't have to be major, can be as simple as ending a chapter mid conversation and picking it up immediately on the next one. tease your reader and make them need to turn the page.

every scene should subvert the character's expectations, as big as a plot twist or as small as a conversation having a surprising outcome. scenes that meet the character's expectations, such as a boring supply run, should be summarized.

arrive late and leave early to every scene. if you're character's at a party, open with them mid conversation instead of describing how they got dressed, left their house, arrived at the party, (because those things don't subvert their expectations). and when you're done with the reason for the scene is there, i.e. an important conversation, end it. once you've shown what you needed to show, get out, instead of describing your character commuting home (because it doesn't subvert expectations!)

epithets are the devil. "the blond man smiled--" you've lost me. use their name. use it often. don't be afraid of it. the reader won't get tired of it. it will serve you far better than epithets, especially if you have two people of the same pronouns interacting.

your character should always be working towards a goal, internal or external (i.e learning to love themself/killing the villain.) try to establish that goal as soon as possible in the reader's mind. the goal can change, the goal can evolve. as long as the reader knows the character isn't floating aimlessly through the world around them with no agency and no desire. that gets boring fast.

plan scenes that you know you'll have fun writing, instead of scenes that might seem cool in your head but you know you'll loathe every second of. besides the fact that your top priority in writing should be writing for only yourself and having fun, if you're just dragging through a scene you really hate, the scene will suffer for it, and readers can tell. the scenes i get the most praise on are always the scenes i had the most fun writing. an ideal outline shouldn't have parts that make you groan to look at. you'll thank yourself later.

happy writing :)

[baileyfourakerbooks]

Three Must-Read Books for Any Aspiring Novelist

As an avid reader and writer, I've read a lot of books about writing. Put frankly, most of them are bad. They're either stiff, robotic style manuals or self-help instructional that offer little advice outside of going with the flow. Luckily, here are a few gems that I hold near and dear to my heart -- and they offer some real substance.

On Writing by Stephen King

This was the first book on writing (ba-dum tss) that truly made me feel something. Part instructional and part memoir, King weaves no-nonsense writing advice between snippets of his own life as a writer, going all the way back to his childhood. King reiterates that to be a writer, you can't do it for the money or the glory -- of which there is little. It's for the self, and in order to be a writer, one must write a lot, too. If I could rate this one more than five stars, I would. It's that good.

2. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

In another collection that's part-memoir and part-guide, Lamott takes a less steely approach than King. She's laugh-out-loud funny as she muses on her personal writing process and parables from her own life that she relates to the art. This one is perfect for those who want a more lighthearted approach to the craft.

3. Upstream by Mary Oliver

Less of a writing manual, this is a beautiful collection of nature-driven essays, inspired by Oliver's hero Walt Whitman. Oliver delves deep into sensory descriptions of the Earth around her and how her work has been shaped by the natural world. This is not only a good book on writing, but on life as well.

I hope you like the recs. Now go write.