My Favorite Writing Tips

As I've mentioned a few times before, I'm starting to write a novel for the first time in years! I technically wrote one back in my junior year of high school, but just the fact that I was in high school should tell you it wasn't very good. I love the story I'm working on now though. It's different and complicated and in one of my favorite genres ever (young adult fantasy). Of course, I'm quickly learning that writing a book is a lot harder than most people assume it is. There is so much that goes into creating a novel, but overall I'm enjoying even the challenging parts.

These are some of the things that are helping me write my story right now. Hopefully these tips inspire you too if you're a writer. :)

Reconciling the Pantser vs. Plotter Debate

Otherwise known as the age old question: to outline, or not to outline? To be honest, I've always been a no-outline person. I love the thrill of sitting down in front of my computer and letting my story take me to new places on its own. The moments when my characters do things that surprise me and I have to figure out how to incorporate completely new information are some of my favorite. But since I also want to make sure my story flows well and isn't all over the place, I've recently been learning the importance of outlining. People usually write this as an either/or debate, but I think a balance of both is the best way to go.

Since I know I love seeing my story take me to new places, I've developed a new strategy where I switch back and forth between plotting and letting the story take me wherever it wants. I started off by roughly outlining the main points of my book (using the three act structure) and committing to sticking to those. But I give myself a lot more freedom during individual scenes to really let my characters flesh themselves out. That allows me to feel more freedom to be creative.

Writing in a Bookstore

After visiting tons of coffee shops around my city, I finally discovered that my favorite place to write isn't a coffee shop at all. It's actually none other than Barnes & Noble. I love it there because it has a coffee shop to stock up on drinks and snacks while I write, it's quieter because it's a bookstore, and well, I'm working in the middle of the place I aspire my book to get to! Nothing keeps you motivated like seeing hundreds of titles on the shelves whenever you take a bathroom break.

Another convenient thing about writing in a bookstore is that there's a writing reference section. So if you're ever stuck, you can go pick out a book with tips and purchase it all in the span of five minutes. So incredibly convenient. I also like to browse books in the genre I'm writing every now and then. When I was stuck on how to start my first scene, I just walked over to the YA fantasy section and studied how other authors have done it. Obviously I want my story to be different and unique, but it was inspiring to see all the variety in opening scenes. It gave me a little more confidence that my chosen opening was going to work. I definitely recommend writing in a bookstore, and Barnes & Noble is a great one because it's so big, plus you get a discount on drinks if you're a member ;)

Using Visuals

This one is more useful for fantasy stories, but I'm sure even for real-world settings it can be helpful. After reading through this article, I decided to draw a map for the area that most of my story would take place in. And it was so incredibly helpful! I realized that a lot of times when I referred to places in my story, my descriptions were vague because I wasn't sure how I wanted everything to look yet. But once I had drawn a map out, everything began to sound a lot more detailed and realistic.

I think this strategy is a really good one if you're a visual person, and it definitely goes beyond drawing maps. If art isn't really your thing, why not browse through Pinterest or flickr to get ideas about places, or people's appearances to work into your story? A lot of time when we write, we can get so focused on the action that we forget to make the physical world sound as real as possible. Having a visual idea in your head with lots of details can really help with that.

These are some of the writing tips that have really been helping me right now, and I'm sure I'll acquire more as I continue to pursue this crazy novel-writing goal. Do you have any good writing tips to share? Leave them in the comments below!

#writing #2015