Basic Writing Tips for the Novice Fiction Author

Want to write your first fictional children’s book or adult novel? Penning your own story can be very rewarding but also a daunting experience if you do not know where to begin. If you have an idea for a story but need to learn how to develop it, the following ten tips will guide you. Begin by mapping out your story’s plot beginning, middle, and endpoints in an outline or visual.

Establish a strong introduction—Establish conflict and the main characters at the onset to capture the reader’s attention. The main character must be faced with a problem that will be resolved by the end of the story.

Make your characters credible and interesting—Pull real-life ideas to make your protagonists realistic. Give them unique personalities and quirks that show they are complex and multi-faceted. They should also have the ability to learn and grow.

One point of view—Whether using first, second, or third person to narrate the story, stick with the same POV throughout the story. If you have the main character narrating the story and suddenly change to a third person, this may confuse your readers.

—Details are good, but only when sprinkled throughout the story. Introducing too many characters, descriptions, and other particulars at a time overloads the reader and can cause them to get lost.

Show don’t tell—When the character experiences an emotion such as fear, joy, or sadness, you want the reader to feel what they are feeling, so have your character experience that emotion in a scene rather than telling the reader outright.

Use fewer words with more impact-- Don't be wordy and redundant. If you have two words you can say with one, that will make your writing more succinct. (blizzard vs heavy snowstorm) Use an active voice (the dog chased the cat vs the cat was chased by the dog) and strong verbs (I sped vs I ran quickly). For children's books, make the language simpler. ('For a long time, the sea was a wonderful place to live' vs. 'For many ages, the sea was a paradise for its inhabitants.') Note: You can pare your wording down during the editing process. See my blog, Understand the Editorial Process and Your Content Editing Needs Before Choosing a Service, for more information on editing.

Keep the reader engaged—Give the reader the impetus to keep reading by using foreshadowing, cliffhangers, and delayed emotions to intrigue the reader and create suspense.

Follow genre guidelines for length—For example, the average length of a children’s picture book is 32 pages, but an adult romance novel can be about 100,000 words. Do your research.

Balance the story structure—There are three important components to the writing: reflective narrative, action, and dialogue. It's important to know the characters' thoughts and feelings while equalizing this with incidents and conversation. A healthy dose of each will bring the story to life, maximize readability, and maintain interest.

Resolution and wrap-up—Have a conclusion that ties up loose ends. The resolution signals the point in the story where the problem is solved, or the character faces certain circumstances. Except in children's books, it doesn’t have to be a happy ending, but all components of the plot should come together in a finale that the reader can easily comprehend.

Using these ten guidelines, you will have the framework to transform your creative ideas into a compelling narrative that captures and holds the reader's interest from beginning to end.

Understand the Editorial Process and Your Content Editing Needs Before Choosing a Service

Need an Editor? First, you need to determine the kind of editing that you require. Still trying to figure it out? Were you aware there are different kinds of editing? There are six types of editing, although some of them can overlap. Will you need all or only a few of these to perfect your writing? It depends on your experience level and where you are in your writing. If you are reading this blog, you are probably new to writing. You could learn that these types of editing are an intertwined process that starts with the rough draft and, after undergoing many changes, hopefully, ends up as a flawless, published piece of prose to be enjoyed by many readers. The more experienced you become as a writer, the more focused and aware you will be about the particular edits that need to be done. More seasoned writers can make their own content revisions while still in the writing process of their draft.

However, no matter how established you become as a writer, you will always need a professional editor to look at your writing to make improvements. An objective second set of eyes can see a whole different perspective and will help you see beyond your vision to communicate a better version of that vision.

First, you must look at what stage you are in your writing. If you are in the beginning or middle of a manuscript and find that you cannot continue writing because you feel blocked or stuck, you will need the help of a developmental editor. Your passion for your topic or idea from the onset has now started to fizzle because you can’t find the right wording or research to communicate your story or support your argument. That is when you need the help of an editor to develop your story, hence developmental editing.

Developmental editing involves looking at the entire structure of a body of writing to ensure that major parts such as the plot, character arcs, setting, pace, tone, point of view, and language come together in a cohesive fashion that will resonate with the reader. Some major parts may have to undergo rewrites or revisions to ensure the writing is engaging and makes sense.

What if you have an outline or framework fleshed out for your beginning, middle, and end yet cannot come up with details to organize your ideas or develop your plot? Substantive editing will help with this by improving the content's structure or organization. It delves into the wording, paragraphs, and chapter breakdown to better develop characters, plot pacing, more imaginative descriptions of the environment, and compelling conflict that will hold the reader’s interest. For non-fiction, substantive editing focuses on ensuring the wording is strong and succinct enough to support the author’s argument and fact-checking to avoid false claims.

While Developmental and Substantive Editing consider the overall quality, meaning, and organization of writing, the next phase in the editing process is concentrating on text mechanics. Copyediting involves reviewing the text after the manuscript is complete, such as sentence structure, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and spelling, to check for and correct as needed. If improving word choice is a factor in conveying meaning and enriching tone, the editor may recommend delving deeper into the copyediting process by examining each sentence. Line editing involves going line by line to revise or rewrite a sentence with verbiage that more adequately supports the topic or theme. Again, this may or may not be necessary, depending on your level of experience in writing or editing. Still, any author, at the minimum, needs a copyediting service to remove errors from the text that are easily missed due to the author’s creative concentration elsewhere. Another aspect of copyediting that may be included is mechanical editing. The editor will focus on capitalization, punctuation, and abbreviations to comply with a particular style, such as the Chicago Manual of Style or the Associated Press Style.

Proofreading is the final editing process in which errors in grammar, spelling, or other textual mechanics not caught previously are spotted by a proofreader and corrected before the final draft is published. It is especially helpful if the proofreader is someone other than the editor who brings a fresh set of eyes to the manuscript to catch any errors the editor may have overlooked.

Publishing a quality piece of writing, whether print or digital content, a book manuscript or article, web page content, or a blog, requires adequate forethought and preparation. As an author, you spend much time and effort conveying a message that will inform, persuade, or delight your readers. With the editorial process to improve the readability of your work, the value of that message will be better understood and received. When you know the editorial process, where you are in that process, and how it can impact the enhancement of your writing, you are ready to take the next step to find an editor who can provide you with the kind of content editing that will match your needs.

Check out our editorial services page HERE, or for more information or a quote contact us HERE or email us at: theprolificword@gmail.com

The Benefits of Outsourcing for a Content Writer

Content Marketing is the key to generating an online presence for your business. Your website, blog, and social media channels encompass the digital heart for reaching an online audience. Once you have a strategy for the best way to communicate with your followers, the next step is to create quality content. Quality content must be timely, relevant, and consistently serve your audience's needs. However, creating content can be difficult because it requires much time and energy. As a business owner, you will likely have to concentrate on managing your company's operations and, hence, will have little time to devote to regularly generating new topics and writing about them. As a small business owner, manager, or entrepreneur, you can benefit by outsourcing for a Content Writer. When you outsource for a Content Writer, there are multiple benefits that you can enjoy, and this will allow you to concentrate on the operations of your business. At the same time, you leave the content creation to the experts. Here are five ways your company can benefit from outsourcing your content creation.

Saving resources—You can save time and money by outsourcing for a Content Writer. Writing consistent quality content takes time and thought. You will need to spend time running your business while you leave the responsibility to the expert writer for regularly generating the right wording. It is also less expensive to contract out for a content writer than it is to hire in-house staff to write. You don’t have the overhead expenditure of payroll and insurance benefits with an outsourced writer because they are paid as contractors and only require a 1099 Form. Additionally, you may be able to deduct the cost of writing services from your taxes.

Expanding Your business—By entrusting the outsourced writer with your marketing strategy and content creation, that professional is helping you plan so that you can concentrate on other areas of your business. While the Content Writer creates and schedules blogs and posts, you can focus on other areas such as acquisitions, new product research, and customer service.

Consistency—A contracted Content Writer is not just there to write but to strategize by keeping to a schedule of disseminating information that engages your followers and keeps your business top of mind.

Expertise—In addition to freeing up resources and time, a Content Writer provides the knowledge, skills, and outside perspective where they may be lacking with a business owner or manager whose strengths and know-how lie within the company's internal mechanisms. For instance, a Content Writer is accustomed to researching and testing different content and modalities to improve ROI or reach a broader, more diverse audience for their client’s company.

Improve Branding—Your outsourced Content Writer is the talented voice of your brand who knows how to tell and sell your story but without hard-core selling. They understand the importance of relationships by enabling you to spread value and portray you as a thought leader in your field.

Creating and managing content is crucial to the success of your business’s digital presence, whether you operate as a solopreneur, as a marketing manager for a mid-sized company, or function as part of a large corporation. However, the time, talent, and resources needed to generate consistent quality content are often scant or nonexistent. When you decide to outsource for a Content Writer, you are already planning for the future success of your company by enabling a writing professional to be your branded voice. While you are busy taking the reins of your company, the Content Writer is compiling the right verbiage to gain a new audience and engage an existing one that can increase your business's clientele.