Advice for Authors and Writers

Write Like You Have Never Written Before…

One of the most important aspects of writing is in the background research. No matter how well you know a subject there is always room for more knowledge. There are always going to be opinionated differences on the subject you are writing about, so acknowledge the opinion of others as well. After research has been done, it is essential for the writer to make a structure of what he or she wants to write. This helps you write with linear thought and allows you to experiment writing whenever you want. When you sit down to write, write what you know as this will give you confidence and your writing will become interesting (hopefully anyway).

Select your subject carefully

Choosing the right subject to write about is very important. We also have to know where to limit ourselves when we are writing about something we are passionate about. We cannot become carried away when writing for a topic that captures our interest. At the same time, do not tread into territories that you are unsure of, because this will be reflected in your writing even if you want to hide it in a mesh of a glorious profusion of words.

Analyse your writing

Be very critical of what you write. The more critical you are, the better you will be. If you are your worst critique, you will end up writing your best.

Original is always good

Being original is also very important. You might have a preference of your favourite writer, but you should not let that get reflect in your writing. One of the easiest ways of being original is cropping up new ideas and not writing about something that your favorite writer has already written about. Let your ideas speak volumes and provide evidence for your point of view; don’t allow yourself to fall in love with specific words, as this will lead to you over using them. Read what you’ve written, leaving out parts you question. If the piece still makes sense, leave out the excess.

Be funny and readers will like it

Use a bit of humor in your writing, but be careful of not making it a comic strip (unless you are writing one). Let your humor be kind and tasteful, as a light tone from time to time lowers a reader’s guard and opens them upto your ideas. Choose a title which can attract the attention of your readers. Depending on your topic, you may want to steer clear of a “cute” or “witty” title in favor of one that makes a clear promise of what is inside. Like the beginning, you must “end with a bang” because a strong ending leaves a reader with a lasting impression. A weak ending often ruins the hard labour that you have put behind the entire writing, so make sure your ending has i-m-p-a-c-t.

Don’t forget about those errors

Be very careful of grammatical errors, typos, punctuation and spelling mistakes and edit your writing to its best. Allowing no stone to be unturned when you make the final edit. Remember that “no one notices when a job is done well, but they see your mistakes clearly.” Keep this in mind and adhere to it and you will “write like you have never written before.”

Generating Interesting Articles and Titles – Part Two

Delving into parts we should not have to reach….colon cleansing made “interesting”

My previous post provided some generic formulae widely used for generating articles and titles that readers are attracted to. As a professional writer, you are not always in a position to pick and choose your assignments and you may be faced with producing content on the most unsavoury of topics. In this instance, I recently had to deal with an assignment on colon cleansing, and though the memory still haunts me, the writing show must nevertheless go on.

Previously, I dealt with “How to..” Lists and quoted a “Study” as a way of generating titles and articles. I will finish this off here, with three more general formula techniques.

Mistakes That Ruin Your Writing Credibility

picture of an erazer

The following are the most common mistakes that people make when writing for fiction, a manuscript or looking to promote a book title.

Poor grammar, spelling, typos and usage

One of the basic aspects of writing is being grammatically correct, without making silly spelling mistakes. The single most common error that people make is the usage of the passive voice. In passive voice, nothing is ever anyone’s fault, because people do not do things. Things happen to people. “Bobby ate the pizza” is active. “The pizza was eaten” is passive. Note that the action of food and the food is more important than the character in the passive voice. When writers are unsure of themselves they often drop into the passive voice. Along with this, people often make mistakes in the usage of tenses. Immature writers will begin stories in whatever tense they want, and not maintain logic in their use of tenses.

Generating Interesting Articles and Titles – Part One

Colon Cleansing is not a pleasant subject but……..

As a writer for hire, you may have some choice over your subject matter, but realistically you’ll take any work that pays what you are looking for. It’s a stark choice between paying the bills or not and like someone said, “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor and of the two, being rich is better!”

So you have an assignment to deliver articles on a mundane or less than interesting subject and now you have to come up with content that will attract readers and promote your client’s objectives for creating the project. This is where you can start employing some generic approaches for developing articles that can be adapted for pretty much any subject. Looking through these examples, you will probably start recognising the general formulae for many of the articles and content that you come across on the web.

Here’s our subject then – colon cleansing – this is a real project I worked on recently and frankly, it’s a pretty disgusting and distasteful topic, which I knew almost absolutely nothing about when I was given the assignment. Now, how do we go about generating article ideas for flushing out your insides?

What Not To Do When Writing For Children

Yesterday I was going through a book written for children. Interesting, but not captivating enough. Writers make the mistake of underestimating the quality of work when it comes to writing for children. That doesn’t make sense, as right from the beginning children should be accustomed to reading quality writing. Hence, I would like to enumerate 7 points on what not to do when it comes to writing for children. If you’re interested in writing for teenagers then see my previous post on writing for teens.

Never underestimate children’s capacity and use of kiddish language

Remember that you are writing for children who are often more shrewd and clever than what you were as a kid. After all, the internet, television and computers have widened the range of information and knowledge that is available to them. Nowadays, even children expect quality and substance when they read.

When Writing For Teens, Write Intelligently

First, let’s be clear about something. Teens are those budding youngsters above the age of 12 and below the age of 20. As you can see, this is indeed a wide range, and books written for someone who is twelve will certainly differ from books written for those at eighteen. Though different maturity levels require books on a different subject matter, all you need to know is that books for teens should be well written and about intriguing topics. There are a few tips you can keep in mind while writing books for teens.

Think from a teenager’s point of view

When writing, always keep in mind that you are writing for a teenager; try to think back when you were that age and think about what appeals to them. Get to know teens and ask them what they like to read. Don’t just listen to what they have to say; apply it in your writing. They are generally looking for thought provoking books written on subjects that fascinate them. Have a look on Goodreads to see what titles (and topics) are currently popular before starting to write.