Join us on social media

Write It Sideways

  • Home
  • About
    • About Write It Sideways
    • Resources I Recommend
    • Write for us
  • My Portfolio
  • Blog
  • New? Start Here
  • Contact

101 of the Best Fiction-Writing Tips, Part II

August 26, 2011 Suzannah Windsor Freeman Filed Under: Best Articles, Fiction

101 of the Best Fiction-Writing Tips, Part II
Image courtesy dalobeee on Flickr

What if someone went through the biggest and best blogs on the internet and pulled out the very best tips for fiction writers?

That’s just what I’ve done. If you haven’t already, check out the first 25 best fiction-writing tips here.

Next up, another 25 tips for your reading and writing pleasure! To learn more about the tips, click through to their original articles.

101 of the Best Fiction-Writing Tips, Part II

Read Part I.

  1. Want the benefits of an MFA without the cost and commitment? Create your own program. How to Get an MFA in Five Steps. Glass Cases
  2. To plow through your first draft quickly, set a timer each time you sit down to write. Seven Easy Steps to Much Faster Writing. Write to Done
  3. If you have trouble with distractions while you write, wear earplugs. 6 Things You Can Stick In Your Ears to Improve Your Writing. Write for Your Life
  4. To pick up a dragging plot, try changing a scene setting to a more interesting location. 6 Common Plot Fixes. There Are No Rules
  5. Don’t ignore your subconscious. Sometimes it provides to solutions to problems in your manuscript. The Doctor’s Rules for Wrting. Word Love with Randy Susan Meyers
  6. For your novel to be ‘high concept,’ the premise has to get readers’ attention before they read a word of the book. What is High Concept? Rachelle Gardner
  7. There’s no such thing as a bad book, only a good book you haven’t fixed yet. A Bad Book? No, It’s a Good Book You Haven’t Fixed Yet. Nail Your Novel
  8. For parts of your story that don’t quite work, save them in another folder for future reference. What to Do With Extra Words. Mystery Writing is Murder
  9. Instead of describing every character in detail, give each a characteristic unique to him or her. Describing Appearances: Moving Beyond Eye and Hair Colour. Author Jody Hedlund
  10. Use flashbacks only when the reader absolutely must know the information you’ll present in it. What Makes a Flashback Sizzle? Advanced Fiction Writing
  11. Your main characters should develop dramatically in their identities, relationships, thoughts and feelings. Wake Up Your Readers! How to Thicken a Plot. The Book Deal
  12. As per Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, characters can’t pursue high level goals until their low level goals are met. How Writers Can Use Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Plot to Punctuation
  13. Something should happen immediately in your story that tells us what the story is about. First Chapters. Alexandra Sokoloff
  14. To learn more about how story structure works, deconstruct a film. The Most Powerful Two Hours You’ll Ever Spend as a Storyteller. Storyfix
  15. It won’t matter if your novel is fabulous if your query letter isn’t up to scratch. The Ultimate Guide to Novel Queries. There Are No Rules
  16. Good dialogue only rarely says precisely what characters are thinking. Seven Keys to Writing Good Dialogue. Nathan Bransford
  17. To develop your writing voice, write a million words. Developing Style and Voice in Fiction Writing. Advanced Fiction Writing
  18. Things tend to happen in threes. You can use the rule of three to build tension in your novel. One, Two, Three, Notice Me: The Rule of Three. The Other Side of the Story
  19. Your characters’ names matter. Avoid names that have similar beginnings or endings. Problems with Names and How to Avoid Them. Caro Clarke
  20. Proofreading is extremely important. Typos can have disaster potential. The Impotence of Proofreading. Rachelle Gardner
  21. Over-describing clothing is one painful mark of amateur writing. Forty-Five More Flaws that Expose Your Lack of Storytelling Experience, Part I. Plot to Punctuation
  22. If you’re not in the mood to write a particular scene, work on a part of your story you are in the mood to write. Not in The Mood to Write? Write According to Your Mood. Mystery Writing is Murder
  23. Go on a writer’s retreat to get inspired and unblocked. Five Strategies for Inspiring Creativity. Writer Unboxed
  24. Use a random plot generator for new story ideas. Plot Scenario Generator. Archetype Writing
  25. Mind mapping can help you generate and focus ideas for writing a scene. Mindmapping Can Help with Writing Scenes. The Creative Penn
Have you enjoyed these tips? Don’t forget to read these:
  • 101 of the Best Fiction-Writing Tips, Part I 
  • 101 of the Best Fiction-Writing Tips, Part III
  • 101 of the Best Fiction-Writing Tips, Part IV

Filed Under: Best Articles, Fiction

About Suzannah Windsor Freeman

Suzannah Windsor is the founding/managing editor of Writeitsideways.com and Compose: A Journal of Simply Good Writing. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Malahat Review, The Dalhousie Review, Prairie Fire, Geist, The Writer, Sou'wester, Anderbo, Grist, Saw Palm, Best of the Sand Hill Review, and others. Suzannah is working on a novel and a collection of short stories, both of which have received funding from the Ontario Arts Council.

« 101 of the Best Fiction-Writing Tips, Part I
101 of the Best Fiction-Writing Tips, Part III »

Join the discussion

  1. Melissa Amateis Marsh says

    August 27, 2011 at 1:11 am

    Yay! Thank you for this. I loved the first 25 writing tips – I gleaned some EXCELLENT advice from them. Looking forward to perusing this list…

  2. Kris says

    August 27, 2011 at 3:29 am

    Excellent post! Part 1 got me hooked and Part 2 is just as good! Thanks!

  3. florence fois says

    August 29, 2011 at 3:14 am

    You’ve done it again! Each of these tips are right on the target and give us direction to produce the best work possible. I found the tip about creating your own MFA course study rather interesting because I recently made a funny note in my blog stating that I have completed my “virtual” MFA program, writing and rewriting well over one million words in four years (this July). Reading what I began with four years ago and how much I have improved told me that one, I did good and two, there really isn’t a bad book … only a good book I haven’t fixed yet.

    I look forward to the rest of your list 🙂

  4. Claude Nougat says

    August 29, 2011 at 6:03 am

    Great advice, thanks! This is so useful, and shall look into it in detail! One never stops learning…Shall tweet about it!

  5. Suzannah says

    August 29, 2011 at 11:08 am

    I’m so glad these tips are hitting the mark for you all! Thank you for reading, and for your lovely comments!

Trackbacks

  1. Communicate Creativity » Blog Archive » New Beginnings #Blessings365 says:
    November 17, 2011 at 12:23 pm

    […] Part Two […]

Join us on social media

Browse the Website

  • Home
  • New? Start Here
  • Resources I Recommend
  • About Write It Sideways
  • Blog for Writers
  • Submit an Article
  • Contact Me

Browse by Topic

  • Best Articles
  • Editing
  • Fiction
  • Inspiration
  • Interviews
  • Language
  • Non-Fiction
  • Productivity
  • Reviews
  • Site News
  • The Business of Writing
More articles

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS

Save 15% during our Summer Reading Sale!
  • Home
  • Index
  • Privacy Policy
  • Earnings Policy
  • Sponsored >
 Back to top 

Copyright Write It Sideways © 2025