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.
- 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
- 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
- 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
- To pick up a dragging plot, try changing a scene setting to a more interesting location. 6 Common Plot Fixes. There Are No Rules
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Use flashbacks only when the reader absolutely must know the information you’ll present in it. What Makes a Flashback Sizzle? Advanced Fiction Writing
- 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
- 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
- Something should happen immediately in your story that tells us what the story is about. First Chapters. Alexandra Sokoloff
- To learn more about how story structure works, deconstruct a film. The Most Powerful Two Hours You’ll Ever Spend as a Storyteller. Storyfix
- 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
- Good dialogue only rarely says precisely what characters are thinking. Seven Keys to Writing Good Dialogue. Nathan Bransford
- To develop your writing voice, write a million words. Developing Style and Voice in Fiction Writing. Advanced Fiction Writing
- 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
- Your characters’ names matter. Avoid names that have similar beginnings or endings. Problems with Names and How to Avoid Them. Caro Clarke
- Proofreading is extremely important. Typos can have disaster potential. The Impotence of Proofreading. Rachelle Gardner
- 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
- 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
- Go on a writer’s retreat to get inspired and unblocked. Five Strategies for Inspiring Creativity. Writer Unboxed
- Use a random plot generator for new story ideas. Plot Scenario Generator. Archetype Writing
- 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: