Top Five Tips for Revising Your Work

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When it comes time to revise your work, where do you begin? It's important to remember that almost nothing comes out perfectly the first time. It takes a lot of trial and error to find the words that work best to tell your story.

Here are some places to start with your revision:

1. Vary your sentence structure. Text is more interesting and more dynamic when it is unpredictable. It becomes quite boring to read a series of sentences that are very similar. Consider:

I walked into the store. The clerk smiled at me. He reached for his notepad. I said hello to him. He said hello back.

vs.

As I walked into the store, the clerk smiled at me. He reached for his notepad. When I said hello to him, he said hello back.

2. Circle your verbs. Make sure you have chosen the best action words in every sentence. Did your character speak, or did he declare? Did she climb the stairs, or dash up them? Did he lean against the wall or did he slouch? Small changes make a big difference in the way your scene reads. Vivid verbs help create a more vivid mental picture for your reader. Consider:

picked up vs. grabbed vs. snatched vs. plucked

ate vs. munched vs. chewed vs. gnawed

smiled vs. grinned vs. smirked



3. Watch your adjectives and adverbs. Do this, too, while you are focused on verbs. If your character "walked slowly," maybe he "plodded" instead. It is usually better to use a strong verb (dashed) than a weak verb plus an adverb (ran quickly). Consider:

whispered vs. said softly

sprinted vs. ran hurriedly

smacked vs. hit hard



4. Read out loud. Find a quiet room and read the piece aloud to yourself. If you're comfortable, read it out loud to someone. You will be surprised how different it seems from reading in your head. You will notice parts that are slow, or sentences that don't make sense. You can also catch moments when your word choices seem awkward, or untrue to your narrator's voice.


5. Try everything. Trial and error in revision is a very important process. If a possible change occurs to you, try it. Don't delete your old version, in case you change your mind, but do give the new sentence, paragraph or scene a chance. Who knows--even if it seems strange at first, you may end up loving it! If you don't, you can always go back to how it was before, and you'll feel more confident than ever in your creative choices.

Top Five Tips for Writing Dialogue

"Dialogue is tricky business," the author said.


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"Why?" asked her blog reader. "What makes it so difficult?"

"So many things." The author scratched her head, wondering where to begin. "Here, let me give you some pointers on writing dialogue."

1. Listen to real people talking. Dialogue on the page is a lot different from dialogue you hear in real life, but listening closely will still help you. Notice the cadence (rhythm) of different people's speech. Notice how some people repeat the same words and phrases a lot. What does their word choice tell you about them?

2. Eliminate unneccessary pleasantries. When you run into your friends in real life, you probably say hi every time. You might not need to have your characters do the same. Your scenes will quickly become boring if every conversation begins the same way:

        "Hi."
        "Hi."


3. Don't overuse character names. "Why not, Kekla? Isn't it a good way to remind the reader who is speaking and who is being spoken to, Kekla?" Well, sure, it can be. But if your characters are constantly using each other's names in dialogue, it won't sound very real.


4. Use beats to break up long passages of dialogue. Beats include tags, like "he said" or "she asked," but they also include actions, thoughts and descriptions that writers insert to break up the dialogue. Tags and beats give the reader more information about the characters.

"Let's go."
"Okay. Where?"
"Same place as usual."
"Aweseome."

vs.

"Let's go," Shawn said. He grabbed his backpack.
Eric picked up his satchel. He was ready for an adventure. "Okay. Where?"
 "Same place as usual." Shawn slid his arm into one strap, and turned toward his friend.
Eric grinned. "Awesome."

Often, if you are using beats well, you don't even need a tag. (Notice, I only use "said" once in the example above.) The reader can usually follow your characters' back-and-forth for a few lines.


5. Stick with straightforward tags. Beginning writers often try to make their characters seem more interesting by jazzing up the bland "he said" tag to something like "he grumbled," or "he muttered," or "he cried." If you do it occasionally, this is okay. But make sure you really, really need it, and don't overdo it! Also, be careful not to use words that don't really mean speech, like "he laughed." It's okay for a character to laugh, choke, or gasp while speaking, but you would punctuate it differently:

"I can't believe you did that," he laughed. (NOT GOOD)
                            vs.
"I can't believe you did that." He laughed. (BETTER)
                            vs.
"I can't believe you did that," he said, laughing. (ALSO OKAY)

                            OR

"What?" he gasped. (NOT GOOD)
                            vs.
He gasped. "What?" (BETTER)

(Think about it: you can't actually speak while gasping. Really you can only do them one right after the other.)

Top-Five W's (plus an H)

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Surely you've heard of the five W's: who, what, when, where, and why. Reporters make sure to include answers to all of these questions in a news article, so that readers will understand every aspect of what happened. Writers, too, need to be sure they have a handle on the basics in each story.

Ask yourself:

1. WHO? Who is the story happening to? What is your main character's name? If you are writing in first person, have you found a way to let the reader know who "I" really is? What do you know about this person? What does she like? What is he good at? Who are is friends? What does she want more than anything?

2. WHAT? What is going happen to this person? Will it change her life? Will it put his life at risk? What will he or she do next? The nuts and bolts of any story start to develop when you ask yourself what else could go wrong? What would your character do about it?

3. WHEN? Does your story take place in the past, present, or future? What specific year? Who is the president? What are the styles? Be sure to consider small questions, too, like what day of the week it is. What time of day? It will matter for what your characters are doing, what the light is like, if they're out past curfew, or up earlier than usual. Time details matter a great deal when you are describing the world your characters inhabit.

4. WHERE? Does your story take place in a small town? A large city? Outerspace? On an oceanliner? In each scene, are the characters indoors or outdoors? In a place that's familiar or unusual? Try to see the world through your characters' eyes--what do they see and smell and touch?

5. WHY. This is especially important. What is motivating your characters? What makes your hero want to save the world, or rescue the princess, or run into the burning house to retrieve an object? What are his or her defining traits, that make him or her act they way s/he does? What is holding her back? What makes him rush forward, even when he's afraid?

Oh, and about that H. HOW do you use these W's in your writing, you ask? Well, that part's up to you!

Top Five Points in Any Story Plot

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Even though every good story seems quite different from every other good story, there are many things that good stories have in common. You just have to look a little deeper.

Even the most intricate plot has a few basic elements to it:

1. Status Quo. How things are, or how things were before the story started. At the beginning of a story, the reader learns at least little bit about what is normal for your character. (For example, at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, we learn that Harry lives under the stairs, in the Dursleys' house, and that he isn't very happy with his life there.)

2. Inciting Incident. Very early in the story, something will happen that changes your character. Perhaps something beyond his control will happen to him, throwing him out of balance and forcing him to react. Or perhaps he'll make a decision to change his status quo by doing something he's never tried before. (The inciting incident for Harry occurs when Hagrid knocks on the door and announces "You're a wizard, Harry." Harry's life is changed forever by that knowledge.)

3. Actions and Obstacles. The rest of your story will unfold as your character reacts to the inciting incident. He will suddenly have a big problem to solve and he will set out to solve it. (Harry has several goals-to survive the year at Hogwarts, to protect the Sorcerer's Stone, and ultimately to defeat Voldemort.)

But it's not so easy to accomplish these tasks. There are many obstacles that get in the way. (Harry must make some friends to help him, sneak around the castle and avoid getting caught by the teachers, learn magic, defeat a troll, figure out where the Stone is hidden, and much more!)

As your character overcomes these smaller challenges, it prepares him for the bigger challenge that is coming.

4. Climax. After all these trials, your character must face the moment of greatest tension, when he has to overcome the biggest obstacle he's ever faced. (For Harry, it is the final showdown over the Sorcerer's Stone, when Voldemort reveals himself.)

5. Resolution. After your character overcomes the problem at the book's climax, you are nearing the end of your story. The resolution occurs as the character celebrates his victory, mourns what he has lost (if anything) and begins to move forward with his life. (Harry gets on the Hogwarts Express, headed home, happy to have survived the year, and glad to be a part of the wizarding world.)

Top Five Must-Have Books for any Writer

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1. Dictionary. Words, words, words! Never doubt the power of words--and words are most powerful when used correctly. Every writer should have a dictionary on hand, even if you're an excellent speller, because there are always new words to learn. And no matter how smart you are, no matter how long you've been writing, every once in a while you will find yourself asking: "Does this word really mean what I think it means?"

2. Thesaurus. A thesaurus allows you to look up words by their meaning, rather than their spelling.  This book is tremendously helpful when you know the meaning of what you want to say, but aren't sure you've found the perfect word. Words are grouped by synonym, so you can easily find less common words to work with.

If you like poetry, I would also recommend picking up a Rhyming Dictionary. It's kind of like a thesaurus, but instead of grouping words by definition, it groups them by sound. Especially helpful when you're looking for a rhyme for "orange."

3. Encyclopedia. The encyclopedia is a fabulous resource for a writer, because the encyclopedia's goal is to provide a little bit of information about as many things as possible. The content is ordered alphabetically by subject, and you can look up everything from biographies of notable world figures, to the history of a particular animal species, or a description of how a technological invention actually works, and much more. There are almost always photos that go along with these short articles, too.

4. Almanac. All kinds of interesting facts and tidbits are contained in this book. Flip through an almanac sometime, and you'll see what I mean. You never know when you will get a story answer. Almanacs are especially useful if you write about historical time periods--you can easily look up the birth and death dates of historical figures, and what they were known for, in addition to plenty of pop culture trivia, like which movies were popular in a given year, or what were the most popular baby names, or what was the market price of different products, or when major brand name companies came into existence. And so much more!

5. Craft Books. Okay, this is not just one book, but a type of book. There are hundreds of books that have been written about how to write well. (Some of them are better written than others.) Here are a few I recommend:

• What's Your Story? A Young Person's Guide to Writing Fiction by Marion Dane Bauer
• The I Love to Write Book by Mary-Lane Kamberg
• The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers by John Gardner
• Spilling Ink: A Young Writer's Handbook by Ellen Potter, Anne Mazer and Matt Phelan

***By the way...in this day and age, you can find a lot of these resources online, too. It's nice to have a physical book ou can flip through, because you never know what you will find, but definitely also check out online dictionaries, thesauri, and encyclopedias. (Wikipedia does not count, friends! You also need to look for sites that contain published, edited content.)

Top Five Points of View

One important consideration when you begin writing is: whose point-of-view are you going to use to tell the story? Most fiction is written in either first person or third person point-of-view.

Here are five options to consider:

1. First Person Point-of-View. In first person, your narrator tells his or her own story using "I, me and we," as the main pronouns. First person is a limited viewpoint because you can only reveal what the narrator knows, sees and does. Here are a few sentences written in first person: "My name is Kekla. I like to write stories. One of my other favorite things to do is eat ice cream."


2. Second-Person Point-of View. In second-person, your narrator speaks directly to the reader, using "you." Second-person is not commonly used in fiction, because it makes the reader feel like they are the main character.

Here are a few sentences written in second person: "You walk down the street eating an ice cream cone. The sun feels hot on your back. You lick the ice cream quickly, beause you are worried that it might melt all over your hand." (Cut by Patricia McCormick is an example of a novel that uses second person. So do the Choose Your Own Adventure books, where "you" are the main character.)


3. Third-Person Point-of-View. In third-person, your narrator speaks about the characters using "He, she, him, her and they." A third-person narrator can be limited to only one character's perspective, and able to relate that person's thoughts and feelings to the reader. Or, the narrator can be more objective and able to report the facts of the story without getting involved.

Here are a few sentences written in third-person. "Kekla loves to eat ice cream. On sunny days, she often buys a double scoop vanilla cone and eats it while walking outdoors."


4. Omniscient Narrator. An omniscient narrator knows all and can dip into the thoughts of all the characters in the story. This is a tricky viewpoint to work with! (Charlotte's Web by E.B. White uses an omniscient narrator to relay the feelings and experiences of numerous characters.)


5. Multiple Viewpoints. Whether you write in first, second or third person, there is always an option to write your story from multiple viewpoints. Using multiple viewpoints differs from using an omniscient narrator. In multiple viewpoints, you speak from only one character's viewpoint at a time, and there are clear distinctions between the sections that are in Character A's point-of-view and those that are in Character B's point-of-view.

Keesha's House by Helen Frost is an example of a multiple viewpoint novel-in-verse. Blink and Caution by Tim Wynne Jones is another example--in which one part of the book is written in third person and one part is written in second person.


Give these a try, then let me know:

What point-of-view do you like to use when you write? Can you think of examples of books that use these points-of-view?