Writing Tips for Authors

By Billy Dean

Writing Tips for Authors is a detailed, illustrated, how-to guide (30,139 words) with examples to help writers prepare and publish fiction, non-fiction and poetry. The guide will help writers discover the story, essay, memoir or poem they want to write; compose its beginning, middle and end; and edit it for publication. The guide includes a section on how to prepare your manuscript for publication as an e-book, design your cover and illustrations, create an e-book table of contents, and promote and publish it with e-book distributors, such as Amazon, Draft to Digital and Smashwords.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Billy Dean
• Release date: Mar 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215445198

Billy Dean

Billy Dean is a free-lance writer with degrees in English and Engineering. He has written articles for trade journals, been a newspaper columnist, performed poetry at open mic events, and had his essays, memoirs, poems, stories and how-to guides published with on-line magazines and e-book distributors.

Book preview

WRITING TIPS FOR AUTHORS

by Billy Dean

Copyright 2023

Smashwords Edition

Please don’t sell this e-book or give it to others. If you want to share it with others, refer them to My Author’s Page or purchase a copy for their use only. If you’re reading this e-book but you know it wasn’t purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the time and energy I invested in writing this how-to guide.

Dedication

Without the help and encouragement of my wife, Sharon, this e-book would never have gotten past the cover and introduction. She is a walking dictionary of word choices. She is a highly skilled editor too but any errors in spelling or grammar are her fault… just kidding!

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Contents

Introduction

Fiction

Show or Tell?

Non-Fiction

Poetry

E-Books

INTRODUCTION

Your writing isn’t public until you publish.

Writers write and authors publish. Yes, they are usually the same person because most writers want a wider audience for their writing than just their family and friends. But the competition is stiff. So the tips in this guide are aimed at helping you get your fiction, non-fiction and poetry polished and published.

If you are primarily focused on self-publishing, you’ll find the section on E-Books extremely helpful. It’s a detailed, illustrated, step-by-step guide to publishing your e-book on Amazon’s KDP platform. Keep in mind, however, that…

Preparation is about quality—doing things to give your readers your best writing in the best format. People won't buy your book if it's poorly written.

Promotion is about quantity—doing things to compete with e-books like yours. People can't buy your book if they can't find it.

So work your way through my tips on fiction, non-fiction or poetry before you jump to my E-Book Guide. You might also think about why you write, because knowing that will produce your best writing. Here’s a short list to get you started.

To Understand Yourself and the World

To Connect Yesterday and Tomorrow

To Entertain, Inform and Inspire

To Save Yourself for Posterity

To Express Your Creativity

To Do Things with Words

To Enjoy the Process

To Earn a Living

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FICTION

Storytelling

Storytelling is the art of compelling readers to admire and respect the characters, cheer for their success and identify with their problems. But every effort to escape the jaws of the enemy puts them in greater peril. We become more and more anxious for their safety and frustrated they are repeatedly unable to outwit and overcome an increasingly vicious and powerful enemy. Just when the conflict takes its darkest turn, our hero snatches victory from the jaws of defeat. In a story well told, we share in their success as if it were our own because it's psychologically valid and emotionally realistic and therefore more true than if it really happened.

Some people think stories aren't true because fiction is inferior to fact. Yeah, stories are made up, so fiction can be just an entertaining way to escape reality. We live in a world with problems that are often beyond our ability to solve. So it can be reassuring to read a story with problems we know will be solved by the hero in the end. But people who write books, compose poems, make movies and sing songs seed their imagination with what they see and hear in the real world. So fiction can also be a powerful way to change reality.

Storytellers use fiction to tell the truth, and that empowers you and me to find something true about ourselves. We live in a world that makes us too busy to look back and see our own lives as stories, too busy to connect the dots of cause and effect and paint our own story with a plot and a point. Stories give us that look back. We become the young hero, the wise old woman, the transformed fool, the boy who becomes a man. The story becomes more true than if it had really happened, and that makes fiction psychologically valid, emotionally realistic and loaded with clues for shaping and navigating the sticky web of real life. Fact and fiction dance in every story…

Form & Genre

Literary

Mainstream

Flash & Short

Novels

Story Arc

Front Matter

Terms

Titles

Beginnings

Middle

Endings

Settings

Cause & Effect

Narration

Dialog

Love Scenes

Wow Factors

Editing

Characters

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Form and Genre

If you’re a storyteller, you should know the expectations that readers have for the story you want to write. Yes, you read that correctly. Writer-centered stories will not be as well received as reader-centered stories, so keep your target audience in mind as you craft your story and how its form and genre will impact your title, your beginning, your middle and your end.

Genre refers to the content of your writing, the type of story and the emotional or intellectual effect you want your readers to experience – adventure, autobiography, biography, fantasy, mystery, romance, science fiction, thriller.

Form refers to the shape of your writing, not the writing itself. It’s length and style – flash, short, novelette, novella or novel. Short stories are typically less than 7,000 words, novelettes below 20,000 words and novellas between 20,000 and 50,000 words. Short novels are between 50,000 and 80,000 words, and standard novels are 80,000 words and up. Stories below 80,000 words are seldom published by a commercial press. If you're not a well-known author, submit your novella to a small or independent press.

Literary

Literary fiction is a tool for telling a story driven by character. It focuses more on the writing and internal motivations. That makes it more difficult to read and therefore less appealing to the average reader, so it sells less copies. What the main character does to deal with a life-changing problem reveals something about human nature. The plot complications and character’s fate are not always resolved.

Mainstream

Mainstream, sometimes referred to as commercial fiction, is a tool for telling a story driven by plot. It focuses more on what's happening to the character and less on the writing or what the character thinks and feels about what's happening. That makes it easier to read and therefore more appealing to the average reader, so it sells more copies. The plot complications and character's fate are typically resolved, because in the real world, some problems are never solved. So we enter the world of popular fiction, where we know the problem will be solved at the end of the story.

Flash & Short

Short stories, especially flash fiction, are sharp, hard-hitting, and unforgettable. A story you can read in ten minutes but remember for a lifetime. Or at least a month or two... :) No back story, time shifts or passive voice. Readers see and hear everything through your main character's eyes, ears and thoughts.

Novels

Make every word count so every sentence reveals more about your character and moves the story forward. Focus on the quality of the words you use – their rhythm, subtlety and sensory detail. Focus on the quality of the story – its emotional and intellectual effect on your readers. Keep in mind that brevity (word count) is about quantity, whereas concision (tight and clear) is about quality, a balanced use of showing and telling, sharp images, nouns that don't need adjectives, and active verbs that don't need adverbs.

Story Arc

The sequence of events is the arc of a story from its beginning to its end. Your beginning should start with a compelling character in conflict with a unique, attention getting problem. Something that foreshadows your character's struggle with inner and outer conflict. Something that sets an exciting, relevant stage for your story's middle and end. Something that makes them eager to turn the page to whatever happens next. Something that implies they are about to take an emotional, intellectual journey in which they'll be inspired to see the world and themselves differently than they did before they read your story. Your middle should deepen the conflict by showing how the external problem relates to your charcater’s internal struggles. And your ending should wrap your story up completely so readers are not left with a confused or to-be-continued feeling. Finish in a way that resonates with the beginning so your readers see the deeper significance of the story. Keep in mind that the middle is the bridge between your beginning and your end. Also keep in mind that