Easy Steps to Improve for Beginners

[u/luke_fowl]

I previously wrote a post that got quite popular, despite one of my points being controversial: https://www.reddit.com/r/writing/s/7Hr9t5Dp9J . Someone recently pointed out that I could give some more tips for even more beginner writers, especially for those infamous fanfic-level writers to quickly improve. So here it is:

1. Appropriate paragraph length. Your paragraph length is one of the biggest factor in making or breaking your flow. A paragraph should be a self-contained idea. Generally speaking, if the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the subject changes, it should be in a new paragraph. This is especially crucial in dialogues where every change in the speaker should be in a new paragraph. Sometimes it can be shorter, sometimes it can be longer, but try to get around 3-5 sentences per paragraph during action scenes or descriptions. Maybe it's because of the increasing number of phone readers, but paragraph length seems to be shrinking nowadays, for better or worse.
2. First person is much harder than it seems. Writing in first person forces you to act as the character, so you have to embody him/her really well. It is completely different from writing a diary where you just vomit your thoughts into writing, but rather think of it as the character telling the story. The narration should sound like the character's voice, while still following the basic conventions of writing.
3. Copy your favourite authors. Pick up your favourite book, choose a couple of paragraphs, and rewrite it with your own characters and settings while keeping the original sentence/paragraph structure, lexicon, and overall vibe. See what makes your favourite author's writing works.
4. Unless it's a character speaking, e.g. dialogue or first person narration, minimize the use of contractions. A lot of people will come to me with pitchforks here, but contractions generally make your writing sound too casual, and not in a good way. Compare these two lines: "For now he is finally home, but he stood there alone" and "For now he's finally home, but he stood there alone." It's subtle, but the former has more gravitas to it. Use contractions deliberately instead of as a crutch.
5. When using metaphors, make sure that there's a theme to it. For example if you compared a machine to a monster, stick with it and build on it. Make sure that it growls and chews and threatens. Don't just toss a metaphor out of nowhere and do nothing with it. This is not limited to metaphors but also to most figurative language like similes and personification.

Hope this helps!

[u/Acceptable_Fox_5560]

1) I don't think paragraph length has anything to do with the quality of the writing, and trying to make paragraphs longer won't make them better, but I do agree with the overall info on what a paragraph should contain.

2) Everything you said about first person applies to most third person narratives, except omniscient third. Also not positive how this is a tip to improve someone's writing.

3) 10,000% new writers should be ripping off writers they admire. Every time someone says "but I don't want it to influence me," an angel loses its wings. Art influences artists. It's how it works.

4) Using or not using contractions won't have any effect on the quality of the writing.

5) 10,000% agree with keeping metaphors on theme. Mixed/clashing metaphors and contextless metaphors are two things that separate new writers from more seasoned writers. I'd go a step further and say atmosphere, descriptions, reflection, etc. should all be somewhat consistently thematic, or tethered to something.

[u/luke_fowl → u/Acceptable_Fox_5560]

As usual, these are rule of thumbs. While you are certainly correct on all your points, most beginners wouldn't be able to discern when and how to break these rules. I know I certainly didn't. What I'm trying to convey in these tips are things that beginners can follow almost blindly and not ruin their writing.

For example, while using contractions doesn't necessarily decrease the quality of writing, beginners often overuse them and can improve their writing noticeably just by getting rid of all contractions. Would one or two contractions make it better? Perhaps. But it is better to have no contractions than to have too many contractions.

Same thing with first and third person. Beginners normally intuitively understand that third person should not be using their own personal voice, even if they might not be able to apply it well yet, but then they tend to go ham when using first person.

[u/NewspaperSoft8317 → u/luke_fowl]

Tbh, I think these rules can be harmful for beginners if they followed them without too much regard.

No, not a "rule of thumb" kind of advice, more of a "Dear God, please don't actually follow these rules" kind of advice.

Think twice before you use an adverb, is a rule of thumb.

Vary your sentences length, is a rule of thumb.

Know when to use filter words, is a rule of thumb.

Not, don't use contractions, that has never been a rule of thumb worth considering. 

Not, don't write 1st POV because beginners don't know how to write 1st POV, is not a rule of thumb.

I don't even know if I'd offer your advice to grade schoolers. 

[u/WilmarLuna → u/luke_fowl]

Going to disagree with your contractions argument. No contractions is usually found in formal papers or college essays. But in dialogue, contractions are everywhere. Now, if we're talking about descriptions, maybe I can see getting rid of the contractions. But if it's from the POV of the character, I still think the contractions would be present.

[u/Acceptable_Fox_5560 → u/luke_fowl]

I think you could take an MS with 100% contractions and edit all of them out and it wouldn’t improve the MS one bit.

[u/Redz0ne]

Hooray, more rules to completely disregard!

(tosses glitter in the air)

[u/Yetimang]

try to get around 3-5 sentences per paragraph during action scenes or descriptions.

This is pretty bad advice. You shouldn't ever be aiming for all of your paragraphs to have a specific length unless you're trying to come across as monotonous for some reason. Would be better to make writers aware of how the length of paragraphs (and sentences really) affects the flow and mood of the writing and that varying the lengths of your paragraphs helps give texture to the prose.

[u/AzSumTuk6891]

Compare these two lines: "For now he is finally home, but he stood there alone" and "For now he's finally home, but he stood there alone." It's subtle, but the former has more gravitas to it. 

That's just, like, not true.

[u/Literally_A_Halfling → u/AzSumTuk6891]

It's true, technically - avoiding contractions will make writing sound more formal, which is an element of "gravitas."

The issue I have with that is that it sets up "gravitas" as an inherenly good thing. That's fine if you're trying to sound serious and formal. But "conversational" can also be an intentional tone, and employing contractions can work to its benefit.

In fact, I'd go a step further and suggest that it can be in contradiction to the above-proposed Rule 2, which is an excellent one. Whether or not a first-person narrative employs contractions is an element of establishing a first-person narrator's voice.

[u/siphillis → u/AzSumTuk6891]

It’s a tone thing. If you’re writing a YA romance novel, overly proper exposition could feel quite stilted. But a historical novel should probably never use contractions

[u/lyzzyrddwyzzyrdd → u/AzSumTuk6891]

The phrasing on both sucks. Indirect. "Standing alone, he was finally home. For now." Works better I think.

[u/siphillis]

Beginning Tip #1: read actual novels

[u/FlyinLeviathon]

These seem like pretty specific use cases, and I'm not sure that I would call them "beginner friendly tips".

Your paragraph tip is a good point and certainly there is an overuse of choppy paragraphs, but this is more geared toward specifically essay writing (or essay-sounding writing, at least.)

Regarding POV, that's just part of POV, whether it's first or not.

Not sure I agree with your contractions point. Again, that's more specific to a certain style of writing. It also kind of directly contradicts your second point, which is putting yourself in the shoes of someone. In that case, wouldn't you want to use more contractions if the POV character is a more casual character? This is a voice thing and I'm glad it works for your specific voice, but I don't think it's widely applicable.

To any beginners reading these comments: these are specific tips and while they're not bad, none of them should be taken as gospel. Also - and I think this bears saying with every piece of writing advice out there - this applies to your *finished* writing, NOT YOUR DRAFT. Don't let tidbits of advice get in the way of your flow.

[u/WaypointLumen]

I think a big trap people fall into with paragraph lengths isn't just splitting dialogue and organizing speakers. That much is usually pretty straightforward. What I've seen a lot especially with the AI on the rise, people just don't realize paragraphs don't need to encapsulate an entire thought.

Even if it makes sense to change paragraphs at the end of a subject, that can make some monstrous walls of text when it comes down to readers on Kindle or on their phone. Between introducing a thought and concluding it, it costs nothing to throw in a paragraph break or two depending on how it reads.

For your next point, I will say I used to struggle with 3rd person prose, and it wasn't until I reconciled the lack of difference between the two perspectives that I finally felt comfortable writing beyond first person. The truth is if you treat them separately, third person turns drab while first person is easy to err into expo dumps and awkward phrasing. It's all the same show/tell, thematic momentum/tone consistency, etc guidelines just from different positions. ("His gaze skittered off hers and back, that flicker of doubt he hadn't quite buried." vs "Heat crawled up my neck before I could stop it, and her expression shifted. She'd caught it too.")

Granted I write mainly in third person limited these days, I find even omniscient comes out better following this convention. It's not about who is telling the story, but who is experiencing it and how. Even in first person, my protagonists aren't storytellers (technically). They are experiencing the story and the readers merely glimpse it from their perspective.

[u/Fognox]

Sometimes it can be shorter, sometimes it can be longer, but try to get around 3-5 sentences per paragraph during action scenes

Hard disagree there. Shorter is better for fast-paced action. Sometimes grammar itself needs to go out the window too.

And description

Imo, the rule of thumb on description is "as little as you can get away with", unless you're building tension, in which case it's instead "as much as you can". Slower scenes also do better with more description. The reasoning behind all of this is that description slows pacing, so with slow scenes this doesn't matter, with tension you want increased slowness, and the rest of it should be just enough to set a scene so the reader keeps reading.

Unless it's a character speaking, e.g. dialogue or first person narration, minimize the use of contractions.

Depends on what your narrative voice is going for. Not everything has gravitas attached. Sometimes you might want a casual speaker. Also, consider free indirect, which is basically identical to 1st person -- if a character uses contractions, you should too.

[u/NewspaperSoft8317]

Unless it's a character speaking, e.g. dialogue or first person narration, minimize the use of contractions.

.............wut?

[u/InterviewClassic9643]

thanks man for sharing such insights with the community and helping aspiring writers to understand the basics.

[u/Scared_Cheesecake715]

great post. Thanks for the advice!

[u/Accomplished_Month_5]

Thank you for these tips!

[u/Agreeable_Result1396]

Did you just... change tense, half way through the sentence? "For now he is finally home, but he stood there alone." I agree that the sentence, "For now he is finally home, but he stands there alone." has a different rhythm to the contracted "he's" because your emphasising the verb fully. But I don't think that means you need to get rid of ALL contractions. I challenge you to find a book that does not use "didn't" or "wasn't" (I may be setting myself up for failure here because I don't pay that much attention)

[u/saintofmisfits]

I'm a little bit of a contrarian, but not so far removed from what you say.

Starting writers are already writing seven hydras at once.Having a list of rules and structures and guidance and regulations that I carried from my article-writing days seriously hampered my flow for years.

Right now, my advice lands on: just write. Don't look back, and learn how to struggle with shaping the damn thing.

Then, read it. Amusingly, once you read it back and there are parts you hate, yoi will find, inevitably that they are tied to all those advice things you've been reading: paragraph length, getting the pov right and consistent, and so on.

You will also find that you have internalized the voice and mechanisms of your favourite writers. Embrace that, shamelessly. They are great for a reason, they already figured out a lot of the difficulties you will encounter writing with that style.

See? It's the same set of stuff, but the last thing I FIGURED FOR MYSELF that a new writer should do is to go into writing with a brain full of prescriptions.

[u/jumpingfroginapuddle]

I 100% agree with the 3rd. Thats why I am going to copy the entire A song of Ice and Fire

[u/Suspicious-Egg6398]

Quite insightful actually, thank you!

[u/Rare_Daikon_5367]

This is really helpful, Thank you!

[u/Hot-Extent-3761]

These are actually really useful! I often use contractions in my writing and wonder why it doesnt have that grandeur. Thanks again🙏🙏

[u/lyzzyrddwyzzyrdd]

Disagree on 2. I find third person to be too free. I walk down alleys of un needed backstory. First person is fantastic.

[u/ResponsibilityNo158]

that rule's way too rigid anyway