25 Writing Tips For Writers, Editors, and Authors

So I’ve posted these already on my Facebook and Twitter pages but I wanted to compile a list of all 25 tips together. Also, if you would like you can find these on my Facebook page and my Twitter feed where I post one writing tip a day.

Enjoy!

1. Fall in love with reading first. Then fall in love with writing next.
2. Learn the rules of good writing before you break them.
3. Perfect the art of imperfection.
4. What is obvious to you may not necessarily be obvious to your audience.
5. Writing starts with one person: you.
6. Do: be specific. Do not: be vague.
7. Every line in your story must be there for a reason. If there isn’t, get rid of it.
8. To avoid confusion, avoid jargon.
9. Avoid starting a sentence with a numeral.
10. Before you become a full-fledged writer, you must first stop making excuses.
11. Your writing can constantly be improved upon. You just have to look hard enough and actually want to improve your writing.
12. Know your characters inside and out.
13. Care about your characters. If you do not care, how do you expect anyone else to?
14. Write when you are the most alert.
15. Writing is about consistency. The more consistent, the better.
16. Simplify, shorten, and streamline.
17. Write what you know but write what you don’t know too.
18. Write and read but above all, stay human.
19. If it works, keep it. If it doesn’t, kill it.
20. Always seek feedback.
21. Don’t write like anyone else but yourself.
22. The beautiful thing about writing is you don’t need to get it right the first time.
23. Make your writing great despite how long it takes.
24. Some decisions may be based more on style instead of grammatical correctness.
25. Do not worry about quality on the first draft.

More writing tips:

25 Writing Tips For Writers, Editors, and Authors (Part 2)

25 Writing Tips For Writers, Editors, and Authors (Part 3)

25 Writing Tips For Writers, Editors, and Authors (Part 4)

25 Writing Tips For Writers, Editors, and Authors (Part 5)

25 Writing Tips For Writers, Editors, and Authors (Part 6)