WRITING TIPS: VOCABULARY DILEMMA

Most writers grapple with this issue almost on a daily basis. The issue surrounds whether to use tough sounding words or go for simpler words that are well understood by majority of readers. To answer the question I will try to go back to the sole purpose of writing. Why do we write? Who are we writing for?

Writers write in order to communicate. This communication may inform, educate or entertain but the chief aspect is to pass a message across. If you use a language that will not be understood by majority of readers, then you end up failing in your sole responsibility as a writer and that is why writers need to always go for words that can be easily understood.
Wrongly using or misusing high sounding words that may mean nothing in the end present a writer as stupid instead of helping him or her to appear academic.
Closely knit with the issue of vocabulary is the audience you are writing for. Tough may mean a different thing to kindergarten students compared to university professors! Good luck!

WRITING TIPS: HAS ONLINE WRITING KILLED CREATIVITY?

Look at books and book-men. Is the world producing great writers like it used to? Is the world producing serious authors like it used to churn out before the rise of the internet. Maybe and again maybe not but it is important to note that the internet has somehow destabilized the whole profession of writing.

The ability to publish almost anything from literature to sensitive medical information seems to have eroded the very creativity that was the hallmark of great writing. No longer do we have value for truly great information, no longer do we have any time left for what is hidden in the books for we can read and write anything online and a lot more people are too lazy to appreciate any serious stuff coming out of a few writers, very few readers have the patience to delve into truly great information, they want an easy way out, and online writing seems to offer just that. Has it killed creativity?
Has online writing had an effect on the truly great writing of the past or have we stopped literary appreciation in search of gossip?

WRITING TIPS: DEVELOP A WRITING SCHEDULE

Many writers loath the idea of planning their writing projects. My challenge has always been the same. If you are a writer, you should write, and that means setting writing goals and accomplishing them.

If you know what you want, then you must go for it by developing a feasible plan or writing schedule. If you decide on writing at least 300 words a day, make it some kind of routine and write the 300 words. If you fail for any reason to write 300 words, make it an obligation to write 600 words on the following day.
It is only be developing such a routine like schedule that writers can jump from being amateurs to professionals who are proud of their work as writers, its only by sticking to such professionalism that writers can build their portfolio and earn from their writing.
You should ask yourself how some people were able to write 500 novels and didn't die of exhaustion - Strategy and nothing else. Those writers had a well developed writing schedule that they stuck to until they succeeded.

WRITING TIPS: PUBLISHING YOUR BOOK THE TRADITIONAL WAY

Writers grapple with very many things, the leading of course being where to publish. Traditional publishers are making lots of money from book sales and only pay 8 - 12% of the total book sales. If your book sells for 10 dollars a copy, the publisher gives you less than a dollar, i.e. 80cts and keeps $ 9.20. Isn't that impressive?

The advantage of publishing the traditional way is the fact that most reputable publishers have full time editors that will assess your work and make suggestions that will make it better in the long run. They also stock your book and market it directly to distributors such as bookshops for which you do not pay.
The disadvantage is the time taken for them to release your book. For most, textbooks have the highest priority and it may take two years before seeing your published product even after being accepted.
If you have no money but lots of patience and believe in the quality of what you have written, traditional book publishing may be the best way to do it even though it benefits the publisher much more than it benefits the writer.

WRITING TIPS: WRITE IN THIRD PERSON FOR GREATER EFFECT

Forget your experiences for a while and just write in third person. Sticking to first person narration has a way of limiting your point of view and that of the reader when you should be able to cover much more ground by playing God.
When you write in third person, you have everything that is happening before you. you have the freedom to manipulate everybody and everything that is happening. Sometimes the way the story turns surprises you the writer just like it would your reader and its this surprise, its these twists and turns that help to glue the reader along.
The element of surprise and therefore suspense disappears once you put yourself at the center of the story and may actually build some negativity in the mind of the reader before he or she completes the story.
When the lead character in your story or novel does not have the best of behavior or is an outright crook that you created, telling his story in first narration may actually crucify you the writer instead since readers have a problem divorcing the writer from the narrator in first person.
I don't deny the fact that some great stories have been written in the first person but as a caution, they are very few and limited as well in scope. To avoid much problems, write in the third person until your experience is bold enough to warrant a shift to the first person.

WRITING TIPS: IDENTIFY A ROLE MODEL TO INSPIRE YOUR WRITING

Writing without a role model or set of role models is like captaining a radar-less ship. A writer needs to have some great writers whether contemporary or past legends unto whom he or she looks towards for inspiration.
Who is your favorite writer? Who do you look at when in need of inspiration? Even the greatest writers of all time had their inspiring legends and those writing legends too had their favorites. You need to keep in touch with the best in writing for you to write better each passing day.
My favorite author still remains Leo Tolstoy, even though a few other great writers aren't far behind either. When I feel lost, when words are not coming, when I can't find inspiration elsewhere, one look at a Tolstoyan text is all I need to start writing again.
Who is your favorite? Think about it.

WRITING TIPS: THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE TO PROOFREADING

You heard me. However lazy you feel today, never ever submit any piece of writing be it an article or a novel without reading it one more time. While I have always advised that the writer is the first reader, the same writer should also double up as the number one critic as well.

Do not pass over to the editors or publishers any writing that is still unpolished or one which would do with some proofreading. Kindly save yourself the pain of rejection by going through your work word for word, comma after comma until you are satisfied that it is the best you can achieve.
When editors return any writing project and request for specified or unspecified changes, kindly agree to making the changes requested. The editors may not be fright, the editors may be out-rightly wrong, but they still have the last word on whether you are published or not.
What should you do? Whether it takes one hundred years or more for you to finish writing your present writing, take fifty more years to go through your work one more time.

WRITING TIPS: WRITERS ARE BORN, BUT GREAT WRITERS MAKE THEMSELVES

Did you know that almost everyone can write? Well forget the fact that writers are born. It may just be a notion to dissuade you from trying your hand at writing. Writing may be tough, writing can be hard, writing can be difficult, but it doesn't mean that great writing can not be accomplished.

All you have to do is learn so language. It doesn't have to be English, it doesn't have to be french or Spanish but you will surely need some working knowledge of Punjabi, Swahili or whatever language you decide to write in.
If you feel the compulsion to write, if the ability to communicate via writing comes naturally to you, then you are a born writer. But then, being born a writer is not enough. Of the millions of men and women who are born writers, 75% give up before graduating from high school. Of the remaining 25%, another half will give up when they find something easier or better to. The remaining half toil on and on, trying to put their thoughts into writing.
But even of this number, about another half are just comfortable calling themselves writers. only a small percentage end up doing the actual writing and doing it well for they never give up. Are you one of them?

WRITING TIPS: PLOTTING AND SUBPLOTTING YOUR NOVEL

A novel should have at least one major storyline known as the plot. The plot can be simple and liner or more complex and intertwined with other smaller stories known as sub plots. Complexity of the plot depends on the readership a writer expects to gain, or his or her target market.

Writers who target children or the youth must have very simple and therefore linear plots woven around a main character, the protagonist and another main character, the antagonist who stands in the way of the antagonist’s success. Such story lines targeted at younger readers must have a limited number of supporting characters.
Writers targeting advanced readers have greater control over their storyline and can afford more complex non linear plots, sub plots and a large number of characters. Novels such as War and Peace and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and The Brothers Karamazov by Feodor Dostoevsky have hundreds of characters almost competing with real life town life.
How then should the writer go about this? Identify your target readers, pick on your main characters, and plot your story outline, first in a linear manner before introducing any twists and turns.

WRITING TIPS: NETWORKING WILL DO YOU SOME GOOD!

What is the need of writing if you wont be read? Being read has very many advantages, one being the ability to market yourself even more. If you are in the business of writing anything from children's bedtime stories, novels and even article, belonging to a writers circle or some form of association or social networking forum may be the best way to gain a footing and improve your writing. Are you a member of a writers' group? If not, join here.

Writers groups help with writing tips, writing ideas, editing and marketing and they all come free of charge. Writers groups do not come with stringent rules like those offered by professional editors that work for publishing firms but if you are lucky to be part of a very good group, all the services that a writer may need will be at your door step. Are a member of a writers forum or group? Join Triond or The Writers' Facebook for a start and enjoy the fun!