The author S.A. Joo's Writing & Editing Advice & Tips

A professional Editor www.sirraedits.com and YA Writer, represented by Black Hawk Literary Agency.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Twitter Writetip and EditTip #10

I can't believe that it's the 10th collection of my Twitter writing and editing tips. It's hard to put everything in 140 spaces, but I try. And I'll keep tweeting the tips for writers as long as someone is reading them. Check out my edit services www.sirraedits.com Happy writing~ 


Limited dialogue and actions equate to one-dimensional characters. Give them more. They're humans, not bots. #stabbylove #writetip #EditTip
Conditional sentence: use WERE not WAS in the IF clauses. Ex: If I were rich, I'd stab with a diamond-blade sword. #writetip #stabbylove ^.^
Readers don't need to read minds to understand. If writers can give imaginative & vivid writing, there's no need for multi POV #writetip
Self-indulgence will kill a book. Invoke feelings in your readers, not get lost in your characters' emotions. #stabbylove #writetip #EditTip
Dictionary/thesaurus are writers’ best friends. When in doubt, look it up. Especially the correct definition! #stabbylove #writetip #EditTip
Dialogues must be indicative of characters' age, personality, & language style. All characters must have distinct voices. #writetip #EditTip
The subject & content decide if a book is YA or adult. Not the level of writing. Kids’ books don’t mean elementary writing #stabbylove
Still catching tons of "as if" or "like" comparisons in writing. It's like the writer got lazy and stopped describing. #stabbylove #EditTip
There's a universal theme in novice #writers.They always rely on pretentious words to make their book "sophisticated." #stabbylove #writetip 
1) #writers Don't look for new, fancy words to describe same thing. Use your imagination. Find new things to describe #writetip #stabbylove GRRR
2) Don't use hard, technical words to dress up your MS. Especially if you don't know the definition or the correct usage! #writetip #stabbylove
3) Know the definition of every word you use. And mean every word. Or you create factual inaccuracies & inconsistencies. #writetip #stabbylove
#Writers. How many words in your MS are filler words? You know, the words that don't add anything to the story? Delete. #stabbylove #EditTip
Writers who think they can edit their books objectively are either delusional or narcissistic. Or both. Even editors need editors. #writetip
Present tense gives immediacy.But mixed w/ short/choppy sentence/fragments, it's like a crack-addict on speed wrote it #writetip #stabbylove

#writers DON'T ASSUME definitions. Use the dictionary. Every word in your book should be written with intention!!! #writetip #EditTip
#writers Don't limit yourself to 1 genre, target age group, or POV style. Then your writing and creativity will suffer. #writetip #amwriting
Slanting sideways. Blending together. Scream loudly. Whispered quietly. Stand on feet. Reading with eyes. REDUNDANT! #EditTip #stabbylove
Purple prose. It has to be relevant and relate to the story. Don't use it in your book just because they sound pretty. #writetip #stabbylove
2 or even multi POV, I can tolerate. Barely. But what if they're in the same scene? Abandon the MC's POV? Head-hop? Just not right. #writetip
#writers Use ITALICS to emphasize and QUOTATION MARKS for direct quotes. Make the distinction. #writetip #stabbylove

3 comments:

  1. Just had a sentence in my MS that I thought fell under the "were" not "was" "IF" clause and my agent changed it to "was".

    There's no choice now but for me to go back and spend another hour researching conditional clauses.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great post, Su. Glad you're feeling better

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi and thank you for the useful tips. I wish you best of luck, Dianna Bellerose

    ReplyDelete