All Comments on 'Improve Your Writing Technique'

One of the things I have found useful, once you have written the draft version, is to leave it be for a few days before reading it through. This will help you spot the problems in your text a little easier. It is still not as good as someone else's eyes, but can still be quite effective. This is something I do for my more technical writing (I am an an engineer). When you return to read your draft, do so with your critics mindset.

Otherwise, all good advice.

Devir Ginator

Some good points to take on for any writer, however this place is full of retards who

are willing cuckolds, closet transgender and closet gays so your advice to feel with a character is very hard to follow for an ordinary man.

5

Probably the biggest issue around here is paragraphing. NOT ENOUGH OF THEM. For amateur writers, think like this: Any excuse for one is a probably a good excuse. Otherwise, there is a basic law that says you need to paragraph for each new actor. If the actor is the same, no paragraph. If it is new, new paragraph.

So, John is talking. Next Bill is swinging a bat, Next John blocks the bat but then he also talks.

Those are three paragraphs. People know it is the next guy's turn via the paragraph marker. I have seen far too many stories with 300 word paragraphs, jamming in everyone's dialogue, and that's just absurd.

This is a personal pet peave of mine...check your spelling! Do not trust in spell checkers. Possessives use an apostrophe, plurals do not (unless they are also possessive. You “pique” one’s interest, not “peak” it. Learn when to use “there”, “their”, and “they’re”; “your”, and “you’re”; and so on.

So many stories are ruined because the authors use a dictation app instead of taking the effort to type (with the attendent self-review), and then trust the spell checker; this is the lazy person’s way out and is guaranteed to garner a lower rating. Look at the stories that get the highest scores; they invariably have a forward thanking the editor(s). There is a reason for that and if you do not understand the reason then go back and ask your high school English teacher about it.

The above sounds harsh; I am sorry but it was meant to be. Language (and communication) is a science, not an art form.

Some great tips here, especially about adding details. Each to his or her own but I find this is what sets apart a top story from a good or indifferent one. I also like some character description and a bit more plot than merely sexual activity. Good advice in the comments too about not being in too much of a rush to publish - one of my pitfalls!

Thanks for this, it's much needed.

Further advice I'd give is to resist hitting 'send', wait 24 hours and reread it with a fresh mind. Get a proofreader to go over it also- as you say all of us have blind spots. Never use a voice to text programme, you'll get wrong words everywhere.

I agree with Parawa and encourage multiple cycles of editing and proofreading.

Practice proofreading pages upside down, you'll eliminate reversals and repeated words like:

What I if told you

you read the

the first line wrong.

"A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight."

~Ursula K. LeGuin

"The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense."

~Tom Clancy

Thank you for your input and guidance. It is needed and appreciated.

My biggest pet peeve is the many writers of defloration stories who have no idea of where the hymen is located. It especially irks me when said writer is a woman. You'd think a woman would know where her hymen is/was located.

Yet, time and again, I read stories where fingers, tongues, dildos, cocks and whatnot enter into the vagina, often repeatedly and/or in combinations, until they finally come upon the obstruction that then needs to be penetrated, the mythical internal hymen.

Now, I must admit that I, myself, was long under the false impression that the hymen is an internal barrier, mostly from reading many stories which placed it there. But, one day, I thought, "Where exactly IS the hymen? Is it one inch in? Two inches? Three?" I decided to cure my ignorance and educate myself on where exactly the hymen lies in relation to the vagina.

I was surprised to find that the hymen is NOT somewhere INSIDE the vagina, but is actually AT THE ENTRANCE. If anything enters into the vagina, it passes the hymen in order to do so.

So, if you are thinking of doing a story where your female character is to lose her virginity by penetration of her hymen, please educate yourself as to where it actually is, and stop promoting the myth that it lies somewhere inside the vagina. We do a disservice to our readers if we continue to promote the false information as fact.

I'm also impatient and share the weakness of rushing to get my stories up. But I do a lot of proofreading during the wait of getting approved. And if I find mistakes, I don't mind resubmitting a story 5 times. Still always find a few mistakes weeks later when I reread the story. But Lit readers don't punish you for a handful of errors. Bless their hearts.

BTW, I've noticed who ever posted this article has really messed around with how I formatted it. I've sent the piece in again and the big spaces between some lines should be fixed soon.

I actually like those stories where people use phrases that sound more like poetry than anything else, so please writers, disregard that "rule" from the advice above.

Thank you for posting this article with tips and tricks, maybe someday I'll finish putting my thoughts into words.

Good thing you put it all together. It is very sensible to consider the reader, after all you want to get a story across, the atmosphere, the feeling - people need to get into the scene you are describing, otherwise I could just write: There was this guy, name was Tom, he had a day off and fucked a girl next door. And to get some dialogue in let her state: "Ooh, aah Tom! You fucked me good!" - not much of a story is it? So yeah, you did all right with that. Not sure why you have been attacked for this article before. You put down all the points one has to consider writing a story. But then again: trolls being trolls just troll! Keep it up I say!

I'm a big believer in sharing knowledge, so thanks for this.

I'm just starting out, so any little bit helps.

Josie

Would that all writers would strive for improvement. I have recently read a multi-installment story that was very interesting. The author was a really good storyteller. That kept me coming back for several chapters. Unfortunately, he was an absolutely horrid writer. This fact finally caused me to drop my interest in his tale. I can overlook less than stellar writing if the author shows a desire to improve. He, sadly, actually got worse then improved then digressed. Keep improving and don't listen to the trolls as long as you know you are doing better with each submission.

Milo_Talon (Yes. I am registered but do not usually log on.)

I really appreciate you taking the time to share this advice. As a noob writer, I am just starting my research so while others might have heard some of this before, most of this is fresh to me. I agree with many of your points. I often find myself skimming certain sections because it goes on and on - so taking out extra words and tightening up the prose is critical. I was also conflicted about using dialogue tags so often making the writing too formal and slowing it way down. Your examples really illustrated a great alternative. Another of your good points was emphasizing just how critical a well established and orchestrated plot is. I'm outlining a new story for myself and I know I need to go back and make sure it's no so thin that I'm padding sentences to get my word count up. Anyway, thanks so much -- this is truly valuable info to me.

Another way to phrase that is "Trish and Jack sat on the blanket, watching the sunset."

I need to re-read the advise that you have posted. Thank you so much. I have spent this afternoon RE EDITING one of my tales after reading your advise. Tomorrow is another day.

Thank you

Suzanne

@Anon 04/02/19

Harsh words. Not 100% sure I agree with you. I don't read Loving Wives stories, btw - not my flavour - so what do I know? Other than readers in there can be a little cruel? But I still stand behind my belief in respecting the intelligence of others.

@All the Thankful Authors

Happy you found this helpful. These tips started out as notes I wrote for myself, but I organized them to see if they can help others. I know how difficult starting out is. Glad they seem to be fufiling their purpose.

Thank you for posting this. It was very helpful

First, thank you for your courage to write and post anything public. There's an old saying that paraphrased goes like "those that can do, those that can't bitch about those that can".

Before you write a sex scene, make sure to pin your girlfriend, wife, fuck buddy, whomever, down by the back of her neck and fuck her in the ass, whether she wants you to or not. Once you blow your load up a girl's booty hole, all the urgency to race through the sex is relieved and you can take your time, giving the reader a more descriptive read that helps them get their nut.

Taz.

Great advice, thanks!

Wow, that really slapped my potatoes. Also art is anal.

pin her down and fuck her in the ass right off the bat in your story! Brilliant! Funny! That will at least keep the anal/'what? No anal?' trolls from skimming forward. While he may or may not be writing tongue in cheek, it speaks to another piece of advice (not advise- whole other word. I mention this cuz two other commenters made this mistake, not Taz): Have fun when you write! It'll translate to your writing. Levity, brevity bop! Taz...my favorite Looney Tunes character: the old Tazmanian Devil himself! Hah!

I began writing here on Lit early in 2022. Even now when I reread some of my first stories I cringe. But it’s helpful articles such as this one that gives this aspiring writer the facts I need to only improve.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to share this with us ☀️

P.S. I will say I find misspelled words in stories to be HIGHLY irritating. And when I find too many of them, it only serves to turn me off to anything the writer is trying to make me believe in their work of fiction.