Horror Writer's Anonymous (HWA) Forum Writing Tips *Please read*

Here, I will post an archive of writing tips that I include in current and past newsletters. These are here for everyone as a reference tool. I did not write them, and I do not have claim to writing them, these are just here to help you with any writing hang ups you may experience.   

*****Please DO NOT post in this thread*****  

 Any questions you have, please email me or start a new thread as I CANNOT delete any posts that were not written by me personally.

Viewpoint Character WritingDescribing People

Tip 1: Provide the most comprehensive description of a character at the time that character is first introduced.

Tip 2: Describe a character when his appearance at a particular stage of your story is important.

Tip 3: Describe a chracter when her appearance has changed in a specific way.

Describing Places

Tip 4: Don't describe what doesn't need describing, as in the cases of places we've all been or places we've all seen (i.e. hospitals).

Tip 5: Do describe a place your viewpoint character has never been (UNLESS it's a place where we have all been or seen).

Tip 6: Describe a place if it has changed in an important way.

Tip 7: Whenever possible, work your setting description into your character's actions (i.e. instead od describing a beach, let the character feel, touch, smell, taste).

Describing Things

Tip 8: As with describing places, tell us how something looks only if it is something we haven't seen before or if it's something whose appearance we would have no way of knowing.

Tip 9: If you're describing something that is actually made up of a number of separate elements (a crowd, flower garden), name the object first, then focus on telling details.

Tip 10: When you describe an object, be specific (i.e. flower = rose, lily, daisy; newspaper = The Wallstreet Journal, etc).

Knowing What To Describe

Tip 11: Mention or describe only those people, pleaces, and things of which your viewpoint character is aware and which are important to the story.

Tip 12: Describe people, places, and things in the vernacular of the viewpoint character - naturally, as if the character herself was doing the describing.

Tip 13: If the viewpoint character wouldn't know the name of something, don't name it.

Knowing What To Describe

Tip 14: If the viewpoint character isn't aware of something, don't tell us about it in a section written from his or her viewpoint, (i.e. "They slept so soundly that they didn't hear the woman's screams: - if character doesn't see, hear, taste, touch, smell - neither do we).

Tip 15: Though it's desirable to make use of your character's sense in your writing, it's rarely neccessary to use actual verbs of perception such as saw, heard, and smelled.

Section Specifics

Tip 16: Don't start your section just anywhere; get us as quickly as possible into the sections main action (i.e. don't take too long getting to the “meat” of the section).

Anchoring The Reader

Tip 17: Unless the section you're writing runs directly from the previous one with no visible break, state clearly in your sections first paragraph:

who the section character iswhat time it iseither relative to the previous section, if it was the same character: twenty minutes later, following morning, etclocation Conveying Emotion

Tip 18: If anything important to your story has happened to your viewpoint character since his last section, bring the reader up-to-date at the beginning of the new section.

Updating The Reader

Tip 19: To show a character experiencing an emotion, don't tell us about it; show the character's physical responses to the emotion.

Working With Time

Tip 20: When you need to show the passing of time, write in the summary writing mode.

Section Connectors

The Space-Breaker Connector

Tip 21: Insert a space break (press Enter twice) between two sections. - the two sections feature different viewpoint characters - you want to show a passage of time and do not want to do so using writing

The Run-Together Connector

Tip 22: When you're connecting two sections of your novel that both feature the same view point character, and neither a break nor any connecting text is necessary, just run the two together.

The Summary Connector

Tip 23: Use a summary connector - a brief passage of relatively inconsequential action, in the summary writing mode - when connecting two sections featuring the same viewpoint character, don't need the drama of a space break, but need to explain what happens between the sections.

Action Writing Mode

Ordering Events

Tip 24: Present all events one at a time, rather than trying to show that they happen simultaneously.

Action/Result

Tip 25: Present action in action/result order (i.e. she looks – she saw, he bites –and tastes, she asks – he answers).

Writing It All Out

Tip 26: When you are in the action writing mode, don't accidently slip into the summary writing mode. In the action writing mode, everything – even seemingly unimportant details – get shown.

Summary Writing Mode

Reporting Events

Tip 27: To report events whose details are unimportant, use the summary writing mode.

Telescoping Time

Tip 28: To telescope time and speed your time, write in the summary mode.

Spotlighting Emotion

Tip 29: The summary writing mode can be an especially effective means of conveying a character's emotional state.