Writers: Want to make your work even better? Check out our Writing Tips.
If you're looking to improve your stories, this is a good place to start.
Tip #1
It's a story.
Every story needs to have five things:
a situation, a character we care about, an objective, an opponent, and disaster.
Here's an example:
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Situation:
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When dogs and cats suddenly begin to pal around together
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Character:
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Doctor Dolittle
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Objective:
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tries to find out why. But can he defeat
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Opponent:
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the evil veterinarians who want to kill him
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Disaster:
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in order to make animals the ruling species on earth?
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Let's look at each component of the story "Dr. Doolittle vs. the Veterinarians."
What if there's no situation? Dr. Doolittle tries to find out why . . . ? Why what?
Without the situation, there's no reason for Dr. D to do anything, is there? No
situation, no reason for a story.
How about no character? Without a sympathetic hero, whom will we care about? You've
got to have someone to root for or else there's no interest in the story.
Next comes the objective. If Dr. D notes the strange behavior of dogs and cats
but doesn't wonder about it, what will he do? Sit and have a cup of tea? If he's
not pursuing something—the truth, the girl next door, revenge, a good back
rub, something—then we have nothing to hope he achieves. Again,
no interest equals no story.
How about a story with no opponent? First, remember an opponent doesn't have to
be human. An opponent can be an animal, a god, an alien, the weather, anything at
all that can prevent our hero from achieving his goal. Without opposition, our
hero will blithely waltz through life, finding the answers to all his questions as
if he was walking through a park picking flowers. And who cares to watch that?
There's no drama without opposition. Make sure your good guy has at least one
worthy bad guy to fight.
And now disaster. What is disaster and why do we need it? If nothing bad ever
happens to our hero, we are assured he will win in the end. If we know he'll
win, why bother to watch the game? Your story has to have drama to hold the
reader's interest. Drama necessitates putting your hero or his goal in jeopardy.
Remember, you don't have to actually harm your hero to prevent him from winning.
If Dudley Do-Right is out to save the day but Tess Trueheart gets run over by the
train, Dudley has been defeated (disaster!) even though he hasn't had a hair on
his head harmed. Disaster comes in many forms . . . just make sure it shows up
in your story — and the more often it shows the better! Then have your hero overcome
the disaster (who knew Dudley Do-Right had a merit badge in amputation-restoration and
would be able to sew Tess back together again as good as new?) and go on to face
future disasters until he reaches the final showdown.
At the final showdown, will your hero win or lose? That's the question that will
keep readers turning the pages!
Tip #2
Spelling and grammar are important.
iknowyou,dontthinkall!thoserulesmakeanydifference.becauseyourwordsareso
impressive?andactuallywhy?wouldanybodyeverhaveanytrubbleunnerstandinganything
youwrote;causeweallnothoseeditorsareabunchofstickler"sfordetalesthatdont'really
meananythinganywaysowhyshouldyouhavetochangethewayyoudoanything!!??!!
If that's clear to you, then bless you. You and James Joyce go do what you want. But it's not
clear to me and I'm the one who wrote it! So if you want to send
something to me, please make it easily understandable, OK?
I hear some people say things like "Hey, I've seen other writers do it. Their books are selling, why should I worry about it?" Well, ask
yourself: how many books have you sold? If the answer is "not as many as I'd like," go to your first reader, critique group, agent, editor,
or whoever you trust. Ask them to read your work and to mark everything that isn't correct or clear. When they're done, go in and fix what
they marked. DON'T stand there and explain why Our Hero ran from his One True Love. You won't be at the shoulder of every person
who reads your story . . . it has to be able to stand on its own. If it needs explanation, what it really needs is more attention from you.
Rewrite and get it right!
Remember: Spelling and Grammar — they're not just for grade school anymore!
Tip #3
Proofread your work.
You've just finished your epic short story! It's absolutely wonderful and you know everyone will just die if they don't have a chance to read it
soon. So you send it off to your favorite publication.
But they reject it!
The rejection slip says something about not paying enough attention to details, too many incorrect and/or misspelled words, blah-blah-blah.
You don't remember exactly what it said, you just glanced at the letter before wadding it up and throwing it away. You can't possibly have misspelled
any words . . . you used SpellCheck!
Sad fact: spell checking software doesn't always do what you think it does. It doesn't look for context or correct word choice. It merely compares each
word with its internal dictionary and, if there's a match, it gives the "OK." But that's not always right, is it? Dew ewe no watt eye mein?
You're a writer, and it's your responsibility to make your work understandable. It's not up to the reader to figure out what you meant. And guess what?
They won't! If you confuse the reader, you lose the reader.
So, when you've finished that story, set it aside for a while. How long? A few weeks or more, if you can. Then, pick it up and start from page one. Read
it as if you'd never seen it before. You may be surprised at the errors you find.
When you've corrected everything, start over. This time, read it aloud. Hearing your words can help you discover problems you might otherwise miss.
Why do you want to go to all this trouble? Because — unless you're very, very lucky — the editor will do the same thing with your submission
that you did to the rejection slip; he'll throw it away.
And we don't want that, dew we?
Tip #4
Submit your work to the right person.
You've finally finished. You've written your story, stayed within the rules of grammar and punctuation, and proofread it. It's like a
little jewel—it positively shines! Now to get it published. Who will you send it to?
In the days before email submissions, when you had to mail the printed story to the publisher, you were a little bit careful who you sent
your story to. After all, it cost money for the postage, the paper, and the printer's ink or toner. It could easily run over a dollar for
just a short story. If you sent it to ten magazines, hoping one of them would accept it, that was a ten dollar bill gone. Hey, ten bucks
is ten bucks . . . you don't just burn those things if you can help it.
So, you exercised a little judgement. You checked in the Writers Market to see who printed your kind of story. You didn't send your
blood-and-guts crime thriller to Bride Magazine. Why? Because you knew they would't print it! And you didn't want to waste your money, did
you?
Enter email submissions. Suddenly, you don't have to spend anything to submit your story. And, guess what? Many of you don't. You don't
spend a dime on postage. You don't spend a penny on paper. Your printer sits there idle, not costing you a single red cent for ink or
toner. See how much you've saved? But wait, there's more! You can even save time!
That's right, now that it costs you no money to submit your story, you can stop looking up appropriate markets. Why bother? After all,
even though it makes no sense at all to send that crime thriller to Bride . . . well, why not? It's free and your writing is so superior
to anything seen before, those editors at Bride will positively swoon when they see it. They'll be so impressed, they'll change the format
of the magazine to fit your work. Heck, they'll even change the name — Bride Magazine will become Gang Molls Unlimited!
Not.
Read the Submission Guidelines. Can't find them? Look closer. They're there. And they exist for a reason.
No one will accept your work in an inappropriate venue. Don't send crime stories to Bride, or bride stories to True Crime. Select the
appropriate targets for your attentions. Write westerns? Don't bore the editors of Home and Garden with it. Send stuff to people who
will appreciate it.
Oh, and one last thing. Address the editor correctly and politely. "Dear Mr. (name)" will get you lots more points than "to whom it may
concern." And if the editor is male, don't call him Miss, Mrs., or Ms. — and vice-versa. Can't tell if the editor is male or female?
Be general. There's nothing wrong with "Dear Editor." But if the editor's first name is Duke (like mine), don't send something to "Ms. Editor."
The reputation you save may be your own.
Tip #5
Don't submit until you're finished.
You've got a great idea for a story. You rip it out — the words fly from your mind, through your fingertips, onto the page!
It's genius, it's brilliant! Wow! And you know just where to submit it.
You check the submission guidelines. Yep, you've got it nailed. Off it goes! Now, for the interminable wait until the editor
says "accepted" or "rejected."
Wonder of wonders, the editor responds before your hair turns white with age. And it's good news, too! Your story is going to be
published. Yay! Ah, the glory of it all. You look over your story, mentally caressing each word, each turn of phrase. It's so good,
it's just . . . wait, what's that? Where did THAT word come from? That's not what you want in there! Oh, my god, the story isn't
perfect after all. But, you can fix it. Here, just change this, add that, delete that section there and, viola, it's perfect. A
quick note to the editor. "There were a couple of minor flaws . . . I fixed them. All is well . . . I'm sure you understand. Just
replace the earlier story with this one. Thanks."
Now, that wasn't so hard, was it? The editor obviously wants only the best possible work in his publication. Of course he has no problem
throwing away the work he did getting your first story ready for publication. See? All is well. And your story . . . ah, look at it! It
positively shines. See the way the sub-plot winds its way in and out of the main plot? See how the . . . wait. That would be so much
better if you only tweaked it like this and, oh-oh, you need to change that and, ah! There! Isn't that better? Ooh, ooh, let's get THIS
version to the editor! He'll like it so much better and . . . .
Can you see the editor, reading your latest email with the attached revision, drumming his fingers on the desk?
Are you beginning to get the feeling he isn't enjoying this apparently-never-ending process of you upgrading your story? You should,
because editors have a schedule for getting everything ready to publish. Constant changes eat into that most-precious of all
commodities — time. And most of us don't have so much that we can afford to waste it. Your story was good enough
to be accepted in the first place. Save all those wonderful flashes for your next story. That's the way we all improve.
What to do? By all means, send in your story. But send it when it's mature, when it has reached its full growth, when it's at its best.
Why would you send in less than your best? That's not good for the publication you submit to. Most importantly, it's not good for you. And,
once you do send it in, let it go. Start writing your next story. That's where your energy belongs.
Is your Tale ready to go?
Click here to learn how to submit a story.
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