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Not long ago, someone asked me if there is a secret to writing award-winning books. I laughed and said, “You mean beyond luck and magic?”
Truth be told, though, there is a secret—but it’s nothing mysterious. Or magical. Or even exciting. Mostly, it’s mastering the basics…with an extra twist thrown in.
So in my guest blog I thought I’d share with you four tips that have helped take my writing to a new level. They’re basic, yes. But you know what? Even though I’ve published 35+ books and have been writing for a long time, I only discovered some of these “rules” in the past few years. Which goes to prove that a writer never stops learning.
Here they are, in no particular order.
1. Eliminate most adverbs. It’s ridiculously easy to populate virtually every page with them. Wait…why not: It’s easy to over populate every page with them. The latter is cleaner, simpler and more straightforward. Or instead of “quickly ran,” why not a stronger, more descriptive verb such as sprinted or dashed? Be ruthless. Adverbs clutter up writing, and their use should be deliberate and sparing.
2. Don’t overuse pet words. In my early work, people stared, gazed, took deep breaths and frowned a lot. To fix the problem, I began identifying recurring words and adding them to a master list. (Yes, “ly” is on there, too, for those pesky adverbs!) When I finish writing a chapter, I use the search function to find every word on the list—then change those I’ve overused. Over time, that list has grown to contain…well, let’s leave it at dozens of words, lest I sound obsessive. But it’s amazing how much more polished my writing has become as a result of this exercise, tiresome though it is.
3. Make limited use of dialogue tags. What does “he said” or “she said” add to a story? In many cases, there’s no need to identify the speaker; it’s obvious. And in instances where you do need to identify who’s speaking, consider it an opportunity to give readers an insight into his or her character. Example: “‘I won’t go.’ John shoved the leftover take-out chili in the microwave, slammed the door and jabbed the reheat button.” That tells the reader a lot more about John’s character than, “‘I won’t go,’ John retorted.” And it fits right into the “show, don’t tell” rule that helps make writing shine.
4. Now here’s the extra twist I mentioned earlier: add something unique that will make your book stand out and catch the eye of judges, editors and readers. My recent RITA-award winner, In Harm’s Way, contained what appeared to be a paranormal element. I emphasize apparent, because this is an inspirational romantic suspense and paranormal is frowned upon. But the phenomenon I wrote about is real, if unexplainable, and readers told me they loved the twist this gave the story, which kept them intrigued throughout. So adding an unusual element or a surprising plot twist can give a book that all-important extra oomph.
I can’t promise you’ll win a RITA if you apply all these rules, but I know they’ve made me a better writer. May they do the same for you!
Irene Hannon is the author of more than 35 novels, including the bestselling Heroes of Quantico series. Her books have been honored with two coveted RITA awards from Romance Writers of America (the “Oscar” of romantic fiction), a HOLT Medallion, a Daphne du Maurier Award and two Reviewers’ Choice Awards from RT Book Reviews magazine. Her latest novel, Deadly Pursuit, has just been released.
