Genre & Tone

Here’s a tip! If you want to have girl power in your series or movie, normalize women.

Girl power shouldn’t be about proving that women can do things the same or better than men even if they are women! Girl power should be about women being equal to men and not diminished for being a girl.

Avoid having the male characters get surprised that she’s a women, avoid them saying things like “She’s a woman, but she’s strong!” or “Holy shit she’s a woman!?” or “Don’t be too tough on the woman!”. Those kinds of behaviors make it seem that it is surprising for a female person to be strong and/or independant. Equality is women getting treated the same as the men, not having people be surprised that she can do all those martial arts while being a woman! Wether the character is male, female, or non-binary, they should be treated socially equal regardless of their gender!

Slashing Your Word Count

A guide for over-writers. 

So there I was, sitting in front of my 120,000 word YA Fantasy manuscript having a breakdown. Why? you ask. Well, because I want to be traditionally published and no one will buy a YA debut that long. 

Why not? This answer would a post on its own. Or a 24 minute video. Luckily Alexa Donne has already done that work and you can watch it here. 

Now I’m going to summarise all the advice I was given that had lead to me doing a brutally cut down draft in two sections, the big cuts, macro level, and the small cuts, micro level. 

Micro Level Cuts

Reduce each description by 1 or 2 words - @coffee_loving_artist

Reduce dialogue. Single spoken words can carry more emotional weight than elongated lines. 

Cut down on dialogue and action tags. If it’s clear who is speaking, don’t use anything! - @parisandherbooks

Cut repeated sentences. It’s not as dramatic as you think it is. 

Simplify convoluted sentences - @jade_d_brown

Cut words like very, quite, sort of, kind of, it was, there was, that, now, then, suddenly and any crutch words you have - @just.a_simple_writer

Change passive language - @laurenkayzles

Macros Level Cuts

Chop off the beginning and the end of long scenes. 

Cut info dumps

Never get lost in internal monologue. Keep it to a small para at most. 

Cut fluff scenes - @teen_writing_101 & @cakeyboy 

It doesn’t take 1000 words to make a small point – condense it!!

Cut unnecessary dialogue or chit chat 

Merge scenes that feel repetitive 

Cut the prologue 

Cut the epilogue 

(Remember that those can go back in after your book has been bought) 

If you’re desperate, delete a POV - @thewritingfirebird

Ask your Beta’s which subplots/characters could go - @howwhyandsowhat 

[If reposting to instagram please credit @isabellestonebooks]

Writing Tip #211

Short stories are a great way to learn writing. They’re short commitments, so if it fails, it’s ok you’ve only lost 3 days and your next attempt will be better.

“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”

— Louis L'Amour (via quotemadness)

I wanted to double check that “The Cherry on Top” was a short novel or novella and I found this on uphillwriting.org. I think it’s very informative and hopefully you guys will find it useful!

“It’s amazing how much distance one truth can create between two people.”

— Colleen Hoover (via quotemadness)

“Please be stronger than your past. The future may still give you a chance.”

— George Michael