Basic tips to to improve your writing and editing
Updated: Jan 18, 2022
When I wrote my first novel, The Lucidity Programme, I had no mentor, writing coach, or writing group to bounce ideas off. I found myself taking two steps forwards and one step backwards. Halfway through writing the novel I would discover new ideas, and tools to help me make improvements - rewrite followed rewrite. Here are some thoughts and excellent links which may help you avoid the pitfalls I fell into.
As Stephen King once said: "The road to hell is paved with adverbs!"
And Mark Twain's offering: “When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them--then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are far apart.”
So, starting with a clean up of unnecessary words.
https://dianaurban.com/words-you-should-cut-from-your-writing-immediately
Free software to help you improve your statistics. Depending on your genre, using your word count, aim for the appropriate book length, chapter length, and sentence length. As a percentage how much, or how little dialogue is in your book? These free links will you find out.
