10 Wise Writing Tips From Expert Authors

Forever Students of the Craft of Writing

Writing is a gift that never ends—there is always something left to be learned, and writing tips still to be discovered and tried. Writers never graduate from being students of the craft of writing. 

It’s a beautiful reality of what we do. 

But where’s a good place to learn about this craft of ours? The answer is from the writers who wrote before us. Whether they have passed away or still write, these experts are eager to share tips they’ve learned with other writers. 

It’s wise for us to be open and receive what writing wisdom they have to offer. 

To put this post together, I went to one of my favorite sites (hello, Pinterest!) and searched for writing quotes I thought we could all glean some knowledge from. 

Without any further ado, I present 10 writing tips from well-known authors!

10 Writing Tips

Tip #1: What Does My Character Want? 

The first of our tips on writing comes from novelist and memoirist Sue Monk Kidd. 

“Ask: What does my character want? For me that is the single most important question to ask when writing a novel. I need my main character to want something very badly, and I need to understand completely and utterly what it is. That’s because this thing, or tangle of things, will become the driving force of the book.”

Sue Monk Kidd

Without a character, you have no story. Kidd is spot on when emphasizing the importance of asking what your character wants. 

Your character needs to want something, and want it badly enough to drive them into conflict with the antagonistic force.

At the center of every story is a character. To create a driving force capable of engaging readers, the author needs to understand what their character wants, perhaps even more than they understand themselves.  

Tip #2: Effective Description

This bit of writing wisdom is from the great author of 30+ books, C.S. Lewis. 

“Don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was ‘terrible,’ describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was ‘delightful’; make us say ‘delightful’ when we’ve read the description.”

C.S. Lewis

What a brilliant way to explain the classic “Show Don’t Tell” rule. We writers need to bring the feeling of the scene to the reader. 

When reading we yearn to feel what the characters feel, and experience the scenes as if we were present. C.S. Lewis has just told us how we can make that happen in our own stories for our readers.

Tip #3: Background Information

Evan Marshall—author, literary agent, and editor—gives us some knowledge on something that can make or break your story: The introduction of background information.  

“Another mistake is presenting too much background information, and doing so in the first few pages. Writers should begin their stories with the event that kicks off the story, and then spoon-feed us background information only when it’s needed to understand what’s going on.”

Evan Marshall

Bogging down your reader with background information—often referred to as info-dumping—is a big no-no. While our writerly perspective wants to share everything we know about our world and characters, the reader isn’t as excited about it as we are. 

To keep the book moving forward and the reader engaged, we must refrain from dumping information on our reader. Only reveal information when it is necessary to understanding what’s happening. 

This creates a strong story capable of carrying the reader swiftly to the end—and full of questions—without slogging through the soppy marshes of too-much-information and boredom.

Tip #4: Uncovering Plot

Number 4 of our writing tips comes to us from national bestselling thriller novelist Steven James. 

“To uncover the plot of your story, don’t ask what should happen, but what should go wrong. To uncover the meaning of your story, don’t ask what the theme is, but rather, what is discovered. Characters making choices to resolve tension—that’s your plot. If your protagonist has no goal, makes no choices, has no struggle to overcome, you have no plot.” 

Steven James, from Story Trumps Structure

There is a lot of truth packed into these four sentences. First off, the plot shouldn’t be crafted by just thinking what could happen next, but by asking what should go wrong next. I love this way of thinking, because it goes beyond making up something workable and good, to creating something epic. 

Secondly, the theme of your story is not something you force into your story, it is something that comes through on its own. It is something your characters and yourself discover along the way. 

And thirdly, your protagonist is the root of your plot. Your character must have a goal, an opposing force to the goal, and make choices to reach the goal. Without a goal pulling the characters forward, there will be no development of the plot.

Tip #5: Big Words vs. Little Words

From journalist and author James J. Kilpatrick comes the first half of our 5th writing tip. 

“Use familiar words—words that your readers will understand, and not words they will have to look up. No advice is more elementary, and no advice is more difficult to accept. When we feel an impulse to use a marvelously exotic word, let us lie down until the impulse goes away.”

James J. Kilpatrick

No words are wiser to those of us in love with words. The temptation is strong to bring out our thesaurus and choose the most exotic word listed, but we must resist. A reader wants to be immersed in the stories we tell, not torn out of the story world with every obscure word they are forced to look up. 

The smallest of tips for bigger writing…

On the same note, do not use many words when one word could do. Here’s what Samuel Johnson—essayist, biographer, poet, and lexicographer—has to say on this matter:

 “Do not accustom yourself to use big words for little matters. 
A man who uses a great many words to express his meaning is like a bad marksman who instead of aiming a single stone at an object takes up a handful and throws at it in hopes he may hit.”

Samuel Johnson

Use the fewest and simplest words you can. This doesn’t mean you make your writing bland, but means you refrain from drowning your readers in verbosity. When you use rich words that pinpoint what you are trying to portray, you strengthen your prose.

Pick the words you use intentionally for the greatest effect. Essentially, less is more. These quotes may just be the most simple yet effective of our 10 writing tips.

Tip #6: Use Your Magic

Poet, author, and playwright Ted Hughes brings us the next tip.

“Imagine what you are writing about. See it and live it. Do not think it up laboriously, as if you were working out mental arithmetic. Just look at it, touch it, smell it, listen to it, turn yourself into it. When you do this, the words look after themselves, like magic.”

Ted Hughes

Isn’t this how the beginning of a story idea hits us? The first scene I imagine is often the most vibrant, while the scenes I imagine later during novel planning a bit more dull.

Yet, this doesn’t mean we should give up imagining after the first taste of our story. No, we just need to work a little more to bring the story scenes to life in our imagination. 

With each scene, we need to take a moment and set ourselves in the scene. Once we give the scene the freedom to create itself, then the writing will come easier—the scene spark to life. 

Tip #7: Describing the Small for Big Effects

Brought to us by novelist and screenwriter Richard Price, tip 7 is powerful.

“The bigger the issue, the smaller you write. Remember that. You don’t write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid’s burnt socks lying on the road. You pick the smallest manageable part of the big thing, and you work off the resonance.”

Richard Price

This example Price gives is incredibly vivid—the power in this technique immediately apparent.

Something as big as war is hard to grasp if you have not seen it first hand. However, something as small and understandable as scorched socks with no owner in sight is heart-breaking. 

Small wins over big. 

Tip #8: Exercising the Imagination

One of the most known writers of our time, Stephen King gives us some wise words about our imaginations. 

“The writer must have a good imagination to begin with, but the imagination has to be muscular, which means it must be exercised in a disciplined way, day in and day out, by writing, failing, succeeding and revising.”

Stephen King

Never stop using your imagination. In your life and in your writing, never let your imagination become dormant. 

It will sneak up on you—the lack of imagination—until one day you realize the magic is gone and you must build it up again. 

Use it everyday, and value it. 

Tip #9: Perseverance in the Craft

Writer Tobias Wolff is the bringer of a word on the writing life. 

“In writing you work toward a result you won’t see for years, and can’t be sure you’ll ever see. It takes stamina and self-mastery and faith. It demands those things of you, then gives them back with a little extra, a surprise to keep you coming. It toughens you and clears your head. I could feel it happening. I was saving my life with every word I wrote, and I knew it.”

Tobias Wolff

How true is this description of the writing life? We write and write without seeing much gain for a long while, but we keep writing in faith of what it will bring. 

Sometimes it’s a fight to keep going, but Wolff affirms the reward is coming. 

Writing makes us strong, and perhaps you are someone who’s writing saves your life, too. 

Tip #10: Celebrate All Night Long

Last of our writing tips is courtesy of Andre Dubus III, and it is one of my favorites. 

“When you finish a draft of a poem, or short story, or novel, you make sure you go out and celebrate all night long because whether the world ever notices or not, whether you get it published or not, you did something most people never do: You started, stuck with, and finished a creative work. And that is a triumph.”

Andre Dubus III

When it seems like no one else notices, it’s easy to lay aside your victory and move onto the next project. 

Therefore, remind yourself to take time to celebrate your victory, because look at you: You did it! 

Whether anyone else notices does not matter. You finished, and you know it. 

Put the Writing Tips to Work

We’ve made it to the end of our 10 writing tips from writing experts, and it’s time to celebrate!

Today, take one of these tips on writing and start putting it into practice. 

There is no better way to learn writing than from expert writers who have proven their skill. They have shared their insight so we can learn what may have taken years for them to learn. It’s our job to make use of their experience. 

Featured Photo by Janko Ferlič on Unsplash