Avoid Pointless Rambling

Something to remember when doing any type of writing is that a few words can say a lot. Why waste a whole page trying to explain something when a single paragraph or comment in conversation can tell the reader all they need to know about an obscure part of the plot or object the characters will use? The a few words phrased correctly can have much more impact.

Got A Big Project Planned?

One of the best pieces of advice I have ever gotten is to break large projects into a number of smaller projects. I know, I know, you've heard it so many times, but how often do you remember it when that big project lomes ahead of you? I always seem to forget this stategy whenever I have a huge project planned. I keep putting off the large project because it's just so HUGE. I wonder what I was thinking when I decided to do the project, then I remember this advice and relax. I make up a long list of tiny projects and get started on the huge project one check mark at a time. It's also amazing to be able to look at all those check marks on my list and know I'm getting to the end of the project. If you still don't want to do the small steps, try adding an incentive such as a movie or eating a favorite meal. Whatever your incentive, be sure that it doesn't interfere with your work. Stick to your schedule and don't try to get your reward before you've done the work or you won't feel like doing the work later.

Use Your Vocabulary

One of the pieces of advice given the most to writers is to expand your vocabulary. That is good advice as writing depends on being able to use each and every word to its best. But do you really need to expand your vocabulary? Most of us already have a large vocabulary, developed merely from reading the works of other writers. My suggestion is that not only do you learn new words whenever possible, but also use the words you already know to more fully communicate your ideas to your reader.

Action or Plot

Many people watch action movies and notice that many of those movies seem to have little or no plot. To those of you who wonder if an action book can also have a good plot (which in a book you need but having no plot in a movie can be forgiven), here is an article for you.

Finding Your Writer's Voice

One thing I have yet to manage is to find my "voice", how to make my writing uniquely mine and enthrall readers. It's a journey every writer goes on, or needs to go on, before getting published. For those of you who have yet to find your voice, here are some ideas for how to discover your writer's voice.
Finding Your Voice
Creative Tips For Finding Your Voice

For those of you who already know your writer's voice but can't seem to get the query letter to sound right, here's an article on how to put your voice in your query letter to attract the reader.

Six Simple Tips

Although the writer of this article didn't format the writing correct to be published, resulting in non-English characters in the sentences, the tips are good for every writer to remember:
Get rid of excess words.
Don't use words as fillers.
Avoid being redundant.
Be wary of multiple conjunctions.
Use active voice.
choose words carefully.

Point of View

I've always known, as part of my original story idea, which point of view I'd write my next story in but reading the article by Robert J. Sawyer, an acclaimed author of many science fiction books, I realized that I really should give the point of view I write from more thought. I've often been reminded how hard it is to stay to one point of view by my reviewers as well as stories I've read and it really can be confusing when authors switch points of view a lot, even when the writers make it obvious by writing who the reader is now viewing the story from. Robert J. Sawyer does an excellent job of explaining the term of "limited third party" and showing how to use it correctly in a story.