I’m a writer blog

Guidelines for writing Poems, Stories and Tales

Tips for writing a novel



From our self-publishing publishing house we want to generate useful content for the writer who wants to write a novel or a book of another genre. Every day we read manuscripts from aspiring writers. We get our hands on many novels and short stories that are sometimes full of possibilities in terms of story, although they could get more out of them by polishing the style. To avoid this, we provide 10 tips to follow for the self-publishing writer to make the literary story more attractive:

Seduce with the first lines

Your story must hook from the beginning, captivate from the start so that the reader continues reading attentively. A good strategy in the beginning of how to write a novel is to do it with an unknown, a shocking fact or with a good image to embroider the description.

Avoid complex language

Look for simplicity, use the right words, avoid unnecessary technicalities and chaff, fundamental in how to write a book. Narrate with verbs in active voice avoiding passive voice, avoid adverbs and reflexives.

Reduce paragraphs





Make short paragraphs, the reading will flow better and you will also cause a better visual image in the reader. It is true that sometimes it will be unavoidable because the semicolon is used to separate different contents, it does not mean that it is a radical change of subject, but a difference regarding the reasoning, so it is largely up to you to finish a paragraph or not.

Intersperse long and short sentences

As for the sentences, if we reduce everything to short and terse sentences we will be left with a telegraphic language with a stumbling reading. On the other hand, with very long sentences we may not be able to understand it well and we may distort the meaning of the sentence. Do not overdo it with the length of the sentences, the ideal for writing a novel is variety.

Avoid connectors whenever possible

Often connectors such as however, on the other hand, on the other hand, likewise, consequently, in summary or on the other hand eat up half a page and we have not told anything, avoid them whenever they are not strictly necessary in your story or novel.

Try to adapt the rhythm of the narration to the story.

It is not the same to tell a suspenseful scene as the happy ending of a family novel. You should try to adapt the language and the rhythm of the narration to what you are telling, there is no exact formula in the tempo when it comes to writing a novel because it will depend on the story itself. For example, for suspense, it is good to pause, to imply something and jump paragraphs, to make shorter sentences.



Eliminate the obvious



I know you’re not going to say that it’s raining down or that I was walking up the stairs, but besides that, there are certainly some elements that can be avoided in certain descriptions that end up being empty and unnecessary.

Introduce questions

The use of interrogations, to generate questions to what we tell is a way to generate expectation and that enriches our storytelling, isn’t it true that this post is helping you? Undoubtedly, raising these questions, besides causing intrigue in the reader, will also help you in the process of writing a novel, it is important that you ask yourself questions to make sure everything is going well.

Use metaphors

This literary figure has a great power of attraction, if we say that the sea was burning you will understand that the sea was agitated, but what is curious, what burns is the fire. It is perfectly understandable, but more attractive. The metaphor, although we know it more from poetry, is not incompatible with prose and is recurrent when writing a novel or short story.

Describe with the five senses

To make a description, do not limit yourself only to offering visual details of a place or a character, introduce elements such as what sounds there are, what it smells like, if the character’s skin crawls… it is a way to enrich the scene.