8 Applicable Tips to Help You Become a Better Story Writer

I have eight tips for you that you can apply to your writing today, and you’ll become a better story writer in no time.

We’re going to talk about how to read more, how to write more, what prewriting you should be doing, what craft elements to focus on, developing your characters and their dialogue, and how to edit mercilessly. So let’s dive in.

1. Read often

You’ve probably heard that to become a good writer you need to read often and read broadly, right? Well I’m going to tell you again, because it is such a great piece of advice. I don’t think you can hear this one too often. So, to become a good writer you need to read often and read broadly. When I say ‘read broadly’ I mean try different styles, different authors, different genres, cultures, story structures, character types. Everything you read should be different from the last thing you read in some capacity. If you’re stuck reading old white men writing about World War II, it’s definitely time for a change.

When you read, you want to read like a writer. There’s a great book by Francine Prose called Reading Like a Writer. It’s a wonderful book that walks you through how to read in order to become a better writer.

Prose talks about close reading, which is the act of reading from an analytical perspective. You’re looking at how this author constructed their sentences and paragraphs. You’re noticing the word choice and the diction. What plot elements is this writer using? How did they pull off raising your heart rate? Why do you feel so attached to the main character within the first page?

Even if you don’t close read every single time you pick up a book, it’s important to read often. You’ll read good writing and absorb it. It’s like learning a language. Listening to the language helps you learn the pronunciation and rhythm. You start to subconsciously pick up on cadence and inflections. The more you read, the more you’ll pick up on the tricks authors are using to hook you.

2. Write often

When you listen to a language, you can start to hear the subtleties of it, but the only way to put what you’ve heard into action is by speaking it yourself. The same is true for reading and writing. You can read all day and analyze other writing like nobody’s business, but if you don’t practice the skills you’re picking up on, what’s the point? I’m assuming you’re here because you want to write amazing stories, not just analyze them.

Simply put, the more you flex your writing muscles, the stronger they get. Even writing for 10 minutes a day will help you become a better story writer. Having the motivation and structure of a writing routine is a great way to strengthen those skills.

3. Prewriting helps you become a better story writer

Prewriting is a great way to warm up. This tactic helps you sort out what’s happening in your story when you’re between drafts.

Prewriting can look like a lot of different things. What you might be most familiar with is the character profile and outlining.

But, some other examples of prewriting might look like writing scenes that don’t actually fit into your story, but help you better understand your characters. It might be worldbuilding exercises that help you really dive into the setting of your story. You might keep a list of ideas that come to you throughout the day so you don’t forget them by the time you sit down to write.

Just because we have the prefix ‘pre’ on prewriting, doesn’t mean you have to do all of this work before drafting a story. You can do this at any point in your writing process to help you make sense of the story in your head.

4. Use craft elements wisely

To really become a better story writer, you’ll want to strategically pick out what craft elements to focus on. As a refresher, craft elements are things like plot, structure, dialogue, characterization, point of view, pacing, the list goes on. Basically, a craft element is anything that you use to help convey your story in a certain way.

When done well, craft elements are invisible in a story. You get wrapped up in the turn of events and the rollout of new information. But, you’re not necessarily thinking “Wow, the structure of this plot is amazing!” Well, if you’re reading like a writer, you might be.

It’s important to intentionally pick why you write in third person vs first person, why your character speaks the way they do, and what tone your narrator gives off. But, this also shouldn’t be overwhelming. These things will come naturally the more you write and the more you educate yourself on the craft of writing.

5. Develop your characters and you’ll become a better story writer

If you’ve been here before, you know what I’m about to say. Your characters are everything. If your reader can’t connect to your character, then you might as well not even have a story. That might sound harsh, but I say it to get you to focus on your characters. Well developed characters are the bread and butter to every story. If we didn’t like Katniss and Primrose, would we even care that they called Prim’s name at the lottery in Hunger Games? If Blair and Serena weren’t well rounded characters, how could we put up with all the bad choices they made in Gossip Girl?

Your plot can be stellar, your craft elements can all fall into place, but if you don’t have developed characters, your reader will lose interest. We want to read to connect with other people.

6. Elevate your dialogue

This is a craft element I want to look at specifically because it really can make or break a story. Dialogue is hard to master. It’s really hard to authentically show the speech of another person. But I do have a few tips on elevating your dialogue that will work no matter the characters you’ve created.

Tell, don’t show

Despite what you’ve heard, it’s okay to tell and not show sometimes. As an example: When two characters meet, you might feel tempted to show the introductions. If your reader already knows those characters, then the introduction is repetitive and slows the pacing of your story. You might have to introduce these characters for the plot, but it’s okay to tell instead of show. You can use one sentence to say “Mikey introduced Pete and Sam” rather than having us sit through a bunch of “Hey how are ya”s.

Dialogue tags

Always use the word said in your dialogue tags. I know there’s a lot of writing advice out there like “100 words to use other than said” and “said is dead”. I’m here to tell you that “said” is very much alive. Said is an invisible word in your writing. You could use “he said” one thousand times in your story and your reader won’t bat an eye. If you say “he laughed” or “he smirked” even 10 times, you might fatigue your reader with the repetitive words.

Keep it short

And lastly, for now, keep dialogue short and sweet where you can. If your character has paragraphs of dialogue all on top of each other, find another way to convey the scene. Bricks of dialogue can get overwhelming, and your reader might even forget who’s talking if you go on too long.

7. Editing helps you become a better story writer

After you finish your first draft, it’s time to edit mercilessly. If something isn’t working, it’s okay to cut it out rather than trying to salvage it. It’s really easy to fall into a sunk cost fallacy after you’ve written a story. Just because you spent time on a scene and enjoyed it, it doesn’t mean that it automatically moves your story forward. Be honest with yourself, or have someone else read your work if you feel too close to it.

8. Trust your gut

And that brings me to my last tip for today, trust your gut! As you continue to read and write you’ll develop a writer’s intuition and these things will come naturally to you. It’s okay to not get it right at the very get-go. Trust that you’ll be able to edit and make decisions. The story will come together as you chisel away at it.

Conclusion

I hope this inspires you to become a better story writer! These are tips you can take with you today and start implementing them the next time you sit down. I’m sure you’ll see an improvement in your writing.

If you have any questions or other tips you want to leave for each other, please leave a comment.

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Another great way to beat the tropes is to have round, relatable, and realistic characters. In under 15 minutes, this training will teach you how you should actually look at the character profile, and what to do with the information in it when it’s complete.

How does the information in the profile translate to the story you’re writing? Why do we need to know everything about our characters’ lives? And how does this tool help us write better stories?

If you’ve got less than 15 minutes, I’ve got the answers. Let me send this training to you!

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