Writing Advice From Readers

It’s that time again! Last year I wrote about what my students wanted to read, and this year I’m back to give you an update.

I spoke with only the most eager of readers to compile this advice – readers of non-fiction, fantasy, realistic fiction, paranormal – you name it, they read it. Surprisingly, many of them gave me the same items on their “want” list. Keep in mind, they may be juniors in high school, but they read widely. Some are devoted to young adult literature, but many read books geared towards adults.

So, without further ado – I give you their advice.

1. Share your experiences

This advice is from non-fiction and fiction readers alike. They want the truth – the REAL truth – and they want it in book form. When I asked if they were hoping to relate to the characters, the answers were mixed. Some wanted to get their hands on new experiences. Others were hoping to validate their own. Either way, give them the truth – the whole, ugly truth – and don't sugar-coat it.

2. Revise your villains

Readers are tired of cliché villains. You know the type: pure evil, driven by malice, with no qualms about killing everyone around them. Instead, they want antagonists who are morally gray. Make sure they are good in some ways, but bad in others. Students want to like portions of their personality, but loathe some of their decisions.  Keep the villains real – especially in fantasy.

3. Create morally ambiguous protagonists

While this may seem contrary to what a protagonist should be, that’s what the students want. They are tired of the perfect hero and heroine. Give them someone with questionable morals who we can still root for. Create believable, fallible heroes.  Again – move away from the cliché.

4. Get rid of the weak woman

My romance and fantasy readers were adamant on this one:  Bring on those strong women! They are tired of romance novels that portray women as the weak one in the relationship.  One student advised, too, that sometimes the women will start “cool and strong and interesting,” but become weak once the male takes over. So, keep those women consistently strong.

5. Cool it on the crazy names

As one student so aptly put it, “Why does every character have some weird name like Opal Windstorm? It’s okay to name your protagonist “Cathy.”’ While it can be fun to come up with a name of which no one has ever heard, the readers may be tired of it. Something to consider the next time we start making up names.

6. Every relationship doesn’t have to end in romance

“It’s like salt,” one student said. “We all like a little salt, but once you’ve had too much, you feel sick.” In short, not every relationship has to end in romance. They’d like to see men and women be friends without it crossing over into a romantic relationship. “One romance is okay,” said another student, “but leave it at that. Stop match-making all of the characters.”

There you have it!  No matter your genre, these pieces of advice are all worthy of consideration.  Hopefully their advice will inspire your writing!



Bethany Masone Harar is an author, teacher, and blogger, who does her best to turn reluctant readers into voracious, book-reading nerds. Check out her blog here and her website here.

Read More »

3 comments antagonist, character names, cliches, fantasy, fiction, Harar, non-fiction, protagonist, romance, villains, what readers want, writing ideas, writing inspiration

Two Top Tips for Writing Flash Fiction

I have had the pleasure of reading some of WOW’s flash fiction contest entries, and I’m continually impressed that so many of you share your stories – a.k.a. bare your souls – to us each contest.

Having now read hundreds of flash fiction stories – from this contest, from my students, from other flash-fiction publications – I have seen what works well in flash fiction, and what does not.

I want to share two tips with you and hope that you will use them to revise your flash fiction and submit it to WOW’s next flash fiction contest (see here for contest deadlines and requirements).

1. Show, Don’t Tell

That’s good advice for all types of creative writing. In flash fiction, however, it’s common to think you have to summarize a lot of information so you can condense the story into the limited word count, which results in telling rather than showing.

For example, writing “I was elated” tells us that the character is excited, but how would you show that?

“I jumped up and down with my fist pumping the air, yelling ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’” shows us that the character is excited and also provides more about the character’s personality.

Showing, rather than telling, strengthens your writing, but it can also increase your word count, which leads me to my second suggestion, which can help reduce the word count:

2. Avoid Adverbs, Clichés, and Other Unnecessary Words

It’s tempting to default to commonly used phrases or to write the way we speak. But writing is a craft, which means we need to chisel out all of the triteness of language from our stories.

Let’s deconstruct this sentence: “I threw all caution to the wind when I took the plunge over the bridge and fell quickly into the bitterly cold and rapidly moving river below.”

Adverbs: quickly, bitterly, rapidly

Adverbs are rarely needed (see, I just used one, so sometimes they’re OK), but when writing fiction, it’s best to use strong nouns and verbs instead.

Clichés: threw all caution to the wind, took the plunge

These words have been used in this order too many times. You’re a creative writer – find new ways to describe your scene and characters! Eliminate all over-used phrases.

Potential revised sentence: “I jumped off the bridge and the river’s icicle fingers carried me past the old hotel before depositing me into the rocks on the other side.”

There are plenty of other ways to revise the sentence, but my revised example provides more images and sensory details, which help a reader to see and maybe even feel the scene.

Notice that I didn’t specifically write about landing in the water, because if someone jumps off a bridge over a river, it’s implied that she’s going to land in the water; therefore, you can eliminate that detail.

I hope these tips help you with story revisions. Good luck and happy writing!

Tips provided by: Anne Greenawalt

Read More »

Leave a Comment adverb, Anne Greenawalt, cliches, editing flash fiction, Flash Fiction Contest, show don't tell

Adverbs and Cliches in a Nutshell by Jessica Bell (Review)

Jessica Bell has a new writers' advice and exercise book out titled, Adverbs and Clichés in a Nutshell: Demonstrated Subversions of Adverbs and Clichés into Gourmet Imagery. You might recognize Jessica's name--she is a great friend of WOW!, and we have featured her books before: Show and Tell in a Nutshell and The Book.

So what will writers find in Jessica's new book, Adverbs and Clichés in a Nutshell?  After a short and informative introduction, which explains why Jessica wrote this book and how to use it, readers are presented with 34 examples of clichés and adverbs, used to describe something, and then, a unique, much-better example of describing the same thing. She also provides a blank page for you to try your hand at writing descriptions without using clichés or adverbs.

I love this format. Jessica has a knack for making her books simple, to-the-point, and useful. This is WHAT busy writers and readers need--we don't need a 200-page how-to book to sift through.

Here's an example:

• Adverb: habitually   Cliché: old habits die hard
• Using adverb: Men are habitually stubborn. Using cliché: Men never change. Old habits die hard.
• Unique example: Men cling to habit like sap to a tree trunk.

Examples range in length from simple ones like this above to more complex paragraphs. I also like this aspect because it allows readers to see how to change one sentence to make it more unique or one whole paragraph to get rid of clichés and adverbs.

Besides the lists, examples, and exercises, the book also includes two helpful indexes: one of adverbs and one of clichés. I found the cliché index extremely helpful. Have you ever written a cliché and not even realized it until your critique group pointed it out? That happens to me sometimes. This list can help with your writing and self-editing. Read it, and then vow not to use these in your writing! 

I am excited about Jessica Bell's new "Nutshell" series, and Adverbs and Clichés in a Nutshell is another wonderful addition. I can't wait to see what else she has in store. This book will make a great gift for a writer or a writing teacher or an addition to your library. Check out the book on Amazon.

Review by Margo L. Dill, WOW! instructor and editor, author of Finding My Place: One Girl's Strength at Vicksburg.  

Read More »

4 comments adverb usage, cliches, Jessica Bell, writing advice

How to Subvert Clichés

By Jessica Bell

As a co-founder and editor of Vine Leaves Literary Journal, I have read my fair share of clichéd submissions. And I'm afraid to say, that most of the time, they make me wince.

As a writer, it is likely hard to comprehend how overwhelming these clichéd submissions can get. You are only one person after all, with one cliché in front of you, and it's logical to think, Oh, it'll be all right, surely there won't be any other subs like this. But you would be surprised. What you need to think is: Am I really going to be noticed amongst an inbox full of 300-400 other submissions if I'm writing about the sea breeze, and quiet dark nights?

Vine Leaves Literary Journal has been around for more than a year now. And the clichés (especially in poetry) that most frequently overwhelm us are:

• gardens/plants (pretty red poppies, bees, roses and Eden)
• sun/moon/stars (shining, glistening on sand or water)
• beating hearts (oh I love you so much my heart is racing)
• quiet nights (as I caress your cheek, as soft as a baby's bottom)
• gentle breezes (I close my eyes and feel your presence)
• oceans/beaches (my toes dig into the warm sand)
• weather/seasons (birds chirping in spring, heat waves rising off the road)

However, if you are sure that you have written about these things in a unique way, we're totally open to reading about them. But trust me, we will be extra critical.

For an example of one unique way to write about gardens, take a look at The History of Dirt, by Allie Marini Batts, from Issue #03, page 37. This WOWED me.

So how can we twist the above clichéd topics into interesting reading?

For starters, use objects as metaphors for emotions or personality traits; plants in a non-garden context to attract attention and intrigue; give pretty things ugly qualities, and vice versa; compare love to a simple gesture that isn't saccharine; instead of talking about the quiet night, find a quiet detail to draw attention to, an elderly man kicking a newspaper in an abandoned street perhaps, and his echoing grunt. Think opposite, think unpredictable. Tweak a common feeling with a unique bent, experiment with poetic prose.

Sure, clichés exist because they come from real life, and you may argue that they are 'relatable.' But the way in which one experiences things isn't always the same. As writers, it's your duty to make your readers see through a unique pair of eyes. Tell me, which of the following excerpts is the most clichéd? And which is more interesting to read?

As I step foot onto the sand, I realize I'm ready to wipe the slate clean, to start again in a new town where I no longer feel the weight of regret on my shoulders, or the desire to runaway; a place where I can accept who I am.

As I step foot onto the sand, I realize I’m ready to wipe this regret from my skin; to immerse myself in a new ocean, where my desire for fleeing this emotional cage hides like a mermaid ambivalent about growing legs.

What other clichés can you think of that you persistently see in writing? Or better still, what have you read that uses a cliché in a unique way?


Need more help with your writing? Why don't you try Jessica's pocket guide, Show & Tell in a Nutshell: Demonstrated Transitions from Telling to Showing?

About the Author:

If Jessica Bell could choose only one creative mentor, she’d give the role to Euterpe, the Greek muse of music and lyrics. This is not only because she currently resides in Athens, Greece, but because of her life as a thirty-something Australian-native contemporary fiction author, poet and singer/songwriter/guitarist, whose literary inspiration often stems from songs she’s written.

She is the Co-Publishing Editor of Vine Leaves Literary Journal and annually runs the Homeric Writers’ Retreat & Workshop on the Greek island of Ithaca. She makes a living as a writer/editor for English Language Teaching Publishers worldwide, such as Pearson Education, HarperCollins, MacMillan Education, Education First and Cengage Learning.

Visit Jessica's blog, The Alliterative Allomorph, and connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.

Read More »

8 comments cliches, editing, Jessica Bell, show vs tell, submissions, Vine Leaves Literary Journal