Writing Advice for New Writers

Webinars are one of my favorite sources of great writing advice. From the hundred or so webinars I’ve taken notes on since 2021, some advice has never left me. When I start a new book, when I’m struggling with muddy middles, or when I’m groaning over revisions, these suggestions and insights have pulled me through.

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Getting Started

Way back in 2021, via SCBWI, I watched Tiffany Jackson‘s talk “Plot Like a Film.” Her background in film shapes how she writes: she goes scene by scene, with a cinematic eye.

White Smoke is a good example of that, with each individual scene playing out its own little story arc.

Her advice about knowing—and sticking to—that log line is infuriately true. Look, I’m no saint. Sometimes I drift from its promise in my first drafts. But always, during revisions, the log line is gravity in the chaos.

Tiffany recommended reading Syd Field’s Screenplay to nail down your grasp on the three-act paradigm.

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Making Every Word Count

Michael Kleber-Diggs gave a brilliant talk in 2022 via Authors Publish on “The Art of Poetic Efficiency.” He peppered his thoughts with phenomenal quotes from other writers: “You want to write a sentence as clean as a bone. That is the goal.” (James Baldwin)

His take on poetic efficiency stays with me even in prose: Focus on the value of each word.

The point isn’t trying to get everybody to write in Hemingway-esque minimalism. It’s about making every word earn its keep. Is there any repetition? Would an idea be better implied?

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Letting Readers In

Cinda Williams Chima has cranked out a beastly number of books across at least three different series. Her 2021 talk “Using Cinematic Techniques to Deliver Character and Story” via SCBWI altered my writer-brain chemistry.

I was still a newbie, and the concept of balancing scene and dialogue vs. narrative (for summary) hadn’t moved into my conscious mind yet. Cinda’s talk dragged it into the light. Every reader sees each scene differently—and that’s okay!

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Reading Actively

I caught Rebecca Gould‘s 2021 talk via Authors Publish while I was feeling optimistic about my ability to juggle book-writing and book-review-writing (and, you know, the day-job). Publishing reviews is still more aspiration than practice for me. But even so, Rebecca’s approach oriented me in a deeper philosophy about reading.

I did plenty of literary analysis for my graduate degree. But it hadn’t fully clicked for me that, as a writer, I could apply those skills to my “for fun” reading too. Approaching books critically, from technique to theme, is part of joining a larger conversation, respecting an author’s work, and developing your own craft.

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Tightening Scenes

In 2021, when I listened to her talk, Lisa Papademetriou was not only an author but also an editor, an MFA professor, and the founder of Bookflow. Her talk was practical and accessible, and one bit of writing advice that’s stuck with me is this concept of treating each scene as its own little story.

I don’t consciously do this every scene. Some scenes just flow, and the “hub” is there by nature. But when I’m stuck on a scene, or if a scene feels “flat,” I come back to this advice. How could the situation get better? How could it get worse?

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What writing advice has stuck with you?

Have any words of wisdom from other writers stuck with you over the years? Are there any webinars you’ve loved recently? Any you’re excited to attend? Let me know! And if you’re a new writer yourself seeking more writing advice, check out my list of Writing Resources and my newsletter. I’m a writer, an editor, and a big fan of anything a bit spooky, strange, or haunting! The newsletter is a great way to catch my favorite finds for the month while keeping up with my publishing journey.