We’ve all found ourselves stuck in a writing rut before. Turns out, writing well is hard! But it doesn’t have to be. If you keep a few simple rules in mind, your prose can turn a full 180 degrees and flow beautifully. These are three of the best tips I’ve used in my career. I hope they help!

Kill Those Passive Sentences!

Sentences were written poorly by an author who didn’t edit thoroughly enough. The readers were appalled that this kind of schlock got through a publisher.

Yeah, yeah, it might not be terribly original of me to include this advice, but there’s a reason every article on writing tips mentions this particular flaw. Active voice takes effort, plain and simple. It requires attention, and when you’re forcing yourself through your daily writing routine, you might want to just speed through on autopilot.

That’s a terrible idea. Active writing reads better than passive writing in most cases. Not all, but I’d struggle to point out a general rule for using passive voice over active voice. It’s a case-by-case matter, and you really ought to err on the side of active sentences.

So what’s the difference between an active sentence and a passive sentence? The rule is pretty simple: in an active sentence, a subject does something, while in a passive sentence, an action is done by the subject. So, you get stuff like “the parking lot was destroyed by a giant mech” rather than “a giant mech destroyed the parking lot.” The latter might not dramatically improve on the former, but try reading a manuscript with zero active sentences. I have. It hurt.

The Scourge of Echoing Headwords

When writing, you might come across a bit of redundancy here and there. When you write without thinking about the context of the previous sentences, things might end up sounding a bit choppy and annoying. When this happens, you really need to make a change. When you think about it, it’s kind of obvious. Even a single unique sentence can make a difference.

That’s right, you need to switch up the first words in your sentences! This is one of my favorite writing tips, because it’s so subtle, but it makes a huge difference. Whether you’re starting sentences with a single word (“I” is a huge offender) or even just repeating the first word of each paragraph, readers’ eyes will glaze over quicker than you think. Your manuscript simply demands variety. Honestly, the scourge of echoing headwords burns my poor editorial eyes in every manuscript I read. Change it up for me. Please. I’m begging you.

Sentence Structure? More Like Sentence STUCKture!

I walked the dog. The dog was red. The dog was fluffy. He said “bark.” I hate this structure. I am trapped forever. Please save me now.

Sentences need to flow. If you think you can get away without paying attention to the lengths of your sentences, think again. It just isn’t going to work. As I wrote before, your manuscript demands variety, and that variety needs to appear everywhere. Each sentence ought to read differently than the last one. Sometimes, you can get away with repetition, but it has to be intentional. Otherwise, your audience will snooze. So in general, I advise that you give some thought to the musical ebb and flow of your sentences.

I hope these writing tips will help you in your authorial journey! So long as you keep them in mind when you’re in the zone, you’ll save yourself a lot of editing time, trust me. Just remember that these are not the only writing tips out there. Never stop looking for opportunities to learn. Never let yourself say “my writing can’t get better.” You will never run out of new ways to improve yourself!