Hi!
Okay so I’m on my phone, so sorry if the layout of this comes out all weird and stuff. Secondly, I’m literally in no way an expert in writing, I’ve just found techniques that make good reading through writing for a couple years, reading like tons and tons of books and what I’ve learnt through studying English.
So, that brings us to the first advice I would ever give anyone is literally read everything. Reading is the best way to make your writing better because you get to see what style of writing you like. Let it influence your writing, but don’t let it dictate it. Every writer has their own flair, find yours.
Different sentence lengths and structures are your best friend. If every sentence is the same length, or the same structure, your writing becomes monotonous (of course, unless what you’re going for). Different sentence lengths create rhythm and flow. When we speak, we don’t say like five words or ten words at a time in a sentence, followed by another ten words. We break language up, we extend it.
Shorter sentences tend to be more dramatic. They are concise and deliver the message bluntly, so the use of this will definitely vary on the personality of your character. Longer sentences tend to offer more information and therefore are great for emotions, or building up tension.
Get your characters set. You may not have to plan the entire story if you’re someone like me, who just writes as she goes, but character planning always helps you differentiate between your OCs and make sure you don’t mix their personalities.
Be descriptive, but don’t go too far. Unless of course, you wish to follow in the footsteps of George R.R. Martin, in which I would tell you, be tasteful and selective about it. You don’t need to describe everything in a room the moment a character enters. If it’s necessary and constant in the story, like the characters bedroom, or a common room, then explain it once, but never go into full detail twice. Mention small details, like how cold the room is or the ugly wallpaper. Anything which would draw your attention, as a person.
When explaining settings and places, try to create feeling. How does the character feel there? Instead of writing “X entered the woods and they felt scared.” Try writing something like, “X entered the woods, the hairs on the back of her neck standing immediately.” Or something like, “X entered the woods with bated breath, something didn’t feel right.”
Sometimes it may be better to describe how someone feels rather than just telling the audience they feel a particular emotion. Portray emotion through body language and make the character notice if somethings different. If someone is worried, most of the times you don’t have to say that they seem nervous, you could mention how they shuffled from on foot to another repeatedly, or how they were biting the inside of their cheek and their brows were furrowed. The only way we recognise emotions on people is through their body language, so use it.
Sometimes, it good to take a break from writing. Trust me. Sometimes all you need is a small break from your book, just a step back to figure out where you want to go with it, but always go back to it.
Practise. Writing is an art. Art takes a helluva lot of practise.
That’s all I can think of from the top of my head, so I hoped this helped, and good luck with your story!! (I have a tag called writing advice, which I think has another post like this on it, you can find it at tagged/writing-advice)
Have a great day, love! xx