Writers Tip #72: Don’t Worry About What Others Think

When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer’s tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make the adjustments.

When I first heard about Stephen King’s how-to book, On Writing, I didn’t even check it out. I figured a horror writer couldn’t teach me what I needed to know about writing.

I was wrong. Turns out, his book is chock full of common sense, easy-to-understand hints about how to write a great novel, be it literary fiction, historic, horror, or any other genre. King just seems to get it–the twists of plots, the fascination of characters, the uniqueness of settings.

Here are seven of his tips. For more depth on them, visit the Positivity Blog:

Get to the point
Write a draft. Then let it rest
Cut down your text
Be relatable and honest
Don´t care too much what others may think
Read a lot
Write a lot

I had a tough round with my writer’s group last Monday so I’m especially happy to read #5.

Here’s what the UNC’s Writing Center has to say about feedback on your writing. Then check out Emma Lee as she describes how to decide what feedback to accept and what to walk away from.

More on feedback:

10 Tips from Toxic Feedback

What I learned from finishing my novel

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Questions you want answered? Leave a comment and I’ll answer it within the next thirty days.

Jacqui Murray is the author of dozens of books (on technology in education) as well as the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. In her free time, she is editor of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a techno-thriller that should be out to publishers next summer.