Writing Advice for New Writers - Christina Maharaj

Write consistently. You don’t have to write every day, but writing regularly helps you make progress and improve over time. Don’t wait for perfect conditions—often, that just means you’ll never start. Even 15 minutes of writing is enough to move forward. It might help to set small, achievable goals, like writing 100 words each time, to keep from feeling overwhelmed. Avoid setting goals that are too ambitious, as that can lead to burnout

Writing 'rules' are more like guidelines. You will always hear 'show, don't tell', and while the advice is useful, it's a bit misleading. Showing—using actions, dialogue, and sensory details— helps build vivid scenes, convey emotions, and develop characters. However, telling can be better for pacing, giving backstory, skipping time, and providing quick facts or background information that aren’t essential to dramatize, but are still needed in the story. Use both techniques where they best serve the story.

Said, while generally most used, it isn't invisible to everyone. And sometimes, it's good to use more descriptive terms for it (like “whispered” or “shouted”), to add variety and emphasize emotions, but try not to go overboard. Action tags—descriptions of what characters are doing as they speak—can also replace dialogue tags and keep the scene moving. In conversations between two people, you can sometimes skip tags altogether for a few exchanges to maintain flow.

Adverbs get a bad rep, but they have their place in writing. It's all about a balance, and not overusing them. If a stronger verb works better, use that, and try to avoid redundancy adverbs (e.g., “whispered quietly”). In dialogue, adverbs can sometimes add nuance. Just make sure they’re necessary and aren’t overused.

Different strokes for different folks. Every writer has a different approach to crafting a story. There are plotters (planning everything in advance), pantsers (writing as they go), and others are somewhere in between. Some writers work in sequence from beginning to end, while others write scenes out of order and pull it all together afterwards. There is no one right way to write; figure out what works for you. This also goes for readers—not everyone will like your work, and that’s okay. Write for yourself first. Special note to plotters: It's fine to have everything planned, but don't adhere to your plan to the point of missing out on different paths your story could take. You never know where it might take you.

Set it aside. After you finish your first draft, set it aside for at least a few days and come back with fresh eyes to help you spot consistency issues, plot holes, redundancies, and awkward flow. Once the story is solid, go through it again for grammar, crutch words, and sentence tightening. Some like to edit as they go, but if you end up rewriting parts, you may save time by waiting until the end.

read the light novel “The Heiress” on SakuraMazaki’s scribblehub and on wordpress and tapas under the @Christina Maharaj ☆  ̫ ☆