WikiHow is one of the craziest places on the Internet, and that’s saying something. It has articles on literally everything, from How to Keep Your Glasses From Fogging Up to How to Calculate Pi by Throwing Frozen Hot Dogs. All with completely serious instructions and professional step-by-step illustrations.
So then what happens when we write a story about a random WikiHow article?
One of the most common critiques that people have of writers’ work is that they can’t “see” what’s going on. Usually what that means is that the writer hasn’t sufficiently described what’s happening, who the characters are, or where the scene is taking place.
So what is the right level of description to use? It’s never an easy question to answer, and it’s always a delicate balancing act between too much and too little detail, but using the Five Levels of Description can definitely help.
As a writer, you’ll often be given word-count restrictions. Maybe 2,000 words, or 500 words…
…or sometimes, even 30 words. Could you write a story with only 30 words?
We tried, and here’s the results!
It’s tough being a cat. You try so hard to be a good villain, but everyone treats you like a hero.
Just once you’d like to be able to take over the world without someone rubbing your head and telling you how cute you are.
…and that time may be now!
Dialogue is more than just the words between quotation marks. How you lead in and out of what characters are saying is just as important as what they actually say.
For example, just the simple word “hi” can be very different if someone “said it softly, staring at the floor” versus if they “said it jumping in the air and waving their arms.”
To make your own dialogue stronger, there’s a couple things you’ll want to use… and a couple things you’ll want to avoid.
