Tea Time

A Writers Guide to Writing

Over Here! Over Here! (Waves hand as high as I can reach) Wonderful morning post, and it doesn’t cost a thing. Take your time sit down with a cup of tea, or coffe, or juice, whatever you drink in the morning, and your earbuds, I’ll get to that in a minute, and get ready for a day of adventure.

Photo by Shirley Tittermary on Unsplash

Hey all! It’s Ken here, back with today’s post. I haven’t actually posted anything on here since we moved to Substack due to summer and school conflicts, so I’ll start off by introducing myself to those of you who don’t know me. I am one of the last two original authors, kinda sad to think about, but I’ve been with Jack since he started this project, and have watched him and the blog grow steadily, and it’s been amazing to be a part of the team. No, I’m not leaving the blog, though it may sound like that. Despite what the name sounds like I am a teenage girl, that’s just my pen name. Alright, alright, I’ll stop boring you and get to the post. Today we have some writing tips up for grabs so get those pencils ready. Oh and quick, scroll to the bottom of this post and turn on the song that I mention there and listen to it while reading this. 

Hmm, what to start with, there are a million things out there. Get to the point already you say? Patience my dear reader, I told you this would take time, just because you didn’t go read the end paragraph and turn on the music, that’s not my fault, stop blaming me. I know! I’ll start with something that applies to all writing, whether fiction or non-fiction, and yes some of these points are specific to certain types of writing, but I promise they are all useful. Ok, firstly.

1. There is this wonderful cycle called a rhetorical triangle. Now this is mostly used for essays, but I think it’s quite the tool with writing just about anything. Now, in the rhetorical triangle there are, as is usual in a triangle, three points. At the top you have your Topic. Whether this is an essay, or just a fiction book, or a non-fiction book, anything you write is going to have a topic. For an essay it might be something like Mexican food in Los Angeles. For a fiction book it could be how the main character grew through what she experienced. For a non-fiction book it could be the history of France and its revolution. But for each written thing there is always a “topic,” sometimes it’s buried but if you look, you’ll find it. The second point of the triangle is the audience. This is different than the reader. The audience is the people you are writing for. Adults, teens, children, etc… A reader is someone outside the targeted audience who thought the book looked cool. You are trying to convince or show your audience your topic/point. Don’t worry about the stray readers, they are awesome but they are not who you are writing for. And the third point. The third point is the author. Simply put, you, the person, or the people, who are writing. So, those are our three points. Let’s move on to how they connect. Let’s start with the author, as the author you are going to need to have a connection both with your topic and your audience. Now this may sound a little weird, I mean if you never meet your audience how can you be connected…? That’s the cool part, to be connected all I mean is that you are writing in a way that your audience will understand, you must know what it is that your audience is looking for and give them that. The title of your writing should match the writing style, the age appropriateness should be the same throughout, don’t try to bring people in on a false sense of security. Let them know upfront what it is you’re going to do. Without spoiling the book too much. Alright, so what do I mean by the author and the topic connecting? The topic that the author picks must resonate with them. They must have an emotional connection with the topic. Doesn’t mean you have to have experienced it before or know a whole lot, though if you don’t know much make sure to research it, but you MUST have a desire to write about it and to learn about it. If you do not have that you will not be able to write well about the topic you picked. Alright, now how do the topic and the audience go together? The audience you have, changes how you will write about the topic. Your topic is going to need to have a connection with the audience. Whoever you are writing for and whatever you are writing on, must be correlated. This is the piece that makes it go round and round in a never ending triangle (don’t make fun of my joke.) You see, the author is going to write differently on the same topic for different audiences, but at the same time they are going to change up the topic depending on the audience. Do you understand yet? I know it sounds pretty complicated, but if you think about it it actually makes a lot of sense and isn’t as complicated as all that. In fact, I think we all know this in the back of our mind when we write, we just hadn’t quite pulled it to the front yet.

2. Alright on to tip number 2. What was it again? Hmm… oh hi there reader, uh, just ignore all that, I definitely know what this tip is about… it’s all under control… So, thesis and introductions how to begin. Well, an introduction, umm, so… that’s what you begin your essay with, obviously… Uh…

Alright, tip Number 2 is on your thesis and introduction, mainly for essays but the introduction part applies to other writing as well. This is the part that many people have a harder time understanding. To start with, what is an introduction? Well, the paragraph just above this one is an introduction. But it’s not a very good one… I stumble all over the place and don’t seem to know what I’m doing, and if you’re being honest, it doesn’t make you want to keep reading. So, now we know what a bad introduction looks like, what does a good one look like? It starts with a hook, something that is related to what you are writing about, so it’s not out of place, but also something that is funny, that is startling, something that catches the audience’s eye and makes them want to read more. However, this is only part, in the middle you must contain their interest, fully capture it and keep them entangled, then at the end, mostly for essays but depends on what you are writing, you will put in your thesis. I’ll get to the thesis in a moment. For non essay writing you will simply continue to keep the audience’s attention and start to lead them into the rest of the writing. And in all of this, your wording should be clear and concise, grab the audience’s attention, don’t give them so many words they don’t even know what they’re reading. Onto the thesis, there are two parts to a thesis. First is the what, second is the why. Now, most people, in school, when asked to write a thesis, get to the why part and don’t know what to say. The first part is fairly easy, this is what I’m talking about, done. It is a little more complicated than that, but not too much so, and I don’t have much time, so I’ll skip this part for now. The second part is a whole other story. Most people are just writing, never really thinking about why they are writing, other than that it is required for school. But you and I both know that’s not what your teachers mean when they ask you for a why to your thesis. So, what is it they are asking? Let’s say the teacher gives you the freedom to write on any topic within a certain genre. In this case the audience/teacher wants to know why you picked this topic. What meaning does it have for you? But let’s say your teacher picked a topic and gave it to you to write on, you still have to write a why part to your thesis… In this case, surprise! They are asking you for the exact same thing as in the other example. Only this time you may or may not have wanted to write on this particular topic. If you did, wonderful, nothing to say to you. If you didn’t, however, this is where it becomes a little tricky. Your why is going to be saying in order to do this. This is what I’m writing, in order to… etc. One of my thesis’s basically says, I am answering these questions… so that… That’s still a why, but it doesn’t say you like the topic, it’s not lying, it’s simply phrasing what you are going to do in a different way. Make sense? Perfect. On to the next point.

3. Alright, this point is back to being useful for any type of writing. Structure is a key part of any writing, fictional or non. This is also a fairly common thing; everyone knows that you need to have structure in your writing. You need an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Now this can be different lengths and have different meaning depending on the type of writing. But the basics of it is that you start with an intro. I just talked in detail about introductions, so I won’t spend much time on it. Basically, you need to capture the attention of your audience. This means giving your audience enough information to catch their attention but not overwhelm them or withhold so much they get frustrated. Next is the body. This is the majority of your writing. It’s where you expand, in an essay you are giving the background and expanding on your thesis. In other writing you are writing the story, giving the information. This is where your plotline happens, the twists and turns of a suspenseful storyline. In any type of writing outlining the body is very important. It means you get an idea of where you are heading, in an essay, or non-fiction writing, you understand what points you are going to give and how they all connect to your thesis. In fictional writing you are understanding where the storyline is going, who your characters are, and what is happening. As fun as making it up as you go is, it is much easier if you know where you are going. Now this doesn’t mean you don’t have plot twists or random extra things come up that you incorporate, it just means you know where your writing is going. And lastly, definitely not least though, the conclusion, that finale to your writing. In an essay, and non-fictional writing, you are restating your thesis, summarizing your points, and ending with a thought-provoking sentence. In fictional writing you are simply finishing up the story and providing a satisfying end. Though some writers, when writing multiple series, like ending their books with cliffhangers so that you want to keep reading. (And if you want to hurt the writers when they do that, don’t worry, you’re not alone.) But it does make for a very good series. So also consider that when writing your books. Whether it is a series or one book, the ending must finalize it all and bring everything together. Do NOT leave any loose threads hanging. Make sure it all comes together, and every plotline has a satisfying ending. 

4. This next point is for fictional writing. Character names are an important part of every story. There are two parts to a good name. The first part is that it needs to sound right. It should match with the other characters names, and it should match with that character’s attitude and personality. This first part is usually what most authors look for. The second part plays a crucial role in all this though. This part is what the name means. Not only should it sound right, but it also needs to be right. One way of doing this is to pick keywords that describe your character. Then look up names with similar meanings. Then try different meanings until you find a name that has the right meaning and also sounds right. While this is extremely time consuming, what part of writing isn’t? It ends up being worth it. Providing you with names that sound right and fit the character. It’s not necessary. But, as a writer myself, it is definitely worth it in the end.

Ah there you are, let me guess you scrolled to the bottom cause you didn’t actually want to read a post today… Shame on you, we’re counting on your support, and we need you to read the full thing, so scroll back up and read it. Also, as a fine author likes to put it when talking about skipping to the end of books:

“It’s one of the most putrid and unholy things any reader can do.”

Alcatraz nods. “We’re here to talk to you about a pernicious evil that is plaguing today’s youth. A terrible, awful habit that is destroying them from the inside out.

Bastille looks at the camera. “He’s talking, of course, about skipping to the ends of books and reading the last pages first.”

(Brandon Sanderson, In book 1 and book 3 of his Alcatraz series.)

And you’re back, oh you say I sent you? Ok fine, you got me, here’s your song. There are two more in the footnotes below, and if you can’t access Spotify I’m adding the names of them as well.¹ Yeah, sorry, this is no quick read post to scroll through, you’ve got to follow along with the music. And if you’re a slower reader than I am and the songs finish before you do, I suppose you can start it again, but really you should start reading it again, because obviously you got distracted. And if you finish before the song, well, go start reading again, you obviously didn’t read slow enough to get the information from this post. Seriously, you’ve been reading with us long enough for me to not have to tell you how to read a post.

So unfortunately, I could only do 4 tips due to the fact that they are so long, but I’ll have more out soon. Also, if you are struggling with something while writing and would like to get some help, the other authors and I, would welcome you to reach out with your problem and we’ll do our best to get a post out with help for your problems. If you liked this style of writing and thought it made you engage with the post better let me know in the comments, and if you absolutely hated it, well… too bad… I’m joking, don’t take things so seriously. I want to know what you thought of this post in the comments. How was the writing style? Are the points going to be helpful? How many tries did it take you to read in sync with the music? How many of you found this to be hilarious? How many of you recognized the writing style? How many times did I bore you in this? And finally, how much of this did you already know? If you liked this post and want to help support us, please give it a liking and share the blog with anyone you think would like it. (Sorry, I know how much we all hate the end of post like and support thing, but unfortunately, I have to add it so I can promote the blog, because we really would like more supporters, why are we doing this if not so we can reach out to more folks like you?!)

P.S. you scrolled too far if you’re looking for the song, go up a paragraph and you’ll find it.

1. Song 1 is called A time of quiet between the storms. Song 2 is Harvester attack. And song 3 is Lisan al Gaib. These songs are all from Dune the second movie. There are no words.