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Writing contests are great ways to gain some recognition and find out exactly how you stack up against other writers. There are many, many contests these days, ranging from big national events to tiny niche competitions.

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A helpful tool many writers use is reading. There is no better way to learn-to-write than by reading as many styles and types of books as possible. As discussed in an earlier tip, books are written in different voices. It is a great idea to read a book or more in each viewpoint or voice to find a style that appeals to your artist side.

Invest in a few some good fictions, romance novels, mysteries, true stories, comedies, self-help, and other books that will help you begin to read-to-learn your writing style. What you will find in each of the stories you picked out (if by different authors) is they have very different writing styles and delivery of their story line to their audience. This makes for an excellent learning tool to see different ways stories can flow and still be affective, helping you learn to develop your own writing style.

As you read, take notes on what you liked and disliked about the style of the writing, and be mindful of these points later on when doing your own writing.

Revisions are one of your best tools to clarify and edit the chapters in your book. In the book, Style - Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace by Joseph M. Williams, he states, “Experienced writers get something down on paper as fast as they can, just so they can revise it into something clearer; and if they are lucky in the process discover something new.”

In his book the main subject is not about writing as you would be lead to believe when you first purchase it be about rewriting. It is in rewriting that a book takes shape or form. A good skill to learn is to take a look at what you wrote the day before and begin to rewrite it into a clearer piece as soon as possible. Remember rewriting isn’t something you do one time then it’s a masterpiece. You will be constantly revising your piece until you get it into the shape you are looking to achieve.

An important point to decide before you start writing your story is what voice or viewpoint will you write your story from. There are three viewpoints you can pick from to tell your story; the first person, second person or third person.

First person: Singular - I, my, mine, me; Plural - us, our, we, ours
Second person: Singular - yours, you, your; Plural - yours, you, your
Third person: Singular - he, her, his, hers, she, him, it, its; Plural – them, they, their, theirs

The third voice without a doubt is the most popular method used today in telling a story. This takes on the role of the narrator on the outside looking in and describing the characters and events as they unfold.

No matter which voice or viewpoint you choose to write in, the most important point to remember is stay within your voice or viewpoint. The story becomes too confusing if at one point you are writing as the first person then mid-way switch into the third person. Doing this would make you lose your readers, so stay focused and pay attention to the viewpoint you are writing in.

You are the puppet master and your character is the puppet, remember this when developing your characters. If you don’t like what’s going on with your character, you alone have the ability to change the character and actions going on around them.

Developing a character is rather like designing anything else. You will need to think about your character’s part of your book and then decide some basic physical characteristics such as; eye & hair color, age, male or female, weight, height, facial features, any distinguishing characteristic that make them stand out, etc…

Another important thing to blend into the description of your character that develops and defines their true inward character is their background. Here is a list of some questions you can ask yourself about your character:

1. What type of childhood did they have that would affect them now?
2. What about their early teenage years that would affect them now?
3. Who are their parents and what type of affect does that have on their personality and life?
4. What town, city, state, county, and country did they grow up in and what type of affect does that have on their personality and life?
5. What type of things or characteristics makes your character unique and has played a part in their personality?
6. Do they have flaws in their personality or imperfections in their eyes even if not in someone else’s eyes?
7. Do they have flaws in their personal body or imperfections and how has this affected their personality?
8. What type of relationship do they have with their family?
9. Do they have a family?
10. What type of moral beliefs do they have and how has this affected their personality?
11. What makes them likeable?
12. What makes them dislikeable?
13. What things in their life are important to them?
14. Does their career define who they are or does their life define their career?

Do you see how you can develop a whole story based around that one character’s beliefs and past and present history? Start jotting down information on each of your characters and developing their own back-story or life, which then you’ll blend into your story with the rest of the characters and their back-stories.