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Overcoming Perfectionism

As writers, we are constantly swarmed by expectations of what our writing should be. Whether you've taking a writing class, received feedback on your writing, or even if you are looking at writing advice like this, you've probably received a lot of information on what to do and not to do to make your writing perfect. Even if you've just read a really good book, it can make you feel like you'll never be able to live up to the golden standard.

Here are some tips for overcoming perfectionism in your writing:

Focus on Your Strengths

Obviously, when receiving feedback or editing your own work, you should pay attention on what you can work on to improve your writing. But too often, all this constructive feedback can overshadow the strengths of your writing. I challenge you to take a step back and decide in your head something that you are amazing at doing in writing. If you're a perfectionist, this can be surprisingly difficult. Trying to say out loud "I'm amazing with dialogue" when you think about how someone else is better, or if you aren't always 100% with dialogue, is often super hard. But, just coming up with real strengths and focusing on them throughout your writing can help boost your confidence and reduce perfectionism.

Cut Yourself Some Slack

Okay, obviously. That's the whole point of overcoming perfectionism. But, sometimes it's hard to actually take that step. Look at yourself in perspective. If you're a beginner, think about how you have so much left to learn and how your experience can only grow from here. If you've been writing for a while, then think about how far you've come. Read some of your old writing and realize you've improved—and if you find something good in that old writing, realize that you've done it then and you can do it again!

Challenge Yourself on Quantity over Quality

This seems counterintuitive, and I certainly don't believe that when it comes to the end product of a story, that more equals better. But when it comes to writing something down, the old saying goes that a bad page is better than a blank page. Force yourself to write something no matter how bad it is. If you want, you can delete it all afterwards. Then write more. Write and don't worry about it until you go back to edit. Even when editing, focus on editing as much as you can instead of nitpicking every sentence. When it finally comes around to polishing your story and being nitpicky, you'll at least have a solid foundational base to go off of.

I hope these tips help and good luck with overcoming perfectionism—it's hard but it is worth it!

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Different Plot/Story Structures

There are a lot of different plot structures that you can play around with when writing a story. This post is just providing some of the more common ones for you to know. While these structures are not to be adhered to completely, they can provide a good basis to get a story running and help keep it on track.

Freytag's Pyramid

Freytag's pyramid is one of the oldest and most well-known story structures. It consists of five acts: introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and conclusion. Falling action and conclusion do not mean a decrease in intensity, but rather a shift in the plot or the stakes for the characters - aka surpassing "the point of no return." What works about this structure is its ability to heighten action in a story and introduce plot twists to make a story grip the reader.

Save the Cat

Save the Cat is a newer structure that was initially constructed for TV shows, but it works well in a larger story as well, regardless of medium. It breaks up the story into an A-plot and B-plot, shifting action between the two to balance intensity with moments for the action to cool down. Typically, the A-plot has higher stakes than the B-plot and is the main focus of the characters. What works about this structure is that it effectively utilizes side-plots to not just accompany, but enhance the main plot.

The Fichtean Curve

The Fichtean Curve is essentially a series of mini-stories that build up to a greater story, with the stakes elevating during each story. It's similar to a TV season that has several episodes, each one advancing the plot while providing a smaller story that keeps the excitement continuing. What works about the Fichtean Curve is the freedom to move non-linearly through plots, using perspectives of different characters, different settings, and different mini-plots to enhance the story.

Free-form

Free-form is exactly what it sounds like: letting your mind run free while writing your story, disregarding traditional story structures and trusting yourself. This doesn't work for everyone: in fact, I believe that almost all writers need at least a little bit of structure when writing. But mapping out a beginning and end, and letting yourself find your own path to connect the two is what works for some writers. Besides, you can always go back during editing and figure out the most efficient way to map the pieces together!

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Beginner writers often describe a character's attributes through what is essentially a list: "He had green eyes, dark hair, and a sharp jaw." This can be fluffed-up with more interesting and original descriptions: "Her eyes were dark and quiet, and suggested secrets he would never know of." But at the end of the day, this only serves to form a relationship between the character and the reader: what does a character look like and feel like to the reader?

To make description meaningful, it should impact the way a character is viewed by others and themselves. If a character wears glasses, others might assume they're smart or nerdy, even if they aren't. If a character used to be short as a child but no longer is, they might still see themselves as short and small even when they no longer are. In real life, our perceptions of others and ourselves, whether we like it or not, are affected by physical appearance and inevitably the assumptions or differences in treatment we make toward them. It's important to reflect that in your stories and characters.

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The best description isn’t just objective placement (i.e. “overlooking the castle was a towering mountain, next to that was a lush green forest”) but rather description informed by what the main character or POV character observes.

For example, if a character is an painter, they might see the world in terms of brushstrokes and colors. They might describe the tall trees as streaks of evergreen brushed to the sky. Or if they are a chef/food lover, the trees might be crisp and sharp like fresh mint. This description creates a powerful inner voice for the character and makes the world one of their interpretation, just like how people see things in real life based on their own previous experiences and values.

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Writing with lots of detail is a good thing. It builds characters and settings, and makes your story unique and interesting. At the same time, you don’t want to go overboard. But how can you determine what is “overboard?”

Every detail in a story should lend itself something. Maybe it’s just setting up the world, or letting the reader visualize some aspect of a character. When reading through your work, do a check for every detail as to how it lends itself to the story. If it doesn’t, that detail is arbitrary, and too many arbitrary details is what makes readers close a book and think “that was overboard.”

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When writing plot twists, it is more important to adequately set up and foreshadow a twist than it is to shock everybody.

Plot twists should be surprising and make the reader say: “I did not expect that!” But then, when reading back, a reader should say: “Looking at all the foreshadowing, how didn’t I see that coming?”

This is a hard balance to find, especially for new writers or those with much experience writing plot twists. That’s why I said at the beginning: it’s better to err on the side of more foreshadowing than more shocking. Readers want to be surprised, but if they do suspect a twist before it happens, that doesn’t mean the twist is any less interesting/game changing!

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It seems paradoxical, but one of the best ways to make people relate to your story is to make it personal and specific. Not necessarily personal to you (though it can be), but creating characters, settings, and plot-lines that are irreplaceable and not vague are able to give readers a chance to connect. Readers aren’t looking for a broad idea because it doesn’t have the same detail and emotional depth most are looking for in a story. But they aren’t expecting anything exact to their situation—maybe a character has a different problem but is dealing with the same mental challenges. Be specific in terms of characters, settings, and everything else in your story, and your readers will be impacted and feel related to.

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A lot of emphasis is on character arcs and development, often on either a positive or negative arc. But there are other options that still can create well rounded and interesting characters, even main characters, while still allowing them to maintain their beliefs and personalities. Here’s two:

1. Challenge to Keep a Trait: As suggested, this occurs when a character has one of their beliefs/traits/etc challenged, either by another character, society, the setting, or themselves. A character here can develop the challenged trait to face the challenge and prove themselves. For example, maybe a society where lying leads to success challenges a character’s belief in honesty. Or the opposite.

2. Contradictory Development: Characters can go beyond simple “positive” or “negative” traits. In fact, in real life, most people change in more nuanced ways. Maybe a character develops to be more trusting, but they also become more gullible. Or they have a corruption arc where they become more greedy, but they also gain a lot of intelligence that they can use to help others (when it benefits them too).

Basically, if you want characters to be realistic, a simple “he becomes kinder” or “she grows evil” is not always enough, and these ideas can help challenge and grow your characters in other ways.

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Tips on Writing Adventure Stories

So, you want to write an adventure. Great, I love adventure stories! Here’s a few tips on how to make them work best:

Introduce new characters throughout the adventure up to around the 50% mark of the story. The point of an adventure is to find new things, and new people from different areas can make a story exciting and suspenseful. But if major characters come into the story too late, it can be hard to give them a full personality and make them connect with the reader. It also can lead to confusion and the sense of too many characters.

Each “stop” or new setting should have both an individual challenge or story as well as something that adds to the overall story. This doesn’t have to mean that every scene advances the plot, but it can also mean that maybe the characters grow as people, relationships change, or thematic elements are brought in/developed when introduced to new settings.

Be creative with your settings down to the specifics. Plenty of adventure stories go through a desert, a jungle, a big city, a frozen tundra, etc. But there’s nothing wrong with using those places—just make it unique and interesting on your own terms. This means getting specific and detailed and making each setting feel like a lived place even when your main characters aren’t in it.

I know it’s cliche, but your adventures should be more about the journey than the final destination. You don’t have to write “I guess the real treasure was the friends we made along the way” (in fact, I recommend you don’t write that), but readers are looking for a fascinating journey complete with character arcs, interesting new settings, fun mini-plots, and a sense of wonder.

That being said, the ending of your story does matter. Some ways to make it work well are to make it full circle (maybe they end where they start), create a plot twist, give the characters a sad/ambiguous ending (but don’t do this just for the shock factor), or just bring in as much intensity and creativity as you can!

Do research on other settings to the extent of which is needed (a historical fiction adventure will need to be more accurate than a fantasy one) and also use your personal experiences to come up with setting ideas.

Try to be creative with the structure of an adventure if you want to take your story to the next level. Maybe make it non-linear, or include flashbacks, or start in the middle (or the end), or be creative with the scope of an adventure (are they touring the whole universe, or maybe just their neighborhood, or even somebody’s mind?).

Hope these help and good luck writing adventures!

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Tips on switching POVs:

Pick a set number of characters/POVs and stick to it. Less means less confusion, but more can lead to more opportunity. But don’t just decide halfway through writing that you want to add this new POV unless there’s a super necessary reason for it.

Go in a pattern. This ensures each character will have a roughly equal time to tell their perspective and you won’t forget about certain POVs

Switch settings between POVs. Essentially, the best reason for POV switching is typically to explore multiple parts of a world/story at once. Make the most of this by giving each POV character a unique setting to work with and switch to and from.

Give each POV character and story a full arc. Essentially, treat it like its own story because everyone is the main character of their own story.

Give POVs each a unique voice. Your reader should be able to tell whose POV it is even without being told (although you should typically tell them at the beginning of a chapter/section)

Make there be a point for multiple POVs. Often, it seems obvious that the author just wanted to fit in a bunch of characters and didn’t know how to make complex side characters, so they made every slightly major character have their own POV. Usually, single POV or smaller (double or triple) is easier for both the writer and the reader in the long term unless there is a specific reason for why there should be multiple POVs.

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To make things extra creepy, don’t just make the familiar unfamiliar, but make the unfamiliar familiar. Maybe the strange abandoned house has a bedroom that looks just like the one from your characters childhood. Or the monster has the same smile as your sweet mother, in a contorted way. Make your characters feel like they’ve relived situations they’ve never been in before. Give them deja vu. This distorts the reader’s perception of what is safe and what is dangerous, leading to a sensation of fear and horror.

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Ways to Get Inspiration for Fantasy/Sci-Fi Stories:

Make a creation myth detailing how the world begun

Draw a map of a specific city/region/location

Write an “encyclopedia” entry on a random thing in your universe

If there is a new language, write some words or sentences in it

Read short stories from fantasy and sci fi authors!

Go outside and pick one object, then remake it into your world

Draw a picture of your characters, even if you aren’t a great drawer this can really be fun!

Watch a fantasy or sci fi movie

Write a backstory to a setting in your world

Create a web linking all the characters, settings, and plot points

Read your old sci fi or fantasy writing. Lots of times there are great seeds of ideas hiding in there

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Tips on writing LGBTQ characters

Hi! These are just a general list of tips, and as with any writing advice, there are always exceptions. If you are writing LGBTQ characters (or really any characters belonging to a marginalized identity group), make sure to get a sensitivity reader and do your research!

Don’t make their sexual orientation/gender their only trait, even if they are a more minor side character.

Avoid “protecting your gay darlings” but also don’t kill off all the gay characters. This can be hard to balance especially if you don’t have a lot of gay characters, but essentially you should separate their sexuality from their life/death situation unless they are a key part of the story. A gay character can survive, but not because “aww so precious and pure” and also can die but not “it’s revenge for their sins/inevitable because of the society they live in”

If you are writing historical fiction, don’t be afraid to make people homophobic/transphobic/generally unaccepting. Even “good” characters can have preconceived notions they need to overcome. Also, in more ancient times, society often had a different relationship with LGBTQ people and didn’t label them in the same way we do today. So do your research!

If you aren’t LGBTQ, don’t be afraid to write characters that are. Just do your research and know your boundaries. Make sure you know what to avoid writing and get a sensitivity reader to make sure you haven’t crossed any inappropriate lines.

If you are LGBTQ, you don’t have to write characters of your identity, but it’s often a great way to express yourself and create authentic representation. Even so, it’s still possible to fall victim to stereotypes and harmful tropes simply because we live in a society full of them. So still get sensitivity checkers and do some research if you aren’t 100% sure of a subject.

In fantasy/sci-fi worlds, don’t be afraid to play around with concepts of gender and sexuality!

You can write the “stereotypical” feminine gay man, masculine lesbian, etc, or the “anti-stereotypical” LGBTQ character, or a “normal” (i.e. abiding by societal norms) character, and still make it work or mess it up regardless. Instead of trying to defy stereotypes or falling victim to them, focus on creating a 3 dimensional character who goes beyond their appearance.

Be very careful when it comes to transgender deadnames. There’s occasionally a time and place for mentioning them, but more often that not, don’t bring them up unless it’s relevant to the story.

Hope this helps, and again, do your research and have other LGBTQ people look over your writing!

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How to Format a Query Letter

When you're ready to start sending your work to agents, you'll need to write a query letter. It's the way writers introduce themselves and pitch their books to busy agents who want to cut right to the chase.

Every writer will go through query letter drafting and revising throughout their experience, so following this guide won't be the last time you have to work on structure. However, these are the most essential parts of a query letter that can help you form your next draft.

**Heads up—every literary agent will have specific things they're looking for in query letters/submission packets. You'll find that within their bio on the website of their employer or in their profile on Query Tracker.**

**If you find a publisher's website and want to submit through there, you'll also need to edit queries according to their guidelines, typically specified under the "Submissions" part of their website.**

Most Important Takeaways

Query letters should only be one page long, unless a different length is okay with the agent according to their specifications.

Your query letter is a pitch, not a place for cliff hangers or flowery language. They want specific details!

It can take weeks or months for an agent to get back to you after you submit your query letter. Don't take it personally! They're very busy with current clients in addition to their open submission inboxes.

Step 1: Check Your Agent's Requirements

You can draft a general query letter, but you'll always have to edit it for each submission. Agents require different things, which is outlined in their profile on their employer's website or on Query Tracker.

Write down everything your dream agent wants in a submission packet or copy/paste to a new document. Missing information will likely result in them passing on your work, unless they're super head over heels for it.

Step 2: Write Your Greeting

Don't stress over this too much! It's smart to stick with something professional and always address them by last name, like:

Dear Ms. Greenburg,

If you're submitting to a general submission email, it's still good to address the agent you intend to query. Whoever is sorting through the inbox will pass it along to the right person.

Remember—your greeting should be the first line of your letter. Don't follow it immediately with your intro.

Correct: Dear Mr. Finch,

Incorrect: Dear Mr. Finch, I hope this finds you well. I wanted to...

Step 3: Write Your First Paragraph

Scary stuff! You might think this paragraph would include a bit about you, why you wanted to write your story, etc. However, that's not why your agent opened their submission inbox.

They are opening your query letter to find out about your project. To draft this paragraph, it helps to make a bullet point list of the necessary information, like:

Your manuscript's title

Your one-sentence summary

Its genre

Its word count

Its comparable titles (more on that below)

Your intended audience's age group (more on that below)

I'm going to make up some information to help you visualize this a bit better. My imaginary manuscript will be:

Title: The Phoenix Flies Blind

One-Sentence Pitch: When 17-year-old Samra Ularen runs away from home, her journey across the faerie kingdom of Cerathe introduces her to a gang of bandits hungry for her hidden powers and a weapon against the king—who happens to be her uncle.

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Word Count: 75,000 words

Comparable titles: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo and The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Intended Audience: 16-21 year olds, plus adult women who enjoy YA fantasy

Let's put this into an introductory paragraph. After the greeting, the letter would start on a new line and look something like:

Dear Ms. Greenburg,

I'm seeking representation for my [debut, sophomore, etc.] [finished/unfinished] manuscript, The Dove Flies Blind (75,000 words). It's a Young Adult Fantasy story about Samra Ularen, who runs away from home and adventures across the faerie kingdom of Cerathe. She quickly becomes friends with a gang of bandits hungry for her hidden powers and a weapon against the king—who happens to be her uncle. People ages 16-21 will enjoy this story if they also love Shade and Bone or The Cruel Prince, which both share themes of adventure, betrayal, and self-empowerment in coming-of-age narratives.

Yes, it's a long paragraph, but agents want everything up front. Keeping it to 2-4 shorter sentences or 2-3 longer ones will tell them what they need to know about your book.

You may not be able to narrow down your paragraph. If that happens, don't panic! Separating the plot summary and your intended audience/comparable books could be two mini paragraphs and everything's going to be fine. As long as your letter stays one page long, it's all good!

Some notes for picking comparable titles:

Pick at least two-three books published in the last 2-3 years. Maybe in the last five years if you really feel that something that "old" is comparable to your theme/plot.

More recent books are best because it shows that your book will sell! If readers are buying the latest releases in your genre with similar plots/characters/themes, an agent will be able to sell your work much more easily.

If you need more help and don't have time to read additional books in your genre, check out these resources: What You Need to Know About Comp Titles; How to Find Compelling Comps for Your Book; Comp Titles: The Key to Pitching Your Book

Step 4: Write the Body of Your Query (~2 Paragraphs)

Let's break down the body of your query letter into two paragraphs. Each will have a specific purpose—there are no wasted words in queries!

Paragraph 1: Set the Stage

Your first paragraph will summarize what your character is like/where they are/what their life and world are like just before the inciting incident.

Example:

Samra Ularen lives in a manor just inside the capital city of Salmyre. She's spent her life attending classes with her closest friends and following the rules set by her single mother, Alora. There was nothing she wanted more in the world than a life on the sunny beaches lining their city, but when her mother says they're moving across the continent in less than 12 hours, Samra realizes how much her world means to her.

Paragraph 2: Introduce Your Protagonist's Challenges

The inciting incident is the lead into your next paragraph, which will explain how your protagonist's life gets more complicated throughout the plot.

Example:

After unsuccessfully trying to change her mother's mind, Samra runs from their manor in the middle of the night. She steals a horse from behind a tavern and takes off across the city lines, into rolling meadows and the Shadowed Forest beyond. She doesn't anticipate befriending bandits who live high in the trees and is even more shocked when they sense powers dormant beneath her skin. The bandits teach her how to wield flames from her fingertips while raiding travelers and villages. It isn't until after Samra befriends their leader and lives with them for a few months that they force her to help them kill the king and install their leader on the throne—but they don't realize she's actually his niece. In following along and planning to run at the last moment, Samra learns that her mother needed to move because they were in hiding. The king wanted Samra dead before she was born.

This is another long paragraph and could be edited down/likely split into two parapgrahs, but you can see how this sets up the stakes. Samra runs away from home, experiences independence for the first time, and has to choose between family members over a history she's never learned before. All while figuring out who she really is outside of her normal routine.

Agents need to know a manuscript's stakes. If they don't think there's enough risk involved for or by a character to make the plot interesting/get the reader personally invested, they'll pass without finishing your query letter.

If you're really worried about dense paragraphs, you could potentially separate these two paragraphs into a third by formatting them like: setting the scene; raising the stakes; summary of what your protagonist will learn/how it relates to your themes.

Step 5: Write About Your Background (1 Paragraph)

Your last paragraph is all about you! Talk about what makes you awesome and why you're the person to tell this story.

Here are a few examples:

I was compelled to write this story because I'm passionate about coming-of-age narratives and fantasy settings. Last year, I won first place in the National Fantasy Short Story Competition and published another flash fiction fantasy work in Generic Fantasy Magazine. Currently, I work full time for Google and write creatively as a hobby.

I graduated in 2013 from State College with a BFA in Creative Writing and a minor in English. Since then, I've placed as a semi-finalist in Fiction Stories Competition. I write creatively for fun and work full-time as a marketing assistant.

I've read fantasy since I could pick up a book and always wrote short stories in that genre. This is my first novel-length manuscript and it means so much to me because I think this genre needs more coming-of-age [other types of representation here] representation. This is a stand-alone novel, but I have ideas that could extend it into a trilogy.

You don't need a writing degree or first-place competition awards to finish your query letter. All the agents want to know is why you wrote this manuscript, plus whatever other career-related information may be relevant if you have anything.

Step Six: End With a Professional Goodbye

I like to end my query letters with a thank you, since many agents do lit work as a secondary job and have a full-time gig in another field. Even if they're full-time, they're likely dealing with hundreds of submissions at a time when they open to queries while working with their current clients.

You could end your letter with something like:

Thank you for your time and consideration.

I'm grateful for your time.

Thank you for your consideration.

And end it with:

Sincerely,

[Your First/Last Name]

Always Revise for Each Agent

If you're copying/pasting your query letter into submission boxes or emails and hitting send, you're not going to have good results.

You'll likely send a letter addressed to a previous agent or leave out formatting/required info specified in an agent's bio.

Always read through your current query draft and revise as needed before sending it to a new agent.

Best of Luck!

I hope this helps you draft your first query letter with a bit more confidence! Use these guidelines to get a rough draft ready and come back to it when you're in a calm, confident headspace to edit.

When in doubt, always refer to an agent's requirements in their bio or what's required in Query Tracker. That site will have a box for you to copy/paste your letter, but it will also ask you to type out specifics, like the bullet points in Step 3.

If you're going to submit more than one letter, I'd recommend keeping a spreadsheet! Record things like:

The name of the agent

Their publisher

A link to their bio

How you submitted your query (email, Query Tracker, general publisher submission page)

The date you submitted

If the agent specifies when they get back to writers (many will give 2-3 month turnaround estimates)

If they've responded (you could write things like "passed on my query," "requested a bigger sample," "requested the full manuscript," etc.)

It's much easier to reflect on who you might want to follow up with or who you've already queried as time goes on. It's rarely a good idea to query the same agent twice after they reject you, unless they specify what you could work on within your manuscript to make them more interested.

Get that first draft down and you'll feel much better about taking your second step into the journey of getting published. 💛

Other resources you might find helpful:

The 10 Dos and Don’ts of Writing a Query Letter

The Complete Guide to Query Letters

How to Write a Darn Good Query Letter

Read A Sample Literary Agent Query Letter, With Hints & Tips

How to Write a Query Letter: All the Do's and Don’ts

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One great writing tip I heard regarding 1st-person POV (and all POVs) is to make sure your main character is not just live-streaming their experiences via text. Instead, they should be telling a story through the lens of what is happening to them, what they think of it, and who they are as a person. Of course, this means they will experience things and you should describe what they do—but a lot of writers fall into the trap of just writing out what a character does and experiences like a stalker’s diary. Create a narrative and tell a story!

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Feel free to create the most in depth and detailed backstories and character traits for your character as you like. But please don’t forcibly insert all of these details into your actual story. It can result in info dumping and just unnecessary information.

Unless you are a Census taker or something, you don’t want to read a list of traits. “Blue eyes, brown hair, allergic to strawberries, likes romantic novels” doesn’t mean anything without context. Instead, focus on a few traits and key points of a character’s backstory. Delve into them and create a character that is not just a bunch of surface level traits, but a well rounded and complete individual.

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One piece of advice for dialogue is to generally keep it short. People rarely say things over a sentence or two long in real life unless they are lecturing, telling a story, or giving some sort of speech where the other person is not meant to respond.

This also means that when you put that cool quote or nice line in, it will stand out more!