Writing Tips: A Creative and Practical Guide to Improving Your Story

by Merrie Destefano

Writing a book can feel overwhelming —especially if your genre is fantasy, science fiction, or horror. It’s almost like going on a quest. You have to create cities and villages, populate them with unique creatures, and figure out how to save the world—all while making sure your main character finds true love.
Hard, yes.
Impossible, no.
If it were impossible, literature wouldn’t exist.
This book can help you accomplish your writing goals and kick discouragement to the curb, where it belongs. It can also inspire you to write the best story possible, while creating believable characters and well-developed worlds at the same time.
You’ll
• How organic writing can make your fantasy, science fiction, or horror seem more real. • How to use the author’s secret world-building tips. • How to create well-developed worlds by making one change in your writing. • How you can improve your story premise by asking “What If.” • Why adding an adrenaline rush to your story can both entice and satisfy readers. • How genre-blending can strengthen your story and plot. • How to hit tropes by first hitting your genre.
Discover how you can create the book of your dreams by making a few simple changes to your manuscript.
Multiple-award-winning author, Merrie Destefano, spent sixteen years in the publishing industry as a book and magazine editor, working for The Word For Today, Walter Foster Publishing, APG-Media, and Engaged Media. Her novels have been published by HarperCollins, Entangled Teen, and Ruby Slippers Press, and her books have won awards in both the science fiction and fantasy categories. The Author’s • Realm Award Winner, Paranormal/Horror, The Complete Trilogy, 2019 Realm Makers Awards • Silver Medal Winner, YA Horror/Mystery, The Complete Trilogy, 2019 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards
• Second Place Winner, YA/NA Speculative Fiction, Valiant, 2019 YARWA Athena Awards
• Writer Of The Year, Merrie Destefano, 2010 Mount Hermon Writer’s Conference

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Amazon, Ebooks

44 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 25, 2021

Reviews

[Alec's Always Bored · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good starting guide

Very solid and practical guide on writing. This is a great introduction to the starting points of writing fiction and what you should think about as you start your story.

[Lyndon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, quick to the point personal advice on improving a story in just a few key areas. Not meant to be exhaustive. It's free on most platforms and is simply the author's way to give back to the writing community, sharing what she's learned along the way. Can read through it in 15 minutes.

[Tez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good ideas here ("change one thing" and "keep asking 'what if?'"). Disagree that adding romance to another genre always makes it better. (If the reader doesn't ship it, it doesn't make it better. Subjective, I know.)

I still don't feel comfortable with the author listing "Focus On The Family" in her CV. (You can't change your past, but FOTF is...not something I'd want my name linked to.)

[Nicole (bookwyrm) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short & sweet book with some good tips and reminders. Some the quotes in the book will be great as touchstones to remind me of things I have learned.

[TheConsultingWriter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you a writer? Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the process or struggled with writer’s block? What writer hasn’t! Merrie Destefano’s newest book, Writing Tips, is short and sweet writer’s help book. As a writer, I do not need a several hundred-page book to tell me how to improve. I need someone to get to the point. And that’s exactly what Merrie does. She’s clear and concise. This is an award-winning author revealing her secrets in order to help improve the writing of others. She gives plenty to think about and ideas to practice. Plus, she’s planning on releasing a workbook that goes along with Writing Tips for a more hands on approach to writing. How else can we learn but to practice, practice, practice. Writing Tips covers the confusing topic of “what’s my genre” and provides a handy overview to help the writer determine where their work in progress falls. And her point on having it cross over into two different genres is interesting and one that a lot of my favorite books do with my even realizing it. If you’re a writer, grab a copy of this to add to your library. You won’t regret it. I received a complimentary copy of Writing Tips from the author. However, the honest opinions in this review are my own. Now here’s hoping I can apply her advice and break my own writer’s block!

[Shawn Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

FINALLY! A book of writing tips that is actually chock full o’ WRITING tips!

No “here’s how to format …” nonsense.

No “I made all kinds of money, here is my anecdotal tale of how awesome I am …” ego-centric wackiness.

No “here’s how to game the system …” chicanery.

Merrie Destefano - a talented writer with some serious writer chops - has put out what may well be one of the MOST useful books of writing tips I have ever read.

All writing stuff without unnecessary writing fluff, this is a book that EVERY writer should read; this book will give you the direction you need to become the author you know is locked up inside you.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough. Five stars just doesn’t do it justice; this book should be on the desk, bedside, or sitting on the toilet paper holder in every writer’s bathroom.

[C.O. Bonham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short and to the point

In this short writing guide, Merrie Destefano teaches writers how to write organically without losing the plot of your novel.

Basically, pantsing for beginners.

This is really short and can be finished in about thirty minutes.

Pantser or plotter, this little book has some great tips for adding the organic touch to your story.

[Sapphyria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book by Merrie Destefano is filled to the brim with tricks, tips, and tools to make writing a book much easier. Perfect for new writers and those who’ve been writing a long time, Writing Tips is an excellent resource. Regardless of what stage of writing you are in, grab a copy of this book.

[Michael Grenier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting concepts.

Interesting questions need a far bigger and deeper answer.
Nice guidance from a great author.
This book is intended for the budding writers to write outside the box.

[Daryl Omar · Rating 5 out of 5]

a book to reread often

Third time reading. I learn something new every time. Small yet powerful book. Gonna sit down and rework my genres, subtitles, and take time to learn tropes.

[Lynn Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful

Short read that's full of useful information! The perfect tool to look back on when working on a piece of writing.

[Rayjan Koehler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writing tips

Short as it is, it has some good food for thought.

Being short it isn't overwhelming, but does give some insight on improving one's writing...

[Sophie Bowns · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it just a bit too short. While there were some great tips, there wasn’t quite enough detail.

[AJ Franco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read

Enjoyed reading this book. It was jam packed with valuable information. Will definitely recommend this book to family and friends.

[Una Tiers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has limited application to horror and science fiction.

[Pauline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little of substance to most genres.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too short and thus also has too few tips. There are some good tips, yes, but not more than a blog post of it - so why write a book? Probably to diversify the writing, and to link to her own books in order to promote and sell more of them. Anyway, not much to say really. She could have written so much more and included more genres in the tips as well.