The Author’s Toolkit: Essential Skills Beyond Writing for a Successful Writing Career
To be a successful self-published author, you need a comprehensive author’s toolkit. Your toolkit contains your techniques and will take you beyond writing — at least writing in the sense of the most basic task of typing words on the page. In a broader and deeper sense, writing, of course, also involves thinking, soul searching, problem-solving, research, worldbuilding, self-editing … What you have in your toolkit will determine how well your words work on the page.
CONTENTS
Let’s unpack the ideal author’s toolkit to help you hone your writing career skills.
Writing Style/Techniques
Your writing technique is how you convey your message to your readers. As with every other job or craft, the more you hone your technique/s, the more you are able to effectively communicate your ideas and establish a meaningful connection with your audience. Having a thorough understanding of the different types of writing techniques is a must for every writer.
The four commonly used writing techniques are descriptive, narrative, persuasive, and expository techniques. You will be using all or some of them together, depending on your genre, purpose for writing, target audience, and other factors. For example, if you’re writing fiction, you will be leaning heavily toward narrative and descriptive techniques. If you’re writing about economics, politics, science, technology, and so on, you will need to employ persuasive and expository writing techniques.
Let’s explore the four main techniques:
Descriptive writing
Descriptive writing helps you pull your reader in. You can use it to transport them into any scene you set. Most forms of writing can be animated by a dose of descriptive writing, but poetry, fiction, biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs in particular greatly rely on descriptive writing. To produce compelling, evocative pieces of descriptive writing, you must engage the five senses and pay close attention to details.
If you’re writing descriptive passages, the most effective techniques you can use are sensory writing and such figures of speech as similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole, and onomatopoeia.
Similes
When employing similes, you compare two unlike things, and the comparison is often conveyed by like, as in the song “Lips Like Sugar” or as, as in the expressions “as sweet as candy” and “as bright as the sun.” Typically, the comparison in similes are not literal; rather, they are a form of hyperbole (extravagant exaggeration).
Her summer of internship at her father’s law firm was like being trapped in an elevator filled with people talking in a foreign language.
After months of training with Special Forces, he was as sturdy as an oak tree.
Pro tip: Avoid overused similes (e.g., smell like a wet dog, hot as hell). You want to inject something fresh, fun, evocative, and/or thought provoking into your writing, so the best approach to writing similes is to be original. Use your senses, take notes every day, read. The inspirations should be easy enough to find.
Metaphors
In metaphors, a word or phrase that denotes one person, object, or action is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them. By stating that one is another, you’re telling the reader that the two share certain characteristics, without being one and the same. The reader will get the idea that one will have the same effect as the other.
The words like and as are not used in metaphorical expressions.
She is a bright fresh bloom on a gray, rainy day.
The family business was the wrong turn she took on the way to the career she really wanted.
And there is, of course, that vivid two-line Ezra Pound poem, “In a Station of the Metro”:
The apparition of these faces in the crowd:
Petals on a wet, black bough.
Hyperbole
Hyperbole is the representation of something through exaggerated nonliteral statements:
I have a million things to do, and I have a headache the size of a watermelon.
The party in room 18 was in full swing, and the music was loud, not to mention atrocious, enough to wake the dead.
Hyperbole does seem fun to write (and fun to read). However, as with everything that’s good, don’t overdo it. Choose your moments. When added at just the right part of the narrative, dialogue, poem, or an exposition, hyperbole can add layers to your text — serving to convey emphasis, humor, or simply create a dramatic effect, at the right moment.
And just as with similes, avoid stale, overused metaphors. Hone those observation skills and let your senses guide you.
Sensory writing
Sensory writing is a literary device that writers employ to engage a reader’s mind in multiple ways. With sensory imagery, you can get the reader invested in your writing through the five human senses of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. Sensory writing often incorporates other descriptive writing techniques, most commonly similes, metaphors, and hyperbole.
A door flew open a few yards ahead of me, and a young woman entered the corridor as if she had been pushed. She made a complete turn, her head craned skyward, and then she scrambled away. She was bowlegged and lank-haired. As she walked, her arms moved oddly, as if she were treading water.
She stopped quickly and turned again. Her head twisted. Her hands continued to smooth some invisible surface. She seemed the human manifestation of the priest’s chant: a stern column of sound with wavering, tremulous edges. Arms like underwater plants. (Deirdre McNamer, My Russian)
To master sensory writing, and descriptive writing in general, do freewriting every day. It is a great way to engage your senses. As the name suggests, freewriting is the practice of writing without a defined structure. All you have to do is write what you think and feel, or about an experience, regardless of whether it was a life-changing trip you took or being followed home by a friendly cat. Forget the rules on writing, style, and grammar. Forget outlines, mind mapping, notes, or editing and proofreading. Your only goal is to put words on the page as they come to mind while you take inventory of all the sensations involved. Because of this, freewriting is also a great way to combat writer’s block, or avoid it altogether.
Personification
Personification is a literary device that involves attributing human traits and features to things, both living and inanimate. You can use personification in just about any kind of descriptive writing and apply it to anything from nature, to objects of daily use, to abstract concepts like love.
Let’s see …
The sea called out to her from below the cliff, and the wind laughed in her ears.
The unopened giant suitcase mocked him for fifteen straight days before he finally had enough and unpacked it and put everything back in their place. That is, except the ring. It went deep into the back of his bottom desk drawer.
Love held out a hand and helped her up. She did the rest. And look where she is now.
Onomatopoeia
Pop!
Bang!
Cha-ching!
Thwap!
Onomatopoeia are words that imitate the sound they describe. Essentially onomatopoeia is the “soundtrack” on the page. In many cases, of course you can use a verb for a given scenario, but sometimes using onomatopoeia just gives that multisensory experience to the text. For example,
“Are we still on for dinner with Beth and Shawn?” Kate asked her husband as they walked out to the tennis court for an afternoon game.
“Of course we are. Jeff and Helen will be there.”
“Of course.”
Thwack!
She served the ball with more force than necessary.
Narrative writing
Narrative writing is the technique you employ to tell a story. However, storytelling is not limited to fiction. It is also a valuable element in nonfiction, especially in biographies and autobiographies, memoirs, and just about any type of nonfiction where stories are used to illustrate a point. Malcolm Gladwell’s books, for example, are filled with interesting stories.
The four most common and effective techniques in narrative writing are linear narrative, nonlinear narrative, viewpoint narrative, and descriptive narrative.
Linear narrative
In a linear narrative, the story is told in chronological order. The events/scenes are presented in logical progression, even if there are gaps here and there to keep the story from being slowed down by irrelevant or clearly implied events. The linear technique is used in most pieces of writing, not just books but also for movies and television series, documentaries, and others.
Within the linear narrative category, two of the most commonly employed techniques are the historical narrative and the quest narrative.
In a historical narrative, the story of an actual event or series of events is told following a linear timeline.
In a quest narrative, the story is focused on a character’s quest to achieve a goal. Stories told using the quest narrative technique often involve long, adventure-filled and/or difficult journeys, literal or otherwise. The goal is generally not easily achieved, or not at all. Whatever happens at the end of the journey, the character/s will have been transformed by their experiences. Quest narrative has been used all the way back to the classics. One fine example is Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey.
Nonlinear narrative
Nonlinear narrative is the direct opposite of linear narrative. The classic novel Wuthering Heights has a nonlinear structure, with the story beginning in 1801, going back to the 1770s, and then moving forward to 1802. Other examples include House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. The movie Memento, directed by Christopher Nolan, is considered by many as one of the best examples of a story told in a nonlinear narrative, with short-term memory loss resulting from anterograde amnesia influencing the sequences of scenes.
Viewpoint narrative
Stories told using the viewpoint narrative rely mainly on the narrator’s perspective, and often, they are character driven rather than plot driven. Readers experience the story through the narrator.
J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and Sylvia Plath’s only novel The Bell Jar are both narrated by their main protagonists. In both stories, the reader is inside the heads of Holden Caulfield and Esther Greenwood as they grapple with their respective circumstances.
If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was
born, an what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before
they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you
want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents
would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them. They’re
quite touchy about anything like that, especially my father. They’re nice and all — I’m not saying
that — but they’re also touchy as hell. Besides, I’m not going to tell you my whole goddam
autobiography or anything. I’ll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around
last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy
A viewpoint narrative allows you to explore facets of your protagonist’s personality and reveal these to your readers. This narrative is ideal for stories that are driven by themes of personal journeys and personal growth.
Descriptive narrative
This takes us back to descriptive writing, which is a staple of narrative writing. After all, what’s a narrative if the readers can’t see, hear, feel, smell, and touch the setting, characters, objects, and events in the story? Through descriptive writing, you can establish the atmosphere in your story, atmosphere is crucial to getting the readers immersed in the world you’re creating — real or imagined. Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories (e.g., “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” etc.) are perfect examples of the use of descriptive narrative to create vivid imagery and a distinct atmosphere.
Persuasive writing
You use persuasive writing to persuade your reader to rethink things; to adopt your approach to a task, a challenge, to life in general; and/or to do something. This means that in addition to providing information, you also share personal experience (storytelling), present logical arguments, appeal to your reader’s emotion, and produce compelling writing.
Persuasive writing is a go-to technique for writers focused on business and marketing, politics, and self-help, among others. On a deeper level, persuasive writing can help bring about changes in a society, a nation, and, ultimately, the world. For example, in 2005, after reading Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life, the president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, invited Warren to develop the P.E.A.C.E. Plan in the country.
To ensure that your book resonates with your audience, mind these six factors that determine the level of persuasiveness in your writing:
1. Wording
Word choice — that is, the words and phrases you use — determines in a big way your success in building a personal relationship with the reader. A comprehensive vocabulary ensures that you produce accurately worded text, with little to zero chance of being misread, or, worse, simply leaving the reader confused.
Use strong language and state things with authority. How are you going to persuade your readers if your writing lacks conviction to begin with? One thing you want to avoid in persuasive writing is “hedging language” — wording that conveys uncertainty, vagueness, and lack of confidence. Avoid hedging words like the verbs appear and seem (e.g., It seems that …), may/might, could, and can; adverbs like probably, necessarily, and potentially; and that clauses (e.g., It is clear that …).
Emotive language also plays a significant part in persuasive writing. Words and phrases that describe feelings help ensure that your readers are able to connect to your topic on an emotional level.
2. Questions posed
Questions often work well as a transitional device, taking the reader from one idea to the next. They are great for ending one paragraph, section, or chapter and/or starting a new one. In persuasive writing, they do one more job: They engage the reader by making them instinctively answer or search for an answer, and thus actively keep your work in mind.
You can use questions to get your readers to practice critical thinking: The questions you ask can introduce ideas that take them straight to the answers you provide. With clearly presented evidence and cleanly-structured argument, all you have to do is simply ask the right question, and your readers will arrive at your conclusion on their own.
3. Thesis statement
A thesis statement presents the central idea or theme. If you’re writing to persuade, your thesis statement is essentially the argument / point of view that you want your reader to agree with, or at least partially find merit and explore further by reading up on your subject matter.
4. Persuasion map
You can treat a persuasion map as an outline of your argument, designed to help writers organize their thoughts. Persuasion maps come in a variety of formats, but in general, you have to list out your main points, together with the evidence and examples to back up each point.
Persuasion maps are meant to help you consistently keep track of your ideas as you write, and as a result, it helps you stay organized.
5. Relationship between author and reader
Persuasive writing relies on the quality of the relationship between the author and the reader. You can’t go wrong with addressing them directly using the pronoun you (E.g., I know you too are tired of failed New Year’s resolutions …). Establishing rapport using the pronoun we and us isn’t a bad idea either (e.g., Often we fail to achieve our goals not because we are slackers but because we are not realistic with our goal setting).
Speak to your readers and establish a conversational tone in your writing. This puts your reader at ease, and even give them get a sense of talking to an old friend. With that dynamic in place, your reader will be more open to “hear you out,” especially if you are presenting rather controversial views or making radical suggestions.
6. Reiteration
Reiterate your main arguments. Repetition is a classic persuasive writing technique designed to put your ideas into your readers’ heads, and keep them there. The more times your reader encounters your main arguments while reading your book, the higher the chances of them remembering them, or mulling over them. Not only that, repetition in persuasive writing can also influence the way your readers think.
Expository writing
Your main goal in expository writing is to inform. That being the case, effective expository writing is determined by these factors: factuality, linear formatting, logical formatting, objectivity, and clarity of purpose. If those make expository writing seem dry, severe, and/or boring, worry not. Facts-based writing can certainly be fun and engaging — engrossing even. As long as you throw the right elements and techniques into the mix. For example, using techniques in narrative and descriptive writing can make your book more accessible and easier to relate with.
If you haven’t written much expository writing, here the most effective ways to present and explore your topics:
Contrast and comparison. Present two or more subjects and write about their similarities and differences.
Definition. Define a subject. For example, define a prominent figure by exploring their background, their actions, motivations, and circumstances.
Classification. Discuss the characteristics of multiple categorically similar subjects. For example, if you’re writing a book about brutalist architecture, you can devote a chapter to the most iconic brutalist structures in the world and describe and define each.
Problem and solution. State an existing problem and then discuss the most effective solutions for said problem. This approach is also right at home in persuasive writing, but in expository writing, you will generally be using this create troubleshooting guides and to explain how to solve a given problem.
Process. Explain a process or the steps in performing a task or creating something by writing out the process step by step, making sure to offer as much explanation as necessary for each step, along with tips and necessary warnings where needed.
The Takeaway
Writing is a serious, complex, and ultimately rewarding endeavor; and a comprehensive and consistently improved author’s toolkit is a must-have for all authors. You must know the different writing techniques and when to employ them. More importantly, make it a priority to consistently fine-tune your writing by mastering all the techniques that feature prominently in your work.
