Three Tips to Discover the Kind of Writer You Are

Discovering what kind of writer you are–meaning what’s your pattern of writing–will go a long way in helping you complete a novel. I mentioned some different patterns for my Monday Spark–the hare writer, the tortoise writer, or somewhere in between. When tackling your first novel, take the time to figure out your pattern so you can be your most productive. Here are three tips to discover the kind of writer you are.

Writing Sprints

If you google writing sprints, you’ll find any number of ways to do them. The point of a writing sprint is to dedicate a relatively short amount of time to writing and to do nothing but writing in that time. No research, no distractions, no leaving your seat until the time is up, and above all else, no editing. Here’s my post on why writing and editing must be two separate activities.

If you find this concentrated time is beneficial, then you can plan writing sprints throughout your day and week. For example, a half hour sprint works for you. Schedule a half hour before you go to work and another half hour after supper. Or doing your lunch hour. Or before bed. Maybe plan three or four sprints on Saturday.

Writing Binges

This one is harder to pull off because it takes a much longer piece of time, but some writers work better when they have a whole day to use for writing. Find a day where you can set aside most of it to write and see how much progress you make. If you can crank out 10,000 words, this is probably your best pattern for writing. If you write about as much as you would with a few sprints a day, then you should stick with the sprints.

Most writers use a combination of short and long sessions, developing habits that work best for each individual. But regardless of what your optimal pattern of writing is, I urge you to also become …

A Flexible Writer

You will get so much more writing done if you learn to write in almost any situation. When I was single, I thought I had to have large chunks of quiet time in order to write. Once I married and had kids, I realized I had to adapt my pattern or I would never complete another story. So I trained myself to write in any situation where I was sitting down. Doctor’s office? Check. Waiting for soccer practice to end? No problem. Riding to a conference? Got it covered.

And if you can’t write in a less than ideal setting, train yourself to edit. I find editing takes less concentration than first draft writing, so I will switch to editing if circumstances are interfering with my concentration to work on a first draft.

How did you develop your writing pattern? What tips would you give newbie writers to discover what kind of writer they are?

January 22, 2026 1

How to Read a Novel Like a Writer

To write a novel you have to be a reader. But your reading style has to change once you know you want to tackle the awesome job of completing a novel. You have to learn how to read a novel like a writer.

Reading a novel for analysis

On Monday, I asked you to name your three favorite novels. Once you decide which ones are your favorites in the genre you want to write in, you need to sit down with that book and dissect it, study it, analyze it like you’re preparing for test that your class grade hinges on. How? Keep reading.

What do you love about your favorite novel?

On your computer, phone, or notepad, jot down what you love about your favorite novel. Is it the characters? The plot twists? The descriptions?

After writing down what you like about the novel, think about why you like those aspects. For example, I love the descriptions of the world the Time Traveller finds when he uses his invention to travel to the year 802,701 in The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. Why do I love those descriptions? Well, they’re described so well that I can see myself walking beside the Time Traveller, living the scene with him. He thinks he’s found humans on the wane, in the sunset of their evolution, and his description of the evening while he considers this theory complements his thoughts.

Now that I know why I love this description, I need to dig into it and analyze it. There are a number of ways to do this, but the easiest it to write or cut and paste the section you want to analyze and then highlight the words, sentences, and other elements that makes this part of the novel resonate with you.

Here’s a sentence from The Time Machine I think describes the evening vividly and sets the mood for the scene:

“The sun had already gone below the horizon and the west was flaming gold touched with some horizontal bars of purple and crimson. Below was the valley of the Thames, in which the river lay like a band of burnished steel.”

Color seems to be the key to creating a vivid description in this sentence. “Flaming gold”, “purple”, “crimson”, and “burnished steel.” What’s the lesson? When I want to describe something or set the mood of a scene, specific colors can do that work for me.

You can use this approach for any writing you admire to draw lessons you can apply to your own novel.

What novels have influence your writing and why?

Here are more tips on writing descriptions.

January 15, 2026 3

First Step You Must Take to Write a Novel

What is the first step you must take to write a novel? It’s simple. You must read. As simple as it is, many aspiring novelists don’t realize how critical this step is.

Read What You Love

If you’ve decided you’re writing a political thriller, don’t limit yourself to just political thrillers. If you’re in the mood for a romcom, read that. All reading is helpful if you approach it with a teachable attitude. From the theology book, Mere Christianity, I learned how important it is to write precisely, especially when creating analogies. Reading the comic novels and short stories of P. G. Wodehouse showed me how crafting a humorous simile or metaphor can put fun in a story as well as reveals something about the character who came up with simile or metaphor. I have no plans to write a book on theology or a comic novel, but reading those books has had a profound impact on my writing because I approached them like a student.

Since middle school, I’ve loved to read about cryptids, like bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. Sightings of mysterious animals always give me a thrill as I wonder “what if”. How does that affect my mystery novels? I was able to include Ohio’s connection to bigfoot and the people who look for the creature in my latest Rae Riley mystery, A Riddle in the Lonesome October.

You Have to Know Your Genre

Whatever genre you want to write in, you need to know what the rules are for that genre because readers expect you to follow those rules. A mystery in which the detective does not reveal the identity of the murderer will leave mystery fans confused and ticked off. Also, knowing the rules of the genre backwards and forwards allows you to know when and how to bend the rules.

Don’t Read Only Current Novels

As a first-time novelist, you may have just come up with a killer climax to your space opera. If you aren’t well read in your genre, you wouldn’t realize that a famous novelist came up with that same climax in a best-selling space opera ten years ago. When you submit your novel to a publisher, or even just let family read your work, they’ll think your story is either unimaginative or boring.

Knowing the history of the genre you want to write will show you where the genre has been, what’s considered fresh and what’s considered old hat. Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes still loom large over the mystery genre. A new writer is well-advised to read some of their most famous works to understand why an author who died in the 1970s and a fictional character over a hundred years old retain so much influence over the genre.

Also, reading older novels can inspire you to put a fresh twist on their concepts. Tough female PIs became popular in the 1980s. What if you wrote about a tough female PI during the 1940s when the male version dominated? How could write your main character to fit in that historical context?

What do you love to read? Here are some of my favorite stories and books. No matter the genre or topic, they are stories I’ve learned something from.

January 8, 2026 0

Writing Tips for Creative Fun with Characters

This post from January on how on writing tips for creative fun with characters was one of my most popular article this year. Enjoy!

I’m a character writer. I start with developing characters and getting to know them. Once I understand them as well as my kids, it’s time to throw them into a story. When my writing isn’t going well, I look to my characters to rescue the narrative. And to put the fun back into a story.

Fun Ideas for Characters

Here are some ideas to write about characters for just the fun of it.

Create two very obnoxious characters. Then put them in a scene together.
Write from your pet’s POV, especially what it thinks of you.
Insert yourself in a scene with one of your favorite fiction characters like Sherlock Holmes or Bilbo Baggins.
Insert yourself in a scene with one of the characters you’ve created.
Reverse a famous hero-villain pair. For example, Superman terrorizes the world, and only Lex Luthor can save it.

Fun Ideas for Characters in Your WIP

If you’re writing on a deadline, you might not have time to write something outside of your WIP. So below are ideas to consider adding to your WIP, if you’ve found all the fun has gone out of your current project but you can’t step away from it.

Add a scene or two with your favorite supporting character.
Have two characters who don’t like each other meet.
Have your main character (MC) fight wither their closest friend.
Have your MC do something that’s outrageous for them.
Have your antagonist do something outrageous for them.
Bring together two characters who haven’t had a scene together yet.
Add a character who isn’t supposed to be in the story. For example, you decided you didn’t need your MC’s grandma in the story and sent her on vacation. Bring her back and see if she can fit in the story.
Write a scene that isn’t working from the POV of a different character.

What suggestions do have for writing fun with characters? For more character prompts, click here.

December 18, 2025 1

Crafting the Perfect Character Names for Your Short Story

A post on crafting the perfect character names for your short story has received a lot of views this year. So I’m revising it since it’s been seven years since I wrote the original post and I’ve learned a few things about writing in the intervening years.

Because of a short story’s limited word count, creating names for short story characters is more important than just hanging an identifying label on them. You can convey a lot about their personalities is a tiny space by picking the perfect name.

In my short story, “Bovine”, the main character is a snobby New York novelist up to no good. I wanted even his name to sound snobby, so I went with Harrison Sharpe. Harrison is not a common, it’s long, and sounds very formal, perfect for my elitist novelist. Sharpe actually reveals his acid-tongued personality and the “e” on the end looks pretentious, like the man.

His wife is a supermodel. So I created an unusual first name, one that was memorable enough that she could use it alone, like Beyonce or Cher, and people would recognize her. I went with Ariella. Her husband calls her Ari. Nicknames make a character seem more real and down to earth. Many of us have nicknames for our loved ones. Ari has no nickname for Harrison, which hints at how snobby he really is.

Speaking of nicknames–in a short story, they can be a quick way for a writer to reveal what one character thinks of another. When Harrison Sharpe thinks about Sheriff Malinowski, he refers to him as the Blond Ox. That not only describes the character but shows better than any lengthy internal monologue Harrison’s contempt for the man. For more on using nicknames in your writing, see my post “Lesson #1 from The Deer on a Bicycle.“

Here are more posts with tips for writing short stories.

If you’re a writer, how do you create the perfect names for your characters? Readers, what are some of your favorite literary names?

December 11, 2025 0

Category: Writing Tips