Cindy Woodsmall | Seven Key Things to Avoid When Writing

There is nothing quite like taking a journey with fictional characters. I love when inspiration hits and I know what will happen in the story. But more than that, I love using that story to explore the reasoning and nuances of the characters’ weaknesses while finding the frailty of their strengths.

Sometimes digging deep to explore the character and the story they’re caught in is so much fun it feels as if I’m soaring far above Earth’s terrain on a warm summer night. I see the lay of the land, or in this case, the story, and I write about it. Can you see the silvery moonlight gently falling on snowcapped mountains, the lush valleys, and the rippling bodies of water as we fly overhead? Beautiful, isn’t it?

But perhaps just as often, I find writing to be really hard work, as if gravity has pulled me to the ground and I’m on my knees, digging out that terrain with nothing but my bare hands, feeling the pain of blisters from clawing into rocky dirt.

But you know what? It’s worth the effort.

When the manuscript is complete, I send it to my editor. During my ten years of working with her, I’ve learned a few thing on her don’t list. I’m going to share them with you and hope you find them helpful.

To keep readers glued to the story, try to avoid the following:

1. Focusing too much on the mechanics. While good writing is important, sometimes new writers work so hard at things like word usage and sentence structure that readers are pulled out of the most important thing: the story.

2. Overusing certain words. Some words, like pronouns and helping verbs, are used thousands of times in a full-length novel and readers don’t mind them. Most other words aren’t so easily overlooked, especially if used in close proximity. Words like return, hint, linger, tremble, believe, shocked, and suddenly may stir emotions in readers, but too much of a good thing turns their positive power into reader frustration.

3. Using strong verbs where they’re not really needed. Words like stomp, march, and trudge are strong verbs. Most of the time your character can simply move, walk, or go to a spot. The everyday movements of our characters don’t need to be exaggerated. Less is often more when it comes to verbs. When we’ve shown the characters’ emotions through action and dialogue, readers will know how they went from one place to another. The exception to that principle is if you have an action scene where it’s important to note how the character moved about.

4. Using complicated words. As authors we want the words to carry our readers as if they were on a magic carpet ride. We don’t want readers to trip over the rug. A thesaurus is a perfect tool to find the most powerful yet simple word possible. Sometimes you’ll need to rewrite the sentence in order to keep the energy and strength of the scene intact while keeping the words uncomplicated. Using simple words allows the story to shine through.

5. Slowing down a scene to explain or justify your character’s feelings. Instead, show in advance why she/he feels that way. For example, if you have a young girl being bitten by a dog or telling a friend about the scars she got from a dog attack, when a dog starts running toward her later in the novel, you don’t have to explain her reaction. The readers will understand the character’s fear and they’ll feel it with her.

6. Conveying a character’s thoughts or feelings through another character reading his or her facial expression. In real life, we usually can’t discern people’s thoughts or plans by looking at their faces. We may sense their mood, but we aren’t usually intuitive about the specifics of their hearts or minds.

7. Laziness. Do whatever amount of research and rewriting is necessary to make the story worthy of readers’ investment. Their time is a gift. Don’t take it lightly.

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About Cindy Woodsmall

Cindy Woodsmall is a New York Times best-selling author whose connection with the Amish community has been featured on ABC Nightline and on the front page of The Wall Street Journal. She is the author of The Bridge of Peace, The Hope of Refuge, and The Sound of Sleigh Bells.

Her ability to authentically capture the heart of her characters comes from her real- life connections with Amish Mennonite and Old Order Amish families. Cindy lives in Georgia with her husband, their three sons, and two amazing daughters-in- law.

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About TIES THAT BIND

Ariana’s comfortable Old Order Amish world is about to unravel. Will holding tightly to the cords of family keep them together—or simply tear them apart?

Twenty-year-old Ariana Brenneman loves her family and the Old Ways. She has two aspirations: open a café in historic Summer Grove to help support her family’s ever- expanding brood and to keep any other Amish from being lured into the Englisch life by Quill Schlabach.

Five years ago Quill, along with her dear friend Frieda, ran off together, and Ariana still carries the wounds of that betrayal. When she unexpectedly encounters him, she soon realizes he has plans to help someone else she loves leave the Amish.

Despite how things look, Quill’s goal has always been to protect Ariana from anything that may hurt her, including the reasons he left. After returning to Summer Grove on another matter, he unearths secrets about Ariana and her family that she is unaware of. His love and loyalty to her beckons him to try to win her trust and help her find a way to buy the café—because when she learns the truth that connects her and a stranger named Skylar Nash, Quill knows it may upend her life forever.

Ties That Bind is the first novel in the Amish of Summer Grove series.

Read the first chapter of TIES THAT BIND