How to Make Your Writing Stand Out – Part 1


It’s an age old question for writers. What makes one book stand out from another? What makes one so amazing and others less so? It’s especially important if you choose the traditional publishing route, and you need to impress agents.
From the outset, your writing needs to grab your reader’s attention and maintain that attention all through the story. It needs to continually captivate them, so much so that they’ll want to come back for more. To do that, your writing needs to stand out.
But how do you really make it stand out?
What makes a book a bestseller? A combination of things, since not all bestselling books would win a literary prize, but what makes them stand out is a mixture of elements that appeals to the reader, elements that make stories they enjoy, stories they will want to read.
To begin with, you need to find your voice, one that is strong and different. Voice is the way an author writes, coupled with a style that’s different. This is why some authors stand out more than others. How they tell their stories, in the style that they do, makes them instantly attractive to readers.
Make the story unique. That may sound strange, since all stories are unique, but what we mean by unique is that it’s a story that hasn’t been told before. Many stories share the same ideas or plots, but it’s the way they’re told that makes them different. Some writers present their stories as a diary, while others deliberately choose to mix POVs. Others skilfully use flashbacks. And some writers are clever enough to write their stories backwards – they start at the end and work their way through the events that led to that ending.
Sometimes it’s in the approach or the structure of a story that makes it unique.
Something else that makes a work of fiction stand out is description. Writers approach this individually – some use very visual or colourful descriptions, while others are more gritty and raw. Descriptions are vital for captivating the reader, so whether you’re eloquent, even flowery, or very visceral, always use description to masterful effect.
Use all the senses, use colour, use layers - don’t be afraid to be individual with the way to describe a scene. The imagery you create is what the reader will remember about your book; something they will remember. This is why we show rather than tell. Would a book be so memorable if all it did was tell and not show?
Attention to detail may not seem very important, but it is if you want that description to feel real for your reader. What goes on in the background of a scene is just as important as what goes on in the foreground. Think of a photograph in 360o. That’s what the reader wants – they want the full picture of what’s happening. Attention to detail makes your writing stand out.
Some of the stories we remember most are those with characters we love, or love to hate. What makes those stories stand out so well are the characters, the kind we can care about and sympathise with, the kind we want to win the day, and the kind we want to see get their just desserts at the end.
Multidimensional characters that can leap from the pages really can make your work stand out, because they make the story so real and so memorable. It doesn’t matter if they’re ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations, or whether they’re angelic or evil, make them unforgettable.
Notwithstanding great characters, a story that stands out among others is one that contains a well thought out plot. A tight plot is the skeleton around which your story hangs and without one, the story fails.
In Part 2 we’ll look at other ways you can make your writing stand out.

Next week: How to Make Your Work Stand Out – Part 2

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