5 Tips on How to Write Your Next 5-Star Read

Authors, have you ever put your heart and soul into a manuscript, knowing it would be your next best-seller? Only for you to release your book and it goes double plastic? Reviews leaving you stumped on what you did wrong. Well, I'm here to help. Penning a book may come easy to you, but the schematics of penning a really good book may have you confused. In this post I'm going to give you five tips on what some readers typically look for in a good book. Now this may vary on your target audience. Some readers may be okay with reading a book that has a bunch of drama or sex. But if you want to elevate your pen a little bit, get out your note pad and take notes on what I'm about to tell you.

1. Be mindful of descriptions

I've found that books that I DNF (do not finish) are either too descriptive or aren't descriptive enough. We're readers and we must use our imagination on all elements of your book. We need to know what your characters look like, and not just the male main character. I've read books where readers are given every single detail of the male main character, and we know the bare minimum about the female. I'm here to tell you, all characters matter. When readers get to a scene and the main couple is kissing, we can only visualize the male, leaving readers missing a very important piece of the puzzle. Give readers the descriptions without just writing them in there. Your book will give low-level vibes if you introduce your character and proceed to tell readers he was brown skinned with a low haircut and a slight muscular build. Drop your descriptions subtly so they flow with the book. If you can, have the other main characters describe what they look like. She studied him. His brown skin was covered in tattoos, mimicking a mural. Also, try not to overly describe. Readers don't need a rundown of the characters outfit all the way down to their accessories. Of course, you can mention a character is wearing jewelry or if their baby hairs are laid, but keep it minimal, and again, let the other main character give us the details. Readers also don't care if your characters are dripping in designer labels. Givenchy this, Tom Ford that and Louboutin this. Again, you can use this stuff, but try to keep it minimal.

We've talked character descriptions, now let's discuss geographical descriptions. Over the last couple of years, I've learned that readers hate when you mess up details in a specific region. If there's certain streets that don't intersect, authors having characters attending a school that's closed down, or simply a business that isn't really located in that particular city. Readers are giving books low ratings and citing "the author didn't do enough research". My advice to you is, take a trip to this specific area on Google Maps. You can type in an address or even intersecting streets and virtually walk up the street. An alternate fix is to make up your own cities or locations, that way it's no way you can get it wrong.

2. Character Chemistry

I love me a good novella, or insta-love story, but some readers don't. And they don't because they aren't sold on your characters falling in love in so few pages. You're already tasked with doing it quickly, but you have to make it believable. Readers should be able to feel the love emanating off the pages of your book. Cute text messages, dates, phone calls, honestly as many interactions and thoughts as possible and preferably on page. You can't recap that over the last two weeks they've been hanging out. Again, we're readers, we have to use our imagination when reading. Readers can only envision what you give them. Make those characters think about each other so much that it hurts. I'll never be convinced of characters meeting on page three of your book and by the time we're on page 25 they're in love and all they've done is had one phone conversation. You have to build those character's chemistry up to a level that is believable.

3. Small details matter... sometimes

I'm not the reader that opens a book and eagerly looks for inconsistencies in a book, even though I am aware that there are plenty of those types of readers out there. I'm not a doctor or a nurse, so I won't leave a bad review on a book where the patient's cancer treatment was inaccurate. I understand that books are simply fiction, so there's no need to go to med school to give me an accurate description on how an x-ray is taken. But sometimes, small details do matter. If your character is six feet and some inches, make sure their weight matches. Or if your character has hair down to her butt, make sure you research an estimate of how many inches hair that length is. A simple Google search will alleviate minor inconsistences and get readers to let up on your book in those reviews.

4. Verbiage matters

Certain parts of your manuscript can read as word fillers if they aren't written correctly. For example, a character is ordering food and the author simply states Character XYZ ordered chicken wings, fries and a Coke. When the author should be saying Before answering, she took a sip of her coke. 'You know you might be right.' she smirked, then proceeded to pick up one of her chicken wings. It'll make the read much smoother. Some authors leave this aspect for their editors, but as you grow and evolve as an author, your editor shouldn't have to work as hard to polish your manuscript.

5. Reread your book before publishing

I know this is next to impossible for authors signed to a publisher. I've heard that some authors don't even get to see their edited manuscript before publishing. But if there's any way possible, please reread your book before hitting that publish button. If you don't have the time to reread, let Microsoft Word read it to you. You'll be amazed at how many errors you hear. I do advise your book going through an editor and proofreader prior to your reread, you'd be surprised on how many words your mind and brain have autocorrected with the word actually being incorrect in your document. Grammatical errors have been the talk of the literary world for the last year or two. If you care about what your bad reviews say, please take the time to reread your work.

If you've found any of these tips helpful, let me know in the comment section. It'll give me a gauge on if I should provide more tips. Thank you for reading!