Lizet's Place

giving writing tips to a relative novice writer. I have no idea if my tips are any good, but this person found me on FF.net and I'm so desperately trying to keep her from following so many of the writers on there.

So far, my favorite tip that I've given her is:

Word length is your choice. You don't want to fall into the habit of using words that the characters wouldn't use (on the show) or that you wouldn't use. Also, there's no use in using a $4 word when a $2 word will do. What I mean by that is, big words that make people have to think or look up what they mean (unless they're in another language) doesn't make for a pleasant reading experience.

I've had some reading experiences where I was into the story, but then the characters began speaking in ways they wouldn't or using words that leave me scratching my head going "o.O whut?!" so then I look up the word and it's like why not just use the "dumb" version of that same word? This isn't some technical university book.

I really hope everything I tell her makes sense and helps her. what I've read of her story so far (all ~800 words of it) has the potential to be a pretty good story.