As a writer, there is a near unlimited amount of books on writing itself.
I’ve recently read two books:

Donald Maass – ‘Writing 21st century fiction’	Maria Genova – ‘Hoe schrijf je een bestseller’ (How to write a bestseller).

Fascinating to read that a lot of their tips are overlapping. Sure as hell that the majority of the books have things in common.
Donald’s book is to the point and is about the content of the book you are or want to write. Donald has included lots of short passages from other books for comparison.
The book by Maria deals with both contents but also introduces a lot of tips for novice writers.
I have the opinion that both novice, as well as more experienced writers, can find value in the book. From both books I found the following the most beautiful or best tips:

1. 10. Look towards the environment through the eyes of the character.Hear, see and feel what the character is senses at that particular moment in your book. At that moment the person comes alive and gives the character and added value to the story as a whole.
2. 9. Make your book thinner.Remove the parts that are not lifting your book to a higher level. Remove the parts that have nothing to do with the story.
3. 8. Spellcheck the cover text and check it thoroughly.The book cover should not be judged, but we all know that the majority first checks the front. If interested, the back cover text is read. I call this second level selection and is this text must be good. No errors, no unclear sentences!
4. 7. Make your characters stand out.Just based upon the fact that one falls asleep at the moment that the complete story is based upon common or average persons. Make them have a quire habit or hobby.
5. 6. Make every scene strong enough to push the story.When you write a scene, does it help the story? Is it worthwhile to have it in that place? What is the strong point of the scene? If there is none, remove it!
6. 5. What thing would your protagonist never do at this moment in the story.
   Use what came up in your story. Don’t make it easy for the protagonist. Push him/her all the way to reach his/her goal at all the possible moments.
7. 4. Do not include all the things you learned about the subject.
   The gained knowledge may serve you well while writing the book, but the majority of the knowledge may not make your story stronger ar more vivid. Keep tip 9 in mind while having researched so much information.
8. 3. In dialogs, remove all coffee talk.
   It doesn’t interest the reader much, what the coffee tastes like, not any gossip on relatives. Leave it out.
9. 2. Check book covers of books in the same genre as you are writing in.
   See what the readers like. Which covers (I know I should say books) are in the top 10? Which common element do all of them have?
10. 1. Not from these books: You can only do one thing wrong in writing: stop with writing.
    Why did you ever start writing a book? For the money? For the love of the readers? If those are not with you at a certain moment in time, don’t let it stop you from writing, as there is no better word choice that you can make for the complete book. Keep on going with your writing, yes also if there are more critiques on the book then something possitive!

Do you have a tip to share?
Happy writing,
Steve