Some advice just doesn’t fit neatly anywhere else. This is my living/growing list of all the little tips and tricks I encounter along my writing journey.
Harry Porter arriving at Hogwarts, Katnis Everdreen at The Hunger Games, Catelyn Stark at King’s Landing, Darrow arriving at The Institute; having a character arrive somewhere is a fantastic excuse for you to describe it from their POV as it's relevant to them. (Likewise, this ‘second world’ concept serves other story purposes depending on your approach to story structure.) This trick can work on things as big as a second world, or as small as a room. Hell, stepping back from 'places' all together, when your character experiences something new, you get an awesome excuse to describe it (keeping in mind show don't tell) that you don't often get otherwise.
A third (generally secondary) character in a scene can force two more center stage characters to interact in ways they otherwise would not do so naturally otherwise, aka ‘The Shit Stirrer’. Some great examples of this involve enemies to lovers scenarios, or unlikely allies scenarios. A third character asking a hesitant couple if they’re married, an enemy attempting to kill a party member and forcing two usually-at-odds characters to cooperate to overcome the attack, etc. In general, if you want/need to force your characters in a certain direction, be it dialogue, internalization, action, or otherwise, a third character can often be a comfortable way to deliver that nudge.
Trying to find ways to not start every sentence with a character's name, or ‘the’ can be really tough at times. Often times, a great way to spice it up while still respecting your (presumed) desire to stick to active language, is to start some of your sentences with prepositions. “Down by the river, Dan saw a dead body bobbing in the water.” “Without Ashely, he would be nowhere, lost.”
Detectives, thieves, spies, royal envoys; characters with a built in excuse to interact with people across classes and social circles are a great way to explore a world's political dynamics in particular. An amazing video game example of this would be Disco Elysium where you're a detective asking everyone questions form the richest rich to the poorest poor and learning about the world as it becomes relevant to your character through these interactions.
Dead bodies are the ultimate gift packaging for delivering what a writer wants. *Slaps trunk*: "You can fit so much spaghetti in this bad boy." - No, but really! The wonders a dead body can do. It is the most dense concentration of everything you would ever want to deliver on as an author. Tension, throughline, story progression, causation, questions, world history and lore. For example, in Promise of Blood, the opening scene takes place without action per se, but with the discovery of a recently dead body, and I’d argue it draws you in more than action ever could. The only thing scarier than a murderer is a dead body! Dead bodies just absolutely rock at causing the reader to ask a million questions.
Who doesn’t remember watching Oberyn circling The Mountain in Game of Thrones (when the series hit TV for the first time) repeating over and over “you raped her, you murdered her, you killed her children” while wielding a weapon? Chanting his character motivation like a battle cry for all to hear as viewers sit gripped on the edge of their seats. Yeah, that works in all forms of media. Having a character flatly say what their goal is, or what their motivation is, is usually pretty awesome. In an art form that's defined by it's slow drip of information, this is one place in particular where you have no such constraints, be as direct and on the nose as you'd like with goals and motivations! Personally, I will bend over backwards to concoct a situation/scene where a character has a reason to very directly just tell the reader this directly. Yes, obviously there are show don't tell consideraitons, but readers crave this so much and it is so core to any POV that you have a lot of freedom to be as direct as you’d like.
Breaking rules intentionally is always okay, as long as you make it clear that you know those rules exist in the first place, aka you make it clear that you're not just being sloppy. Start your sentences with 'and’s and ‘but’s. Run on as long as you’d like. Repeat yourself when you want. Here’s a great quote from The Devils that does this nicely: “[…] the Holy City led around and around in a chilly circle crawling with an unimaginable density of pilgrims, prostitutes, dreamers, schemers, relic-buyers, indulgence-dealers, miracle seekers, preachers and fanatics, tricksters and swindlers, prostitutes, thieves, merchants and moneylenders, soldiers and thugs, an astonishing quantity of livestock on the hoof, cripples, prostitutes, crippled prostitutes, had he mentioned the prostitutes?”
We don’t need the play-by-play of your MC’s travel between two cities if it’s irrelevant. Books happen in scenes, not full on accounts, leave out the boring stuff! Scene transition markers within chapters are a thing for a reason, or hell, just write shorter chapters if you so desire (and implied, have more of them, ala thriller genre style), that’s certainly in vogue with some authors.
Cool stories exist everywhere. I love anime and video games as much as I do books. TV shows and movies all the same. Hell, you should see the sheer quantity of history podcasts I listen to. Yes - absolutely you need to read to get better at writing, but much of story telling mediums have more in common than they do apart, and even just the inspirations and vibes you get from all of them really do add to your experience as an author. They can be a fun way to explore stories if your eyes or tired or if you're lazy one day or just want to change it up.
Enjoy!