I’ve been working with writers in all different stages of their careers for almost 25 years. Here are ten of the biggest writing mistakes I see over and over again.
Giving your manuscript to the wrong readers and thinking their opinion means your manuscript is perfect. If you can’t afford a professional editor like me, make sure you’re relying on more than just your mom, the kid next door, or someone that wrote one book 20 years ago. You need beta readers that are familiar with the market, understand they’re helping you improve your book and not pushing you to write the one they wish they could, and will be tough but kind. Think about someone like the friend who doesn’t just say that color is wrong on you but pushes you to find the most flattering one. And, if you’re still getting rejections after getting a few of these reads, you need to find more readers or a professional editor to help you.
Spending too much time on the first sentence at the expense of the book. I wrote an article about this last week and it is worth reading if you haven’t yet.
Thinking word count doesn’t matter if you want to be traditionally published. It very much does and guidelines are everywhere. So try to stay in a realistic window for what you’re writing and if you don’t want to, then consider publishing independently. When someone tells me they just want to write the book they want to write regardless of what the market dictates, it tells me they probably don’t like following any rules. Traditional publishing has a lot of rules. If you publish independently, you get to make your own rules.
Spending too much time on punctuation or grammar when you really need to make sure your story is perfect first. Copyediting - or any smaller editing in that vein - is a waste of time until you are 100% sure the story is bulletproof. Otherwise, you’re just painting a house that is going to fall down.
Too much backstory. Ask yourself, what is the first spark that ignites the main plot? Where is it? Can you weave any of the set up you’re giving us around that instead and move the first spark up? You need to grab readers quickly. You can introduce them to your world and your characters around action that moves us forward, instead of spending time so much time setting up your world and then starting the plot.
Tying into too much set up is…info dumping! This is when a story is paused - or hasn’t even started yet - because the author is giving us a ton of information. Ask yourself: how much do readers need to know right now? Can you give us smaller tidbits around action instead?
Problems with specific words, like either depending too much on a thesaurus or using the same words over and over again. I know these issues are connected. Worry about using repeated words can make you depend too much on a thesaurus, but if you spend too much time swapping out simple words for more complicated or less common ones it can often feel forced. Ask yourself: do the words you’re using feel natural and necessary?
Make sure your characters talk like real people. The best way to accomplish this is to read your dialogue aloud and make sure every sentence sounds like something your friends and neighbors would say, unless you’re writing in a different time period or universe of course.
Decide who is narrating your story and stick with it. If you are switching perspectives, make sure that happens ideally only in every new scene or chapter. When you switch perspectives sooner than that, it often feels like you’re losing control over your narrative. Too many perspectives, also known as head hopping, can make readers dizzy.
What is your plot? I can’t tell you how many times I read perfectly clean manuscripts and have no idea what story they’re telling me. I’d make sure you are clear on your plot and can share it in a quick synopsis. One way to avoid this is to come up with a synopsis before you start writing but if you’re too late, you can also come up with a synopsis and chapter outline while you’re revising and make sure every scene or chapter is moving us forward and not veering too far from the main plot.
What do you struggle with or what bothers you? I’d love to know! Share in the comments.
Warmly,
P.S. Enjoying my newsletter? Consider upgrading your subscription! It comes with exciting bonuses including exclusive videos packed with advice and access to my chat stream, which is like having a personal editor in your pocket.
Terrific advice! Even if you've made it into print, you can still make these mistakes. Not all that long ago, I killed the wrong person in my mystery and had to rewrite 2/3 of it. If I'd taken the time to make a synopsis, as I usually do as a plotting tool, I'd have caught it. But no, I was doing one of those "write for a month" things and just kept going. I'll never go without a synopsis again!
Thank you for this very helpful article. I'm struggling with weaving my chapters so they don' feel like mere episodes rather than a story. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks!