List of mistakes every new writer makes?

Question

List of mistakes every new writer makes?

Answer 1

Top problem: Procrastinating.

2nd biggest: Procrastinating.

3rd major: Procrastinating.

To be honest, some experienced writers make the same mistake. It's a hard one to fix.



Then there's the 'things you learned in English class'. Showing off your vocabulary is something your teacher gave you better grades for. Trying to find fifty ways to say 'said' made sense at school. Having your un-revised work checked over is normal in the classroom. Learning to spot a metaphor rather than a simile, so you can prove that you know what the term means, but no longer paying attention to what the metaphor was saying. And so on.



Leave the school environment and all these habits go with you. And they not the right approach for professional writing.



Not knowing that the job of a writer is to satisfy the reader. The best tool to do that with is *clarity*. Teaching these skills is the purpose of writing courses and books.



Not realizing that 80% of 'writing' is actually revision.

Answer 2

Hmm...



Writing and editing at the same time: "Write drunk, edit sober" is Hemingway's answer for it. Of course, we're not ALL drunken sods. What he should have said is, "Write it. That's right, just write it. Later, edit it. In some cases, many times."



NOBODY gets the words right at the onset. If you ever get the chance, go to the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame, and look at the sheet music written by some of music's greatest singers and song writers. There isn't a clean piece of work in the entire lot. They're all a mess! The secret, is learn to EDIT.



There’s no conflict: Conflict drives a story at every turn. Every lure, every twist, every hook, depends on it. Besides, who in the real world do you get along with at every, single, turn? By virtue of the fact that everyone has his/her separate brain, count on conflict.



The story is too predictable: Every new writer and more than a few seasoned ones, want to imitate those writers who they admire. THIS is problematic. The very readers you want to attract probably read the same successful writers you do. Avoid that pit altogether, and come up with YOUR story.



I'll add some more when I'm not flying on three hours sleep. -_- zzzzz



I'm including two-in-one here. Use of the language and Technical Skill: Be imaginative. It's not only what you say but the way you say it. Make sure that way is as technically accurate as you can get it (Yep, more editing). We've all grown up on books written by pros. Try tackling this same achievement with any disregard for grammar, punctuation, vocabulary or style, and the pros who buy such items will simply send you a very well written rejection slip.



*Edit 9/19/15*



Here's my last one.



A lack of Technical knowledge will mark you as a beginner. Learn how to actually write. I mean hone your grammar, punctuation, vocabulary and style skills to a razor's edge.

Answer 3

Describes, in nauseating detail, what their character looks like, even eyelash color...



Names the characters for their attributes or personality. No legit writer does that.



Does not understand how to put their words into sentences without using awkward language and way too many descriptive words.



Spends tons of time on the first paragraph instead of writing the story and going back to fix issues later.



Does not understand that what they wrote is a FIRST DRAFT. It will take five or more rewrites to turn it into something publishable.



Does not understand how to craft a plot that moves forward without a ton of fluff (unnecessary stuff) dragging it down.



Uses clichés in the writing, the plot, the characters, the situation leading up to the start of the story, etc.



Focuses on fan fiction and thinks it's what the world wants to see. Copyright means the original writer OWNS the characters, places and plot line. You won't get your stuff legitimately published for this reason.



No, writing children's books is NOT easier. The competition is hard to overcome and the writing has far more rules than you think it does.



Learn basic English. Get yourself a copy of Strunk and White. And a Thesaurus. And a Dictionary, or find those functions on your Microsoft Word.



USE spell check. Please.



Not really listening to critiques after you asked for them, or asking for 'what do you think' instead of 'where did I drop the ball here, what isn't sounding right, where does it need fixing'.



Jumping on the vampire (or occult/mermaid/werewolf/witch/half demon/ therian) overdone bandwagon. And yes, this means dystopian stories too.



Telling instead of showing. There's a craft to writing, it can be done wrong if you don't do your research.



Always using first person point of view. No, this is not usually the best POV to pick to tell your story.

Answer 4

You can't make the sweeping generalization that ALL writers make certain mistakes, but a good many do. Some of them include:



- Focusing on being a published writer before they've had any real experience

- Failing to learn how to write well because they're convinced they're the next J.K. Rowling

- Thinking grammar is unimportant and thus don't bother with it

- Failing to understand the importance of constructive criticism

- Wasting time worrying about what others want

- Failing to understand how important research is

- Asking for ideas under the guise of "wanting to know what the people want"

Answer 5

I think one prominent trait in a new writer makes is basically with subject verb agreement and any thing grammatical to be honest. The English language is complex so we are bound to make errors. Another thing is being over descriptive detail is good,but don't spend a million light years writing about a character's hair. It'll get boring and monotonous. Every writer makes mistakes even I do! It's a part of the learning process though.

Answer 6

"Every"



1. Imitating our favorite writer. We all do this in our first efforts. Even Kerouac had Thomas Wolfe. We don't all stray into fanfiction, but we all are guilty of writing like our heroes. I have three chapters of a novel about the drunken adventures of a bunch of young wastrels, written ala Steinbeck, complete with hooptedoodle. I can't count the number of college or art weekly columns I've read which read like cheap Hunter S. Thompson or which introduced colorful characters or relatives in the manner of Mike Royko. Haruki Murakami writes has an essay about how he found his style in the current reprint of his novellas Wind/Pinball which is interesting on this subject.



2. Not bothering to rewrite before asking people to look at our work. Blame spell check, blame grammar check, or blame the word processor, but we've all "cheated" when a deadline approached. We've all thought it didn't matter, because "it is only a rough draft" or "just for fun." Planning on gettign to something later isn't the same thing as rewriting.



3. Relying on a focus group or market research. Most new writers don't ask a hundred questions about which is the better name or if you like love triangles involving redheads, but most of us have at some time cynically decided to write what "the kids are reading today." We've looked at the shelves and jumped on the band wagon, rather than trying to stretch the art into a new place.

Answer 7

I was once thinking about writing a book similar to Joey Graceffa... Telling about my life but I just said forget it... The things that struggle and slouch with is procrastinating when I should be writing my book. I always get stuck up and dont have a clue what to write but that's a process every new writer have to go through ... Best advice... Try your best and give it your all... It's kinda tough writing your own novel ... But sooner or later you'll find an agent to publish your book.

Answer 8

The idea that there is some magical formula to good writing. No matter whose pedaling it.

Or that traditionally published equals good writing.

Any book that tells you writing can be done quick, easily and with minimal effort, is garbage. The use car salesman ploy of ebook sales.



There are so many. Writers are different. Everyone makes mistakes, but not the same ones.

Answer 9

Along with procrastinating; If a writer is trying out a new genre of the book, for an example like, a comedy, they need to find inspiration of what makes them laugh from a movie or real life adventures instead of faking and taking the funny materials.

Answer 10

Major problem: Taking oneself too important. Most first-time novels fail because they are too autobiographic, even´when covered in a good story. A new writer should come up with a completely fictitious work, because noone is really interested in the autobiography of a 20-year-old, even if it's clad into a fantasy story.

Answer 11

- Forgetting to check and correct spelling and grammar before posting. Also believing that spelling and grammar mistakes do not matter when posting or uploading

- Thinking that a name automatically discloses a character trait. Not all Damians are evil, though "Darth Vader" [Dark Father] does look ominous in print. Not all Alexanders are "great".

- Thinking that writing is so easy, then feeling miserable when they find out it isn't. Persevere! You might not end up writing the world's greatest book, but you'll treat other creators with more respect because you've done what they've done. [I think that's a great deterrent to vandalism.]

- Using a lot of adjectives and adverbs.

- Using a lot of passive verbs.

- Using long "literary" words when short words are more appropriate.

- Telling us about (or showing us) what is not essential to the story. (Information dumps. The "Angie heard the alarm clock ring. She yawned and pushed her long, tawny hair from her face." opening scene.)

Answer 12

If a writer is testing out a new style of the book, for an instance like, a comical, they need to find encouragement of what makes them smile from a movie or real life adventures instead of faking and taking the amusing implements.

Answer 13

Everyone feels like their script is great, that's the reason why 99% of the writers will fail. Each and every scene should be fresh and new. The Screenwriter should be act as writer and reviewer. Once he writes scene then he has to read the entire scene as a reviewer if it satisfies him then go-on with next scene. If not, re-write the scene.

Answer 14

forgetting that what they just wrote is a first draft which needs much editing before submitting.

the story is to some degree fan fiction.

not having a detailed enough plot outline, or making it up as you go along.

the plot completely loses tension, this loses readers interest.

getting really fancy with description, most times a surface level description will suffice.

telling instead of showing, don't tell us that the apartment is messy, tell us about the clothes on the floor, the sink full of dirty plates, etc (this is when you can violate the rule about fancy descriptions).

writing subplots for minor characters that don't touch the main plot or characters, we don't care about them.

not staying consistent e.g. your character broke his ankle, he can't run across the street to save the baby from a speeding 16 wheeler truck. or the blind man says don't shoot to the gun man he doesn't know is there.

you're writing a comedy novel but you really are not funny. this means don't write beyond your skills set.

Answer 15

Procrastinating

Giving up too easily

Being overly descriptive

Losing flow within the story

Not setting out an overview plan

Being overly critical or vice Versa of ones work

Not truly understanding the hard work that goes into the writing process.

Answer 16

-Thinking he doesn't need to rewrite and edit.

-Not knowing the correct word count his story should be.

-Not reading enough books.

-Giving too much focus on things that aren't important, like a character's appearance

-Thinking that using 'important' words would make him a better writer.

-Writing filler chapters.

-Thinking they can get published even if they're like, twelve.

-Writing only for themselves (a writer who wants to be published must write for others as well, and consider what other people would like to read.)

-Thinking that you don't judge a story by it's cover\title.

-Writing only to increase word count.

-Not balancing between perspective and dialogue.

-Changing point of views every two paragraphs.

-Telling instead of showing.

-Incorrect punctuation in dialogue.

-Using other words instead of 'said'.

-Not giving much thought to the opening sentence.

-Worrying about word count and chapter length instead of the writing's quality.

-Cliches

-Mary sues.

-Writing awfully long summaries that tell too much about the story.

-Keeping too much mystery that the story isn't even intresting anymore.

Answer 17

Of fiction? Not being aware of John Truby's book, Anatomy of Story, the most sophisticated manual out there for understanding & writing structure, where the story's power primarily resides. Plenty of time wasted learning how to reinvent the wheel otherwise

Answer 18

Goodness, where to even begin with this one...



-Attempting to base each and every main character in each and every piece of writing on him or herself, people he or she knows or characters from other works.

-Obsessing over idiotic details instead of being concerned with the quality and the content of the writing itself, i.e.: obsessing over a character's name or appearance, the title of an unfinished work, etc.

-Constantly asking others to critique the most minute fragments of a piece of writing as in "Would you please read this one chapter and tell me what you think of it" or "...this one page" or "this one paragraph" oblivious to the fact that the reader cannot possibly gauge anything from reading 1/1000th of a piece of writing.

-Godawful dialogue. Many new writers don't yet understand how critically important it is to craft the dialogue in any piece of writing so that it's as streamlined and as effective as it could possibly be. No one wants to read a piece of writing that resembles the vacuous conversations teenagers have in the hallway between classes. If you're going to include a piece of dialogue in a work, it ought to further the plot, not just take up space on the page.

-Prologues. This one really is the absolute worst offense. If you can't write well enough to sculpt a tale that doesn't require a detailed explanation before it even begins, then you aren't cut out to be a writer. Yes, I'm aware that many well-written and well-respected books contain prologues, but in the case of crafting an epic work replete with a multitude of locales, characters, story-lines, etc., a case can be made for the inclusion of a prologue. If you're writing a short story, you really don't have any call for a prologue and when I see one in an amateur writer's work, I usually don't even bother with it.

-Failure to check for spelling or grammatical errors.

-Heavy reliance on cliches and colloquial terminology.

-Redundancy, a total and complete ignorance of synonyms, antonyms which reveals that the writer possesses an embarrassingly limited vocabulary.

-Failure to maintain consistency with tense. As soon as I see inconsistencies in tense from past to present and back to past, I'm done with that piece of work.

-Overkill with the adverbs and/or adjectives.



Those are the few that spring to mind.

Answer 19

Cliches--starting a story with someone getting up in the morning, 'it was just a dream', the hero is an orphan whose parents died in a car/plane crash.

Info dumps, too much description especially of characters' appearances, poor spelling, over-use use of a thesaurus to add in obscure words in an attempt to sound brainy

Answer 20

My friend just had a book published she was so excited in places she used way too many exclamation points As I read it I kept going back to see what I missed until I realized her mistake and read them like periods. She was upset her publisher did not catch them.

Answer 21

- Assuming all criticism is 'hate'

- Thinking of being published before they've even finished their first book

- Spending way too long finding a name to match the appearance of a character

- Asking for feedback on every paragraph they write as they go along. Always better to finish and then ask for feedback.

- Not researching the publishing process properly -too many fall for the vanity publisher scam/think they always have to pay for being published.

- Asking family and friends for feedback and think that is enough & that it means their story is good enough to be published.

- Asking for plot ideas. Big mistake!

Answer 22

Together with waiting; If your author is attempting away a brand new style from the guide, to have an instance such as, the humor, they have to discover motivation associated with why is all of them chuckle from the film or even actual life activities rather than faking as well as getting the actual humorous supplies.

Answer 23

Experienced and prolific writers make mistakes too.

Answer 24

stereotype characters. example: teens girls are generalized as shallow and only care about their looks and popularity (usually supporting characters like a brother or sister).

unintentionally copying the persona of an already existing character. Obvious example - Main character is an orphan boy who wears glasses and studies magic - Harry Potter.

Answer 25

Overly long chapters.

Overly long sentences.

Language which is too juvenile.

Failing to conclude the story or resolve things.

Too many things coming out of the blue

(You need to plant clues earlier on in the story so that they germinate)

Answer 26

a few of many....

procrastinating.

editing as you go along while writing the rough draft

not writing often enough

using too many adjectives

being really obvious while trying to explain the backstory to the reader through the dialogue.... "Hi Pattie!" said Jane. "How are you three kids Ellen, Paige, and Clara? Is your job as a dentist going well?"

Answer 27

Telling when they should be showing.



There is nothing interesting in "a creepy face" but "a white face with no teeth, severely scarred and an eyepatch" that is at least marginally better.

Answer 28

Spelling. Grammar. Trite work. Try this section for ideas: http://silvablu.skeeter63.org/HMG/00-Introduction.htm

Answer 29

Focusing on really irrelevant things like "My character has short black hair, electric blue eyes, and comes from a wealthy family and got everything they wanted but is still like relatable lolz what should his name be? Also he is the son of satanz and has like all the powers of the underworld but his mom is an angel lolz." <--- Literally how you guys sound sometimes.

Answer 30

Lack of confidence

Too many re-writes

Being rushed and allowing it...

Looking to others for too much advice on content...

Answer 31

Writing down exactly what you say when you talk; so, you may write down stuff that are only used in conversing such as "I mean", "like" etc. So, being informal I guess and too casual. Hope that helps.

Answer 32

Something I often hear is "Write the way you talk". If your spoken English (or whatever language you're writing in) is good, that's good advice. But if your spoken English is poor then *write the way you should talk*.

Answer 33

Being over posed about the subject and going off topic

Answer 34

Trying to stay hip and cool with general public...

Plus procrastinating, grammar , too little or too much details, etc

Pretty sure you got the gist of thing here thanks to all these wonderful Yahooer...

Answer 35

Plagiarism or copying other people's work.

No attribution for other people's work.

Answer 36

trying too hard. I feel like sometimes newer writers try too hard to seem good at what they do.

Answer 37

Misspell words ,make insensitive comments

Answer 38

1. Spwelin miskates.

Answer 39

trusting Jesus

and lying

and accidently hurt a Taurus Boy

and accidently hurt a crush who really care about me



Pisces Girl Emoapple here

Answer 40

don't put yourself under too much pressure (guilty of this myself actually). don't think "oh, this is going to be the best thing i ever write, with the best characters, the best writing, and best plot". it will make you less satisfied with your work and have less motivation writing it.

Answer 41

You try not to point out peoples mistakes at all ever. Long fullstop. A world famous book called War&Peace also known by Saint Martins is where pointing out is most different to taking shots/leaves/loaves etc.



Thanks all for coming. #MIX2NotForgotten

Answer 42

Thinking of a new idea after starting a piece of writing

Answer 43

To become unusually emotional.

Answer 44

I say, grammar, not putting commas, or periods to end the sentence. Etc.

Answer 45

Not knowing how to ask a question.

Answer 46

http://show2.best-fullmovie.com/

Answer 47

Asking this question.

Answer 48

taking oneself too important!!

Answer 49

they always quote things and over describe...

Answer 50

mirenlo

Answer 51

inpatience

Answer 52

Forgetting to say please when asking for help.