I’m going to admit something, right now. I have been guilty of almost all of these mistakes at one point or another.
I have been writing for years and yet, even now, I will still make some of these mistakes.
That’s because they are really common, bad writing habits that are easy to fall into!
If you are new to writing it’s a really good idea to familiarize yourself with the good habits and if you have been writing for years, it never hurts to remind yourself of the basics.
“If you think you know everything you will never learn anything.”
- Not having a plan.
When you get a new idea it’s very exciting and you just want to start writing. That is fine. Do that, live with your story and see where it takes you but if you find yourself losing interest half way through, or your momentum stops it might be time to look at your story and plan out where you’re headed. You don’t need to have all the answers yet, you don’t need to plot out every twist and turn, you don’t even have to know how it’s all going to end. Just give yourself a basic road map, a point in your story to aim for, so that you don’t get lost along the way.
- Not reading your own genre.
If you’re writing a thriller, it’s a good idea to read thrillers. If you’re writing lyrical poetry then familiarize yourself with lyrical poetry, if you write fantasy – you get it, read your own genre. It’s hard to write a crime novel if you’ve never read a crime novel . Spend some time in your local library or bookshop, getting to know your genre.
- Don’t start too big.
Don’t give yourself an impossible task by making your first project, an epic fantasy saga to rival Lord of the Rings. Bigger does not necessarily mean better and as a new writer, if you give yourself a project that is too big you run the risk of burning out, losing confidence and giving up. Start with short stories, a novella or a stand alone novel.
- Don’t switch narrative voices.
If you are writing your story in first person then continue to write your story in first person. If you’re writing in third person, continue in third. Switching narrative voice is confusing for readers and makes your writing look amateurish.
Really think about the voice of your story, keep it in your mind until that voice is so clear that it will be impossible to accidentally switch narrative voice whilst writing.
If you really want to tell your story from different characters POV then make it easy on the reader (and yourself) by separating those voices into different chapters. Look at books that do this successfully, such as the Game of Thrones series.
- Don’t try to sound “writerly”
Writing is actually a lot closer to speaking than most people think. You don’t have to use unusual words, or grand narration or put on a different, special writer’s voice in order to tell a good story. This is your story, you want it to sound like you, so don’t try to sound like Shakespeare or Dickens, they already have their voice. Sound like you, there’s only one of you after all.
- Introducing too many characters at once
It’s hard to care about characters if there are too many of them to keep track of. Be selective with your characters and choose carefully when you introduce them so that your readers aren’t left confused or overwhelmed.
- Avoid Passive Voice
What is passive voice? It’s a lot like how it sounds, its passive, its limp, it does not hold control of the sentence. Example,
“The ball was kicked by Jane” sounds a lot less dynamic than
“Jane kicked the ball.”
Read your writing back to yourself, try to identify where you’re slipping into passive voice and find a way to put the action back in the right place.
- Over describing
Sometimes we worry we won’t be understood and so the temptation is to over explain everything in detail. This can actually end up having the opposite effect and leave your reader with so much information they can’t hold any of it in their heads. Readers want to use their imaginations so guide them, suggest and nudge, instead of knocking them over the head with over description.
- Thinking your done after the first draft is written
“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” Terry Pratchett
The first draft is never the finished draft. If you have finished your story (congratulations!) put it away for a while and GO DO SOMETHING ELSE. Forget about it, then come back and reread it with fresh eyes. I guarantee you will see things that you want to change, tweak or completely rewrite. This is good, it shows you know how to read critically and correct yourself.
- Not setting a goal
Without a clear deadline or writing goal in mind it’s easy to lose momentum and give up on your project. To stay focused you need to set yourself a realistic target and stick to it. Just like an exercise regime it’s important to start small so that you don’t get discouraged. 100 words a day is a good start. Of course you can write more than that if you want but at the bare minimum, before the clock strikes midnight, you need to get 100 new words down on paper.
Every single day.
You do that everyday and by the end of the year you have nearly 40,000 words – that’s the length of a novella!
Writing is fun but without a target you have nothing to aim for, so pick a word count, or other goal you believe you can achieve and stick to it.
Moor Imagination 