14 Amateur Mistakes Every Writer Should Avoid
It’s easier than you think to intrude in your own story. Avoid these common writing mistakes for more professional writing from start to finish.
Don't make these common writing mistakes!
We all need help writing a novel from time to time—whether that be during national novel writing month (NaNoWriMo) or while working on your novel as part of your New Year's resolution—and we want to help you improve your novel (and avoid mistakes in all your future writing). There are several missteps that unpublished writers make that scream "rookie" to agents and publishers. Most are easy to fix, but the key is identifying them. That's where we can help.
In this Writer's Digest free download, How to Avoid Amateur Mistakes, James V. Smith, Jr., walks you through 14 of the most common faux pas that many writers make when working on their first few novels. Making these changes will help improve your writing and make it look more professional. Plus, it will help you speed up your writing process and allow you the opportunity to write a novel in a month, if you're up to the challenge.
With the tips on avoiding mistakes and novel writing help in this free download, you'll be on your way a novel that's professional from start to finish. Enter your email to join Writer's Digest and get your free download.
Enter your email to join the Writer's Digest newsletter and get your FREE download!
Sneak Peek – Tips on Writing Better
As a writer, one of your top goals should be not to intrude in your story. The problem is, many of us do it without even realizing it. Here are a few examples from this FREE download of ways writers intrude in their stories and hurt the end product, making it more difficult to get published:
Tired Expressions
Like right out of sitcoms, movies, or even the day's news. Using them is like putting a stick-on note in the margin of your manuscript: Hi, I'm the author, and I watch too much TV. Hell-OH-o, don't go there, I don't think so as in any sitcom or teen conversation.
Goofy Gimmicks and Grammatical Gadgets!!!
This includes alliteration—writing with words that begin with the same letter—and odd punctuation like multiple exclamation points.
Cute Quote Marks
She had never met an author so tall—seven feet, an authentic "literary giant." Do you see the quotes? That's the author. He's winking at you from behind the narrative, telling you he's made a funny, wanting you to notice it. Take off the quotes, and the irony works just as well.
Preaching From the Mouth of a Character
When I hear a novel's heroine use a tired expression like, "male chauvinist pig," whether the language comes in quotes or not, I know the writer couldn't find a more artful, less preachy way to say the same thing.
Are you ready for more? Get help with writing a book and avoid writing mistakes with this free download!
There are more ways a writer can intrude in a story, and more than a dozen common mistakes in writing are included in this FREE download. So sign up for our FREE newsletter and download How to Avoid Amateur Mistakes today! This is one of the most valuable free resources you'll own.
Enter your email to join the Writer's Digest newsletter and get your FREE download!
