The Mistakes We Make While Writing

 

Mistakes.

We all make ‘em and we’re all kind of weird about making them.

There isn’t a writers (or a person) in the world who doesn’t make mistakes at times. It’s who we are.

But, focusing on writers, what do we do about those mistakes? Some of us seem them as disasters, as the marks of amateurs as something to make you slink off and never think of writing again. The mistake can be minor or major, a silly one, a stupid one, or one caused by simple distraction.

Get over it.

Really.

Learn from your mistakes.

If someone finds it for you and points it out, be gracious, thank them and fix it! Hey, if they’re wrong (and it happens at times when an over eager reader points out mistakes that don’t exist) still be gracious and thank them for their input. 

And stop the idiotic thoughts that rumble through your brain when you make a mistake right out there in public. Thoughts like:

Who am I kidding? How can I be a writer when I make a mistake like that?

Who am I to write about anything if I make mistakes like that?

It’s embarrassing, I look like an idiot.

OMG what will this do to my reputation as a writer?

Ummm, really? Throttle back on that negative stream. Mistakes happen. In fact there inevitable, no matter what you’re doing and even more so I think when writing. You’re changing and growing. Heck, even language is changing and growing. And you can get away with all kinds of free-wheeling when writing fiction. Non-fiction is a bit stricter, but what the heck.

So let’s step back from all the self-incrimination and realize the solution is simple. Fix it. Learn from it. Try not to make the same mistake twice…or if you do it twice, let’s not go for three times.

Tell that inner critic (and we all have one) to shut up. You are not stupid, or worthless, or misguided just because you make a mistake. If you were a brain surgeon it could become a bigger issue, but you’re a writer. You’re not perfect. The world isn’t perfect. Yes, of course you have to master the language to be coherent and put together sentences that make sense, but give yourself a lot of leeway. Pros make mistakes and so do you. Pros find out about it, fix it and move on. So should you, now and when you become a for real Pro because you’ll still make mistakes.

Think about other professions. There are interns and apprentices, practically every career path requires a learning curve and then life-long learning. It’s because we writers spend so much time in our heads that we talk ourselves into believing we need to be perfect.

The truth is we need to make mistakes. That’s how we learn and improve. Don’t be afraid of making them because that fear will hold you back. Besides if you don't make 'em your editor will - amazing the mistakes we can catch in a book already published by a major house.

That inner critic that lurks at the back of your mind, the one who wants to edit your writing even before it hits the blank screen, the one who obsesses over every little detail, that little snot can be what fans the flames of your insecurities, build the fires beneath your introverted writing life. Not only does that little voice criticize almost everything you do, but it wants you to feel like an idiot, a fool before the world.

So I say to you writers out there. Take risks, make mistakes, be creative. Your writing will thrive and you’ll beat back the dark voice of your insecurities for the path you’ve chosen.

Write, writers – and drop a note below in the comments to tell us about the mistakes and inner critic you’ve overcome.

Five Tips To Better Your Writing

 

 

Good writing is simple writing. I don't mean dumbed down, I mean basic and clear. I think most experienced writers and readers will agree. Readers from the viewpoint of story flow and involvement and writers from virtually the same viewpoint.

Here’s the thing, when writing it’s easy to fall into old (and new) traps. Easy to get flowery, unnatural and fall back on clichés (I won't elaborate on it below, but catch the cliches and kill them).

So here are a few tips to do some quick fixes to that writing of yours and get past the tank traps.

1.  First, let’s keep things natural, shall we? When we talk with friends, business associates, family or simply think in our heads things are pretty straight forward. You don’t want to use a ton of words to describe what a handful will do. You don’t want to get so lyrical your reader says, “huh?”  For example, from a book I read (well tried to read) in which there’s a thunderstorm and the lights suddenly go out. Could be a scary scene if done right, or humorous, or any number of other things. Not, however, when the writer says “an ebony abyss claimed the den”. 

Really?

Okay, it can be tempting to create sentences like that. Might even feel good in the moment, but that’s something that the writer needs to reconsider at edit time. Don’t make your reader translate your more flowery writing into the simple, such as, “the room went dark”.  It just throws them out of their reader’s trance and probably tempts them to throw your book. The experienced and very good writer doesn’t call attention to the actual writing, rather he or she keeps it focused on the story. If you read your writing aloud it’ll be easier for you to pick out sentences that are contrived and unnatural with flowery elements you wouldn’t consider saying to a friend.

2.  Second, don’t throw information at the reader in huge doses.  Am I right readers? It’s hard to swallow large amounts of information. Sometimes we can be unaware of how much information we throw out there in one sentence. So go through at edit time and look for sentences that contain more than two or three pieces of information about a setting or a character. Break it up into smaller sentences, maybe even spread them out a bit more over the page. Do background in small doses, not a flood.

3.  And speaking of sentences, keep them short, or at least shorter. Plainly I’m not talking about a staccato delivery, and sentence length must vary, but you don’t want to pack many ideas into a single sentence. A simple guideline is to keep sentences below twenty or thirty words. So while you write wild and free for the first draft and keep moving to finish that story, remember at edit time to get rid of the extra, unnecessary words. Check where you’ve put a comma and think about whether it should be the end of a sentence. Reword a sentence that’s taken off without you. Tighten things up.

4.  And here’s one I’ve come across lately that has struck me sideways. Color.  Yes, color. It’s a trap many new writers fall into. Lots of color, meaning their descriptions are loaded with it.  You know, “The sunshine yellow school bus climbed the sage green hills on a dusty rust colored road lined with the white rivulets of downpours past.” (I didn’t get that sentence from a book though I’ve seen some lately that are close.)  Color is good. It sets a stage, but make it really count, use it sparingly and appropriately.

Oh, and one more thing. Yes, this is number 5. Don’t forget that old writer’s trick of letting your work sit for a day or two or maybe a week (whatever feels right to you) before you dive into your editing. Sort of like dough rising, it takes a bit of time for some of those over-dones to come to the top. 

Hope these little short-cuts are a help; new info for the new writer or reminder for the more experienced. 

Go forth and write - and readers, tell us what your pet peeves are, what makes you want to toss a book aside or what just irritates you as you read. 

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Developing Your Craft – of Writing

We do a lot of wandering in this blog about writing, writers, the craft of writing, websites for writers; pretty much anything writing related. This time around we're going to get back to some basics and those basics apply to pretty much all writing. 

A number of these you may have heard before, but well, you're going to hear them again.  This is a wake up call – get your head out of the sand and improve your craft. We know you have good ideas. Now's the time to back up, take a break, look around and get really good at expressing those stories into books, screenplays, whatever  your pleasure.

So, here goes ~

1. Use simple, declarative sentences. Don't get all fancy and flowery on us. Write tight and write exciting. Grab the reader by the eyeballs and that doesn't happen when you write the sentence that never ends.

2.  Avoid using the passive voice. Who wants passive in an exciting, engaging and interesting story? So don't use sentences like “The village had been scorched by the dragon's fiery breath”, instead, make it, “The dragon scorched the village with his fiery breath.” or “Why was the road crossed by the chicken” becomes “Why did the chicken cross the road.” Really folks, it's not that hard, read with an eye toward passive voice – look it up on the web if you need more examples or don't get what I'm telling you here.

3. Again, keep it simple and limit your use of adjectives and adverbs. Yes, give your reader the information he or she needs to want to continue reading, but a continual barrage of adjectives and adverbs. If you have trouble with this concept Karen Elizabeth Gordon's book, The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: The Ultimate Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed may be of assistance.

4.  Go easy on your descriptive narrative.  Yes your readers want the scene set, they want to know about the people, but they don't want it to go on forever so don't overwrite.  And that leads us to –

5.  Reread your work – consider each word you've written thats three syllables or more long and think about whether it can be replaced by a simpler, crisper word.

6.  Avoid ifs, buts, and can'ts – unless absolutely necessary. I try not to say things like this, but I've seen them peppered throughout manuscripts and it's definitely worth keeping your eye on.

7. Oh, and finally, cut the crap and never rescue your hero. Seriously. He got himself into this, he can darn well get himself out. In fact he better get himself out. I mean where is your imagination? If the main character doesn't find a way out of whatever hot water you've tossed him or her into and you need to extract tweezers and pluck the hero out of the boiling cauldron, what fun is that? Nope, that stalwart has to find a way out. You're not it – well you are in the sense that you're writing the story, the book, the screenplay, but you know what I mean.

8.  And finally you might consider stopping the multi-tasking crap when you write and go more with mono-tasking. Turn off the phone, Click off your browser (unless you're researching and then click off when you're done). Break your addiction and focus.

Think about it and writers tell me if any of these reminders strike a chord.

Readers, tell me if any of the above ring any bells and have caused you to be unhappy with a book or to give up on it altogether.~ We're all in this together.

Writers Story Mistakes

Every writer, whether new or old makes mistakes - stumbles, creates glitches and otherwise does/writes things that are, well, mistakes. Some are small, grammatical or details. Others are really big, and still others simply happen and get lost in the shuffle when a writer is really into his/her zone and doesn't catch it on the first go-round.

After all, we writers know what we're talking about when we get the words down on paper so every one else should as well, right? 

No.

Wrong.

I could write an endless post on the many things that can go wrong with a story, but that would be a long read so I think I'll tackle just one here today.

I believe one of the first rules writers should observe is Never Annoy Your Readers.

Yep, I know it's not your intent to do so, but there are times when reading books when I know the author is withholding information to tease or create suspense. But I'm here to tell you (and if you put your reader cap on you'll have to no doubt agree) that when you hold something back, when you don't give your reader what he or she is anticipating, it doesn't create any eager anticipation or mind-warping suspense.  Nope, instead it causes frustration, irritation and (horrors) dissatisfaction with your story.

Bad news.

You don't want to be predictable in how/what you deliver to your readers, but you do want to fulfill their expectations with something that will keep them reading.

Exactly what am I talking about? Well for one thing, don't leave your protagonist in the middle of an action scene. For example, if your character has been running from assassins, careens around a corner and drives off a cliff, your readers are going to turn the page wanting/expecting to find out if that character is dead, unconscious, hanging from the side of the cliff as the car plummets into the sea---something!

Because if you leave your reader hanging and start the next chapter perhaps with that character's significant other puttering around in her flower shop in Carmel your readers are going to be frustrated and impatient. Mostly they are eager to know if that first character who was sent over the cliff is breaking fingernails clawing  his way back up the cliff or in a hospital; if the assassins are still hot on his tail or missed the car going over the cliff completely. They don't want the action broken by a flower shop interlude, then come back to their primary concern a chapter later.

If you create an environment where your reader (and as a reader as well as a writer I know you've been here) wants to skip over a part of the story to get to the part they really want to read, you need to fix that part of your book.

Of course there are times when you might want to break this little rule, but you better have a very good reason and hone your writing well. 

Consider what your readers want as you write your book, consider what you as a reader want when you read a book. Put those expectations in the context of the moment of that story. 

 
Then fulfill those expectations - or better yet, give your readers something even more than they expect.