POV. Writers can’t live without it. It influences every aspect of story, right down to word choice. But in all frankness, sometimes POV can be a little hard for us to live with as well. The vastness and the complexity of the topic makes it all too easy for authors to accidentally stumble into POV problems. […]
November 6, 2017 by 73 Comments Most Common Writing MistakesMost Common Writing Mistakes, Pt. 63: Purple Prose
Words, glorious words! Fellow logophiles, were we not initially drawn to writing because of our sesquipedal amours? We love words. We love big words, arcane words, chewy words, beautiful words. We love combinations of words that are bold, poetic, eloquent, and sometimes even showy. So it’s little wonder many of us risk creating purple prose. […]
September 4, 2017 by 43 Comments Most Common Writing MistakesMost Common Writing Mistakes, Pt. 62: Head-Hopping POV
You know you’ve moved beyond recreational storytelling to serious writing the moment you discover you’re hopelessly confused about POV. Other than perhaps show vs. tell, no fundamental principle of fiction dogs writers more than creating a solid narrative—which often begins by understanding how to avoid head-hopping. It happens to all of us: we energetically send […]
August 7, 2017 by 32 Comments DialogueMost Common Writing Mistakes, Pt. 61: 5 Types of Clunky Dialogue
When you write excellent dialogue, you will simultaneously sharpen the rest of your narrative tools. When you write clunky dialogue, however, it’s unlikely readers will be able to engage with the story on any level. Happily, dialogue is usually one of the most enjoyable and intuitive parts of writing narrative fiction. We all do dialogue […]
July 3, 2017 by 42 Comments Most Common Writing MistakesMost Common Writing Mistakes, Pt. 60: Flat Plots
One of the most deflating criticisms authors hear is that “they’re writing flat plots.” Not only does this (seem to) indicate a certain lack of personal depth, it’s also a sign the story is boring and forgettable. Fortunately, there’s no reason you need ever fall prey to this pitfall. In our last installment of the Most […]
May 1, 2017 by 53 Comments Most Common Writing MistakesMost Common Writing Mistakes, Pt. 59: Overly Complex Plots
Complex plots? Good. Overly complex plots? Not so good. Complex plots are the stuff of literary mastery. They can take a story beyond a single dimension into an intricate exploration of life. Dickens, Mann, Eliot, and so many more literary luminaries show us how to do it right. But do it wrong, and what we […]
April 3, 2017 by 89 Comments Most Common Writing MistakesMost Common Writing Mistakes, Pt. 58: Too Much Description
Sooner or later, most writers will get their hands slapped over description, whether it’s too much description or too little. The bad news is that this is a big deal in narrative fiction. Get the balance of your description wrong, and it could throw off your entire story. The good news is that once you understand how […]
March 6, 2017 by 64 Comments Most Common Writing MistakesMost Common Writing Mistakes, Pt. 57: Dead-End Relationships
Once upon a time there were two characters. They got along very well, cared for each other very much, always had good advice for one another, and always, always, always had each other’s back. The End. Oh yeah, and even though it’s hardly worth mentioning, there was also this subplot character, who once betrayed one […]
February 6, 2017 by 64 Comments Most Common Writing MistakesMost Common Writing Mistakes, Pt. 56: Unfulfilled Foreshadowing
Sometimes writing feels like magic. You look back at the story you’ve created and it seems like it came from beyond you. One of the coolest examples of this is with foreshadowing. Some little something you wrote in the early chapters without even thinking about it ends up being a huge clue or bit of symbolism […]
January 2, 2017 by 89 Comments Most Common Writing MistakesMost Common Writing Mistakes, Pt. 55: Beginning Your Story Too Late
Story beginnings are fraught with important decisions. But perhaps none of those decisions is more important than the question of when to begin your story. Too early or too late—either one can prevent readers from engaging with the story and obsessively reading on to find out what happens. Perhaps the more common mistake is beginning your story […]
