5 Writing Mistakes that are Easy to Fix

Writing isn’t an easy job. While you’re typing away at your manuscript, your mind is balancing storyline, an important message, dialogue and more.  For many authors, the technical aspects of writing are on the back burner. There’s nothing wrong with having less than precise writing in your manuscript. In fact, many authors purposefully disregard proper spelling and grammar to focus on content. Their editing process starts later, when authors send their manuscripts off to a trusted friend or use editing services to perfect their work.

Before another pair of eyes reads through your manuscript, proofread it yourself for technical writing errors. Specifically, there are five mistakes almost every writer makes that you can fix before your book hits the editing process.

Clichés

 

Old habits may die hard, but clichés will clutter your writing. Clichés are dog tired; readers will look over them and miss the good content underneath. Try starting your own clichés. Create fresh similes, metaphors, and idioms.

Word repetition

 

Have you read a book and noticed the author repeated a certain word throughout it? Many authors have a crutch word they consistently use. Check for your own crutch word and use a thesaurus to diversify your manuscript’s vocabulary.

Too many adverbs

 

You have probably heard to “show, not tell.” Cutting out adverbs can help you do this. Adverbs like quickly, very, and incredibly can be written out with more visual descriptions put in their place. Instead of writing “Incredibly, the runner ran very quickly,” write, “The runner was a speeding bullet. Her feet pounded the ground and propelled her forward as she sped ahead of the others.”

Commas

 

When concentrating on developing your story and perfecting your message, your commas might get misplaced. Ask yourself the following questions to make sure commas are where they need to be.

• Do you have commas inside quotation marks? For example, this is incorrect: “Hello” she replied. This is correct: “Hello,” she replied.
• Do you separate modifying clauses with commas? For example, this is incorrect: Sally a very polite girl held the door open. This is correct: Sally, a very polite girl, held the door open.
• Are introductory clauses separated by a comma? For example, this is incorrect: If she wants ice cream she should ask her brother. This is correct: If she wants ice cream, she should ask her brother.
• Are you consistent with how you use commas in lists? For example, all lists could have a comma after the last word before “and,” like this: I like chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. All lists could also go without the comma after the last word before “and,” like this: I like chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. Both are correct as long as they’re used consistently.

Technical grammar problems

 

Comma mistakes are common, but there are other grammar errors authors make when writing their manuscript.  Here are a few grammar mistakes that come up frequently:

• Vague pronouns make writing easier, but can be confusing to readers. When proofreading, make sure you can attribute every pronoun to the noun it describes.
• Its/It’s, than/then are commonly confused because most word processors can’t catch them if they’re used in the wrong context.  If you need a quick refresher, “Its” shows possession and “It’s” is the contracted form of “it is.” “Then” shows a progression, while “than” is used for comparisons.
• Sentence fragments and run-ons can also be hard to catch. Make sure each sentence has a subject and verb, but doesn’t use “and,” “but”, and “or” to link sentence after sentence.

If you want a professional to help you perfect your writing, check out the Balboa Press list of editorial services. Fixing these mistakes yourself is not only easy, but it will speed up the editorial process and strengthen your message.

Creating Healthy Writing Habits

 

“The habit of doing more than is necessary can only be earned through practice.”

 

Writing a book is a big goal. To reach the point where you have a fully prepared manuscript that’s ready for publication, there are many smaller, less exciting goals you’ll have to achieve along the way. From collecting materials and meeting word-count goals, to organizing chapters and editing every sentence — there’s much to be done. Because it’s so easy to get overwhelmed by the process, it’s important that you take action and stay focused to ensure that your dream of writing a book isn’t only a dream.

Being a writer is a lifestyle choice. So, in order to be a successful writer, you need to incorporate writing as an integral part of your daily life. Make writing a habit, and you’ll be on your way to achieving whatever writing goals you set for yourself.

Many writers approach their writing schedules in different ways. Some keep to strictly scheduled writing sessions while others simply wait for inspiration to strike. A simple way to become a productive writer with good writing habits is to commit yourself to writing at least one sentence every day.  Here’s why:

You’ll benefit from the power of practice

 

The key to succeeding in your writing is the same as the key to reaching mastery in any activity: practice. The more consistently you write, the more natural it will become to you. Once you’ve established a daily habit of writing, you’ll be on your way to a more creative, productive lifestyle that you won’t want to give up.

You’ll stay connected to your work

 

When you go long stretches without working on your book, it can be easy to lose focus and produce writing that feels choppy and disconnected. By sitting down to work at least a little every day, it will be easy to get right back into your writing zone. All of your research, ideas and chains of thought will always be fresh in your mind, and you’ll feel closer to your work.

You’ll write with freedom

 

Once writing becomes a regular part of your life, you can approach each writing session with a more relaxed attitude. Because you trust that you’ll be right back at your computer the next day, you can start to take risks and experiment with new ideas in ways that you might not otherwise feel comfortable.

You’ll open the floodgates

 

On some days, that one sentence might be all you can deliver (and that’s okay). But on other days (most days) that one sentence will turn into much, much more. Once you simply take the step to sit down with your computer, open your work in progress, and begin typing, you never know how many words will flow from you onto the page.

Regardless of how much work you get done during each writing session, you’ll be creating a daily writing habit that will pay off in the long run. Happy writing!

Improve Your Writing by Setting the Right Tone

Whether you’re a novelist or just a prolific email-er, you write every day to communicate. If you’re looking to improve your writing, try incorporating the right pitch to better connect with your audience.

Setting the right pitch or tone is important for a host of reasons, perhaps most importantly because it can allow you to better connect with your audience—whether that’s your boss, co-workers, friends, or the people who read your blog. Career blogger Marci Alboher says that to hone your writing, you must first decide what kind of conversation you’d like to have with the reader and then choose your voice accordingly. So if you’re looking to set a more authoritative tone, for example, it’s best to use an imperative voice—think active, not passive—in lieu of the more informal second person. If, on the other hand, you’d like to bridge the gap between you and your reader, try using collective pronouns such as “we,” which will help convey that you are sharing in your reader’s experience.

Writing tips: Active voice and more

Writer Lori Mortimer has one simple rule (that’s actually followed up with lots of good tips)…Read more

Just as important in securing the right tone is maintaining consistency throughout your writing. Hit up the post for other tips on how to improve your writing, and if you’re lacking for inspiration, try breaking through the writer’s block with clusters.

Elements Of A Successful Story

If your novel or short story is going to work, it’s going to need all the right components. Used without imagination or sensitivity, those elements may produce only formula fiction. But, like a good cook with the right materials and a good recipe, you can also create some pleasant surprises.

Many writers, like many good cooks, don’t need to think consciously about what they’re throwing in the pot. But as an apprentice you should probably think about how your story matches up with the following suggestions. They all have to do, essentially, with bringing your characters and readers from a state of ignorance to a state of awareness: Can our heroine find happiness as a journalist? We don’t know, but we’ll find out. Can our hero found a family dynasty in the Nevada wilderness? We don’t know, but we’ll find out.

In the opening…

 

Show us your main characters, or at least foreshadow them: We might see your heroine’s mother getting married, for example. Or we might see a crime committed which will bring in your hero to investigate.

Show one or more characters under some kind of appropriate stress. For example, if the hero must perform well under enemy fire in the climax, show him being shot at in Chapter One–and performing badly. If the heroine must resist temptation at the end, show her (or someone else) succumbing to temptation in the beginning.

Show us who’s the “good guy,” who’s the “bad guy.” That is, in whom should we make an emotional investment? Whose side are we on? Even if the hero is morally repugnant (a hired killer, for example), he should display some trait or attitude we can admire and identify with. The villain can be likable but set on a course we must disapprove.

Show what’s at stake. Editors and readers want to know this right away. (That’s why the blurb on the jacket usually tells us: “Only one person can save the West/defend the Galactic Empire/defeat the vampires…”)What does the hero stand to gain or lose? What will follow if the villain wins?
Establish the setting–where and when the story takes place.

Establish the area of conflict . If the setting is the Nanaimo coal mines at the turn of the century, the area of conflict may be relations between miners and owners, or within a family of miners, or within a single miner’s personality.

Foreshadow the ending. If the hero dies in a blizzard at the end, a few flakes of snow may fall in the first chapter.

Set the tone of the story: solemn or excited, humorous or tragic.

In the body of the story…

 

Tell your story in scenes, not in exposition. A scene contains a purpose, an obstacle or conflict, and a resolution that tells us something new about the characters and their circumstances.
Develop your characters through action and dialogue. Show us, don’t tell us, what’s going on and why (not He was loud and rude, but “Get outa my way, you jerk!” he bellowed.).

Include all the elements you need for your conclusion. If everything depends on killing the victim with a shotgun, show us the shotgun long before it goes off.

Give your characters adequate motivation for their actions and words. Drama is people doing amazing things for very good reasons. Melodrama is people doing amazing things for bad or nonexistent reasons.

Develop the plot as a series of increasingly serious problems. (The heroine escapes the villain in Chapter 5 by fleeing into the snowy mountains; now in Chapter 6 she risks death in an avalanche.) Establish suspense by making solution of the problems uncertain (How will the heroine escape the avalanche and avoid freezing to death in Chapter Seven?).

Make solutions of the problems appropriate to the characters (Good thing she took Outward Bound training in Chapter One).

In the conclusion…

Present a final, crucial conflict when everything gained so far is in danger and could be lost by a single word or deed: this is the climax, which reveals something to your readers (and perhaps to your characters) which has been implicit from the outset but not obvious or predictable.

Throughout the story…

 

Remember that nothing in a story happens at random . Why is the heroine’s name Sophia? Why is she blind? Why is her dog a black Lab? The easy answer is that you’re the God of your novel and that’s the way you want things. But if you have a conscious reason for these elements, the story gains in interest because it carries more meaning: For example, “Sophia” means “wisdom” and the name can provide a cue to the reader.

Use image, metaphor and simile with a conscious purpose, not just because a phrase “sounds good.”
Maintain consistent style, tone, and point of view.

Know the conventions of the form you’re working in, and break them only when you have a good reason to. For example, if it’s conventional for the private eye to be an aggressive, hard-drinking single man, you’re going to shake up the reader if your private eye is a yogurt-loving, shy mother of three school-age children. You’ll shake up the reader even more if she goes around pistol-whipping people; as a private eye, her behavior will still depend on her personality and limitations.