In today’s Journal
* A Foreword
* Why “Lesser” Mistakes?
* 10 Lesser Mistakes Writers Make, Part 1
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
A Foreword
This post was getting long, so I broke it into two posts.
Back in the day at writers’ conferences all over the nation and in Canada I presented a two-hour session on “Common Mistakes Writers Make.”
At least once in every session, a writer would dismiss as unimportant the value of learning not to make those mistakes. The typical response was, “Why bother? Readers will know what I mean.”
Every time, that comment left me all but speechless.
It is not the readers’ job to figure out what you mean. The readers’ job is to be entertained, period.
Your job as the writer is to clearly convey the story to the reader.
How could any writer not know that?
You should learn the craft because you’ve chosen fiction writing as your profession. The hallmark of a professional is that s/he constantly studies and learns the various aspects of the craft.
And this stuff is not hard to learn. It’s all mechanics.
Why “Lesser” Mistakes?
I call these “lesser” mistakes, but not because they’re any less important or have less impact on the story (or the reader) than the top seven.
I call them lesser only because they are easy to find and rectify.
In Microsoft Word, you can use your Find & Replace dialogue to repair or delete them.
For an excellent and free tutorial on Microsoft Word’s invaluable Find & Replace feature, Click Here.
10 Lesser Mistakes Writers Make, Part 1
1. He Said (or Thought or Mumbled or Muttered etc.) “to Himself”
No, he didn’t. Okay, maybe he did, but there’s no need to add the qualifier.
He mumbled or muttered or whispered or said quietly or thought, but there’s no reason to add “to himself.” To whom else is he going to think?
- If the character’s alone, to whom else can he mumble or mutter etc.?
- If he isn’t alone, there are other, better ways to show that his utterance isn’t intended for others.
For example, say two characters have just finished a heated exchange:
His face contorted with anger, John turned and walked away. He muttered, “Yeah? We’ll just see about that!”
So unless your story includes beings who communicate with others via unspoken thought, don’t write “to himself,” “to herself,” or “to themselves” in any tag line. Ever.
The phrase is inane, redundant, and just plain silly.
Use “to himself,” “to herself,” or “to themselves” only if you’re talking about a character having a room “all to herself” or a character is “keeping to himself” etc. Never in a tag line.
2. Using “Took and” or “Reached Out (or Over) and”
First, don’t write that a character “took and” anything. Ever.
This one is on this list because in every case, you can delete the phrase and allow the reader to move into the meat of the action.
A couple of examples—
She took her daughter’s hand and squeezed it.
Okay, but couldn’t she have squeezed it while it was still attached to her daughter? What you want here is She squeezed her daughter’s hand.
She took a can of air freshener and sprayed the kitchen. (She sprayed the kitchen with air freshener.)
Sometimes “reached out and” or “reached over and” feels necessary in the moment. (Let the character decide.)
For example, if a character’s lying in bed reading and he turned off the bedside lamp the reader will usually see him reach.
But if it feels necessary in the moment, you might write, “He reached over (or reached out or reached across) and turned out the bedside lamp.”
But in the following examples, it is not necessary:
He reached out and picked up the TV remote. (He picked up the TV remote.)
She reached over and smacked him upside the head. (She smacked him upside the head.)
To easily and quickly find and correct these, key “took” or “reached” into the Find What block of your Find and Replace dialogue box.
Then check each instance and repair or replace as necessary. As I said yesterday, once you’ve done this in one manuscript, you’ll have it.
3. Beginning a Sentence with “Suddenly” or “Instantly” or “Instantaneously”
Beginning a sentence with “instantly” or “suddenly” or anything similar is almost never a good idea.
If something happens instantly or suddenly, get to it without delay so the reader can experience it.
If you force the reader to read the word “instantly” or “suddenly,” it will have the opposite effect. Having to read that word will slow the reading and actually water down the immediacy of the action.
I advise against using such words even later in the sentence.
Please don’t try to get around this one by changing “Suddenly a shot rang out” to “A shot suddenly rang out” or “Instantly her eyes welled with tears” to “Her eyes instantly welled with tears.”
That’s enough for today. Back tomorrow to close out this series. Talk with you again then.
Oh, for anyone who’s interested, I’m keeping a running tally of my daily average for the month of september in the Numbers now. (grin) It will help keep me on my toes.
Of Interest
History Facts I recommend getting the free newsletter from this source. Great fodder for story ideas.
1440 Daily Digest US and world news that is not politically motivated or politically biased. Also great fodder for story ideas.
The Numbers
The Journal………………………………900
Writing of Blackwell Ops 28: Ariana Ramos
Day 1…… 2583 words. To date…… 2583
Day 2…… 1339 words. To date…… 3922
Day 3…… 1526 words. To date…… 5448
Day 4…… 3941 words. To date…… 9389
Day 5…… 2734 words. To date…… 12123
Day 6…… 2584 words. To date…… 14707
Day 7…… 3711 words. To date…… 18418
Fiction for September……………………. 12970
Fiction for 2024………………………….… 597816
Fiction since October 1………………… 796758
Nonfiction for September……………… 5780
Nonfiction for 2024……………………… 280620
2024 consumable words………………… 774321
Average Fiction WPD (September)…… 3242
2024 Novels to Date……………………… 12
2024 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2024 Short Stories to Date……………… 5
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)……………… 94
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 242
Short story collections…………………… 29
Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer, but please try this at home. You can do it.
On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Unreasoning fear and the myths of writing are lies. They will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.
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