Believe it or not, writers blunder!Even the best of us mess up at times. So we're here today to showcase five of the biggest writing blunders you can do! Don't feel bad if you are guilty of any of these, it means you still have more to work on! Lets dive right into it! Blunder 5: The "Perfect" First DraftAll too often, people stress out because their first draft is "not the best", or "it's not good enough to be published!" The fact of the matter is, first drafts are supposed to be messy. The first draft is basically you telling yourself the story. It doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be written! You will have plenty of time to perfect your story with consecutive drafts. The first draft just needs to be written in the first place to provide you with a jumping off point. Blunder 4: Info DumpsThis is one that I am all to guilty of. An "info dump" is when you just throw a ton of information at the reader. This could be a ton of exposition, or loads of details about your world that you might find interesting, but is not essential. Even if it is essential information, it shouldn't be dumped in a heap in front of the reader. Cut out the needless info dumps. If you need to get certain information across to the reader, have it revealed bit by bit. An off comment here by character X, something the hero notices out of the corner of the eye. As an added bonus, this also helps add suspense and mystery. Blunder 3: Normal Life is BORING!Look, as fascinating as you may find your hero's everyday life to be, the reader probably wont. We don't go looking for the book "The Average Life of Average Joe." No, we look for tales of adventure and heroism, things different from everyday life. If people wanted to read about everyday life, they can look back in their journals. So cut out the couple chapters or whatever of everyday life and cut right to the action, the variance from daily life. Blunder 2: Overusing Cliche'sLook, I like cliche's just as much as the next guy. But these things are called cliche's for a reason. They are overused WAY too much. Now I'm not saying cliche's are completely terrible. In fact, a cliche' can be a wonderful jumping off point. But every line should not be cliche! People don't just suddenly fall in love, they tend to do it over time. No one is a completely pure hero. What you should do however, is take a cliche, and turn it on its head. Make it new and original to you and your story. That is how some of the best hero's and plots are created. Subvert peoples expectations and make it new and exciting to the reader. Blunder 1: Messy POVIn case you didn't know, POV stands for "point of view." A problem a lot of writers deal with, especially amateurs, is keeping your POV consistent. If your story is being told in the first person, it should not halfway through a chapter switch to third person narrator. It's fine if you have different POV's across different chapters, in fact, some of my favorite books do this, and I even switch perspectives for a few chapters in my novels. But just don't change it when halfway through a chapter. To End (and customary plug!)I hope this has been helpful for you. Please remember, if you are guilty of any of these blunders(and you most likely are), don't feel bad about it. Just work on improving. If you notice that you really do overuse cliche's, just stop and start looking at ways to change them. If you do have info dumps, start spreading information out in nuanced ways. You are capable of overcoming these blunders.
I know, I know, just a bit more. But I have to fit in my obligatory schpeel somewhere. If you want to read my first novel, The Castaway Hero, you can get it on Amazon HERE and through Barnes and Noble HERE. Until next time, keep on writing!
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Welcome to The Writers Block!AuthorKen Mears is a new 17 year old author, here to share his wisdom, advice, and experiences with you, the reader! Archives
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