{"id":587,"date":"2019-05-27T22:33:01","date_gmt":"2019-05-27T14:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/charlesray-author.com\/?p=587"},"modified":"2019-05-27T22:33:01","modified_gmt":"2019-05-27T14:33:01","slug":"10-things-beginning-writers-do-that-drive-readers-and-editors-crazy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/charlesray-author.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/27\/10-things-beginning-writers-do-that-drive-readers-and-editors-crazy\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Things Beginning Writers do that Drive Readers and Editors Crazy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When\nyou\u2019re just starting out as a writer, it\u2019s normal to make mistakes. Some of us\nare lucky, and we only have a few bloopers in our early manuscripts, while\nothers struggle with loads of glitches. In my early years as a writer, I had\nmore than my fair share. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nrecently started doing assessing and proofreading of new manuscript submissions\nfor a small publisher in New Zealand, and reading some of the work of\nfirst-time authors has reminded me of the things that one can do wrong when\nwriting. So, for all you new writers out there, struggling to get that first\nnovel in shape for submission to a publisher, or for indie publishing,\nfollowing are the ten most frequently encountered, and most irritable problems\nI find in the work of beginning writers. They\u2019re not in any particular order,\nsuch as frequency, seriousness, or degree of irritability, but I suppose that\nsince I found them in this order in my notes from three recent jobs says\nsomething about the frequency with which they occur.  I hope you\u2019ll find this useful as you prepare\nyour own magnum opus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Too many\ncharacters<\/strong>.\nLife is full of people, but when you people your novel with too many named and\nidentified characters it creates confusion. The reader is often left wondering\nwho from the expansive list of characters is important, and who is just a\nwalk-on, like \u2018the security guard\u2019 in the credits at the end of a film. It\u2019s a\ngood practice, in fact, to use this cinematic technique for characters who are\nincluded basically for filler to show that your imaginary world is populated.\nAnother thing that crops up from time to time when there are too many\ncharacters is that some will have similar names, further adding to the\nconfusion.<\/li>
  2. Inconsistency in\nidentifying characters<\/strong>. Have you ever read a story where a character was\n\u2018Jonathan\u2019 at the first introduction, but became \u2018Mr. Jacobs,\u2019 or \u2018Jon\u2019 later I\nthe book? Not only have I found this, but in one manuscript I read, the main\ncharacter was identified with three different names on the same page. My advice\nhere; pick a name (for the narrative, because different other characters might\nrefer to him or her by different names\u2014although, I recommend even keeping this\nto a minimum) for your characters, and use it consistently throughout your\nmanuscript.<\/li>
  3. Too much detail<\/strong>. In most cases\nthis is data dumping. The author has to tell us everything there is to know\nabout every character, object, or place in the story. Don\u2019t do it! When I\u2019m\nreading for pleasure, and encounter this, I stop reading, and I\u2019m pretty sure\nmost readers do the same. As an editor, I\u2019m often forced to endure it just to\nbe able to evaluate the entire manuscript, but I can assure you that it does\nnot endear me to that writer.<\/li>
  4. Too much\ninformation<\/strong>.\nThis is <\/em>data dumping. In this case,\nthe author has turned up tons of information about whatever, and feels\ncompelled to share it with readers. Like overly detailed descriptions, please\nrestrain yourself. This interrupts the flow of the story, and will turn the\nreader off, who is very likely to stop turning pages.<\/li>
  5. Misuse of a\nthesaurus<\/strong>.\nBefore you scream, pull out your hair, and stop reading, let me say that I\nbasically have nothing against use of a thesaurus to improve and expand your\nvocabulary. As a matter of fact, on occasion, I will use it to find a word that\nbetter expresses the intent of a sentence than the one that first came to me.\nWhat some writers do, especially beginning writers, is use the thesaurus to\nchange \u2018common\u2019 words to more \u2018sophisticated\u2019 ones in the mistaken belief that\nthis makes their writing more \u2018sophisticated.\u2019 Their writing is peppered with\npompous, grandiloquent terms that make it sound fake. Purple pose of the ilk,\n\u2018He descended the stairs with magnificent importunity,\u2019 instead of \u2018he ran\nquickly down the stairs,\u2019 will not impress most readers. Use the thesaurus\nsparingly, or even better, stop using it for a while.<\/li>
  6. Head hopping<\/strong>. Have you ever\nread a story in which two or more characters are in a scene and you can never\ntell from which characters\u2019 point of view the story is being told because the\nwriter moves from one\u2019s viewpoint to another? This is called head hopping. In\nfiction, you want your readers to identify with your character, preferably your\nmain character, and get into your story. When you move from the thoughts or\nfeelings of one character to another within the same scene, you evict the\nreader from the story in a state of confusion. Advice here: stick to one\ncharacter\u2019s viewpoint within a scene\u2014actually, I prefer to give each character\nhis or her own chapter\u2014and have a clear demarcation when you wish to switch to\nanother character. I\u2019ve read manuscripts where the writer moved through the\nheads of three different characters on the same page, and in one really\negregious case, between two characters in the same paragraph. Some writers do\nthis and try to cover it by saying they\u2019re writing in third person omniscient.\nBut they use the character\u2019s voices when they do it, rather than the omniscient\ngod\/narrator, knocking the pins from under that alibi right away.<\/li>
  7. Verb aspect\nshifts. <\/strong>Some\nwriters make changes in aspect without being aware of the subtle difference in\nmeaning this can cause. For example, in unmotivated shifts between the simple\npast and past perfective forms of verbs, such as \u2018I worked as a writer for\ntwenty years,\u2019 as compared to \u2018I have worked as a writer for twenty years.\u2019 Do\nyou see the subtle difference in meaning between these two sentences? The first\nimplies that you no longer work as a writer, while the second means that you\u2019re\nstill writing. If that\u2019s what you mean to say, fine, but if the rest of your\npassage implies that you\u2019re still writing, you will have lost your reader.<\/li>
  8. Improper verb\ntense shifts.<\/strong>\nA problem that I\u2019ve encountered in a number of manuscripts that I\u2019ve reviewed\nis the tendency of many writers to begin a story or passage in past tense, and\nsuddenly shift to present tense, as in \u2018the building was on Sixth Street, the\nentrance, however, is on Fourth Street.\u2019 This is a trite example, but if you\nread it carefully, you can see how this can jar a reader. Especially if it\nhappens more than once, as I\u2019ve often encountered. Here\u2019s another example that\nis in a book I recommend to the participants in my professional writing\nworkshop: \u2018Last week I was walking along a street when this man walks up to me\nand says . . .\u2019. I know that many people speak like this, but in writing it\u2019s\nconsidered an error, unless it\u2019s a character speaking.<\/li>
  9. Noun modifier\norder.<\/strong>\nWhen describing a person, place, or thing and you wish to show more than one\ntrait, it\u2019s important to list them in a logical order. Here\u2019s an example that I\nencountered in a manuscript: \u2018The blond, German, tall man.\u2019 This sounds silly,\nI know, but I\u2019ve seen this and worse, especially when the writer stacks\nmodifiers, that is, uses three or more nouns to describe an object, person or\nplace. First, it\u2019s a good idea to limit such modifiers, or adjectives, to no\nmore than three, but if you feel it absolutely essential, the following order\nshould be used:
    1. Determiners and\npost-determiners \u2013<\/strong>\narticles, numerals and other limiters<\/li><\/ol>
      1. Observation\/opinion\n\u2013<\/strong>\nlimiter adjectives such as perfect,\ninteresting, <\/em>etc.<\/li><\/ol>
        1. Size \u2013<\/strong> adjectives\ndepicting physical size (e.g. small, big)<\/em><\/li><\/ol>
          1. Age \u2013<\/strong> adjectives\ndenoting age (e.g. young, ten-year-old)<\/em><\/li><\/ol>
            1. Shape \u2013<\/strong> adjectives such as\nround, swollen, shrunken<\/em>.<\/li><\/ol>
              1. Color <\/strong>\u2013 self-evident. (e.g. black, tan, pale)<\/em><\/li><\/ol>
                1. Origin \u2013 <\/strong>source (e.g. German, extraterrestrial)<\/em><\/li><\/ol>
                  1. Material \u2013 <\/strong>what something is\nmade of (e.g. wool, metallic)<\/em><\/li><\/ol>
                    1. Qualifier\/Purpose\n\u2013 <\/strong>this\nis a final limiter which sometimes forms a compound noun, such as rocking chair<\/em> or book cover<\/em><\/li><\/ol><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                            Using the above list, the example sentence\nwould then be correctly written, \u2018the tall, blonde, German man.\u2019 This one was\neasy, and I imagine most of you figured out the correct answer before even reading\nthe list. Keep it in mind, though, as you write, and you can avoid this all too\ncommon glitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                      1. Overuse of similes. <\/strong>This is one that really bugs me,\nboth as an editor and a reader. Similes are a good way to liven up your\nwriting. Take the following examples. She\nwas happy <\/em>as compared to She was like\na cloud on a warm summer day<\/em>. See the difference? Now, what do you think of\nthe following? She was like a cloud on a\nwarm summer day, flitting like a butterfly from flower to flower, her voice\nlike the babbling of a crystal stream. <\/em>Okay, I just made that up, but I\nthink you get the picture. Too many similes make your writing seem contrived,\nand the two comparisons, each fine on its own, are a bit over the top. Curb the\ncompulsion to make so many comparisons, and for heaven\u2019s sake, don\u2019t do it in\none sentence.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                        These\nare not the only mistakes beginning writers make, but they\u2019re the ones that\ndrive me crazy. As an editor, I spend countless hours annotating them in\nmanuscripts and searching for ways to convince the writer to delete them\nwithout bruising an ego or sounding too critical. As a reader, when I encounter\nthem in a book, that book goes into my donation pile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                        I\nhope this bit of advice from someone who has not only suffered them countless\ntimes, but who\u2014a confession here\u2014has committed them in my own early writing\ncareer, will help you to make your writing a joy to your editors and a source\nof endless entertainment for your readers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                        When you\u2019re just starting out as a writer, it\u2019s normal to make mistakes. Some of us are lucky, and we only have a few bloopers in our early manuscripts, while others struggle with loads of glitches. In my early years as a writer, I had more than my fair share. I recently started doing assessing … <\/p>\n

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