8 Mistakes First-Time Fiction Authors Make



Today, I’m going to write a post about eight common mistakes that I see in fiction generally with new authors. These minor things can help with the pacing of the novel. They can help tighten up the language and ultimately help you connect with readers.  

 

1- Overused Words Or Techniques

The first common mistake that I see a lot is overused words or techniques. Many authors use strong verbs to show readers what's happening with a character. It is very easy to tell what’s going on instead of showing the reader. I'm sure if you're a writer you've heard SHOW DON'T TELL, but this technique is overused to create the illusion of a powerful scene or powerful emotion. When you take a closer look you realize that it doesn't really tell the reader anything.  

Examples 

“Fear slammed into his sadness, strangled his anger, shot through his doubt, and fear rose in his chest.” 

These sentences seem like really solid strong sentences but they're actually more abstract. Rather than writing these ambiguous sentences ask yourself if you can show how a character is confused or scared. Ask yourself if it shows how a character really is. If it doesn't convey the physical and mental associations with that emotion then it's a telling sentence.

If you are struggling with conveying body language or just really showing what's going on with the character rather than telling, I would recommend a resource called The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman


2- Using Unnecessary Words

Unnecessary words such as started to, or began to, or begin to, or start to, seem so minor but if you keep a lookout for these words, you will tighten up your language and you will improve the overall pacing of your novel.


3- Empty Words

I mean by empty words when someone starts to do something they're already doing it.

Examples

“When she starts to walk down the driveway she is walking.”

“If he begins to cook dinner he is cooking dinner.”

I think a lot of writers tend to use empty words to build tension or suspense but it's not helping with the pacing. 

Here’s another example of what I mean 

“I don't understand why you did that to me, said Anabia with a confused look on her face.” 

If it's clear by the dialogue that Anabia doesn't understand something, it's probably safe to say that you don't have to tell the reader that she has a confused look on her face if it's not necessary slows down the story.


4- Dreaded Info Dump

This is something most authors do when they first start off a book especially fantasy or science fiction or something with a lot of world-building behind it, and you just start your book by dumping all of that lore onto the page. You can just a much better job by inserting bits and pieces of the lore as the story goes along. The reader is not reading your story for the lore necessarily and it's awesome that you have all this lore. It's awesome that you have this entire back story to your main character but we don't need to read about it straight away. Just don't put it into the story as a prologue or chapter. Understand the importance of that lore and insert into the story at the right time. Trust the reader that they can put things together and get that information on our own without you having to write 10 pages of that on a similar note our physical description.


5- Introducing A Character With All Its Traits

The new writers make is start a book or when they introduce a new character and they just start listing all of the physical characteristics or personality traits of that new character as a reader, we don't need all of this information about this new character. It is fine if you list a couple of things when you first introduce a character but put the character into the scene and the reader will figure these things out. You don't have to say that the character is funny. Make the character tell a joke, therefore, they're funny.


6- Writing Mundane Actions

Writers often write all of the unnecessary actions all of the mundane actions that we do on a day-to-day basis like go to the bathroom brush our teeth eat breakfast. These don't really have a place in your story unless something crazy happens while the character is brushing their teeth. You know unless the axe murderer comes into the bathroom and tries to kill the main character. We don't need to see the main character brushing their teeth. It's implied if they do these things and unless something important to the plot happens in those moments take them out on a similar vein.


7- Small Talks 

It is small talking dialogue when two characters talking -hey hey what's up. I'm good. How are you? I'm good. How about you? hmm, the weather's nice. All the small talk that we do in our day-to-day life we don't need that in a book unless it's done with a purpose. Unless it's meant to be really funny or unless it's two characters bickering and though that kind of small talk comes with a lot of conflicts. Unless it's something like that don't do it. Make the dialogue interesting. There’s definitely a balance to strike with dialogue where you need to make it realistic enough. This all comes naturally with practice but just as a rule take all of that small talk out of your subsequent drafts.


8-  Not Trusting The Editor 

To be the first-time author can be frustrating. When you have the idea and vision but there is a gap between knowing what you want to create and just not being there yet because practice makes perfect and you have to work hard with any creative project to know where you want to be.

It can be frustrating sometimes. You have to create that terrible first draft or that second draft or that third draft. It's not useless. It’s you are doing the hard work. You're revising, and revising takes courage. It takes courage to write a book and entrust your manuscript with good editors so they respect you and find it incredibly brave.

There is a misconception that editors are monsters with their red pen going on a mission to crush your dreams and cackling at their computers fixing all these grammatical errors. But the fact is editors are not on a mission to rip up your manuscript. They are writers friends who let you know if you have lipstick on your teeth. 

It is a very durable thing when authors hand over their manuscripts to editors. Your manuscript is your baby. It's precious. You created something. You sat down and you wrote a book and that's something to be celebrated.


Those are my eight teeny tiny bits of advice. 

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