Here are my final seven mistakes to avoid. I hope this four-part series proved helpful as you strove to deepen and clean up your writing.
1. Mundane Prose. We don’t need to hear the mundane parts of a character’s day, or hear his mundane speech.
Example
John ate breakfast. He wiped his mouth, then slurped down some coffee. He put on his fedora, then slipped on his galoshes. He opened the front door, shut it, then opened the car door, heading to work.
John ate a quick breakfast, then headed to work.
2. MRU problems. Motivation Reaction Units (See
Techniques of the Selling Writer, by Dwight V. Swain for a full explanation.) Please read this article:
Writing the Perfect Scene.
3. Lack of emotional depth. In novel writing, we need to see the depth of a character’s inner landscape, which includes his/her emotional state. A reader needs to relate to the character. Some ways to create emotional depth: Shove the reader into the character’s head in the midst of a highly emotional/painful/surprising scene; show the character’s reaction to a dilemma; or show the character physically react to some disheartening news.
4. Word Choice. Sometimes a word isn’t the right one. If I write WC in the margin, it means you need to rethink the word you chose.
5. Wrong Word. Other times, you simply use the incorrect word. Consider:
Affect (a verb meaning “to influence”)
Effect (a noun meaning “result”—used as a verb when you mean “bring about” or “accomplish”)
Example: Lisle wanted to effect a change on her college campus so she smiled at every person she passed.
Correct: The effect of her perfume affected me for hours in the form of a splitting headache.
6. Nouns in Apposition. If the person you reference is one of a kind, you separate with commas. (Apposition means placed beside. The noun in apposition, called an appositive, identifies or explains the noun or pronoun that precedes it.)
Examples
Incorrect:
My wife Esther is the best cook on the planet. (Unless you live in biblical times or you’re a fugitive from Federal Agents, you have only one wife.)
Solved: My wife, Esther, is the best cook on the planet.
Correct: My friend Rebecca sent me a rather lengthy e-mail. (If Rebecca is one of many friends, this is correct. If she is the only friend, you need commas before /after her name.)
7. Avoid –ing. Overuse weighs down prose. When you finish a piece, search for “ing” and see how you’ve used—or misused—it.
Example
Awkward and wordy: Families were purchasing . . .
Correct: Families purchased . . .
Book Recommendations:
Writing the Perfect Scene
