7 Horrible Mistakes You Make As An Author

Mistakes play an integral part in our lives and would even define those on the verge of success. However, not everyone has the opportunity to see their mistakes which could ultimately damage their careers or reputation. For authors who publish their work out in the open for their readers to divulge, committing slips would potentially jeopardize their names.

Now, we are not here to worry you but rather to help you avoid these blunders. So before you write your next piece, allow us to share with you seven horrible mistakes that you could make as an author.

More Telling, Less Showing

More often than not, the books that you write contain little to no picture that could help your readers imagine what you’re telling. Instead of letting the audience experience the thrill, romance, action, or whatever ambiance the chapter revolves in, writers unconsciously summarize and describe the events. Authors must consider that one of their goals should be to have their readers be lost in the story, pacing page by page, trying to keep up with their imaginations.

Starting Dull

Meetings, speeches, presentations, and messages preferably end with a high note. Although this is also very much applicable to books and novels, writers must not forget to also start with a bang. Getting people to pick up your book and opening it is just the beginning. The real challenge is getting them hooked up immediately after reading a few lines. Although you, as an author, know full well how good the following chapters get, it is meaningless to the oblivious and disinterested reader.

Unnecessary Words

Although we have encouraged you to let the audience be more involved with the story through your narrative and catch their attention as soon as they open the book, you must also refrain from putting too much word and eventually endangering the piece. Quality, after all, is better than quantity when it comes to stories. Readers often use their valuable time when reading the book, and wasting their time with unnecessary and dispensable words would be a grave mistake.

Inconceivable Events

Fictions are stories that would unlikely happen in real life. As enjoyable as they are, however, it must not be over the edge. Writing unreal scenes and events is a common mistake that would throw the story off course and make it possible for the readers to detach. Make sure that conflicts and settings are credible, plausible, and sensible to the audience. It would be ideal for focusing more on the character, their background, drive, and motivation to overcome the internal struggles and challenges.

Wrong Punctuation

A woman, without her man, is nothing. A woman: without her, man is nothing; These two phrases consist of the exact words yet with different punctuation marks, ultimately giving a whole different meaning in each one. This instance just goes to show how much a simple symbol could change an entire idea. Although this is a creative skill to learn, authors would mistakenly put their punctuation marks in the wrong places out of confusion or ignorance. Most writers would overlook the correct usage of hyphens, dashes, semicolons, and even commas.

Misspellings

With the story and plot changing throughout the writing process, writers usually skim past words, phrases, and sentences without minding the spelling. Although unlikely, authors tend to have spelling errors, especially with names, places, and other things always mentioned in the plot. While this is where the copy editor comes in, it’s always best to ensure that little to no lapses are in the piece, especially with spellings.

Floppy Ending

Suppose you were able to steer clear of these common mistakes and successfully consistently lure your readers into finishing the book all the way; the next step is to finish it strong. The purpose of this is so that the readers can maintain that high and push them to read about your other books, even get them to give a great review. In a nutshell, finishing strong is as important as starting with a bang. Writers sometimes forget that endings have the power to either make or break a novel.

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Mistakes aren’t necessarily a bad thing. The important thing is that we learn from them and do our best to improve. These 7 points are only a part of the many mistakes writers make, as there are plenty out there silently haunting wordsmiths and readers alike.

If you have one or two of your own, please let them out!