The Top 5 Mistakes Amateur Writers Make

Learn the top 5 mistakes that amateur writers make and how to avoid them. Below are additional links that will help you correct the issues with your novel.

Point of View:

Head Hopping: http://thewriteditor.wordpress.com/20...

Developing a solid third person point of view (either omniscient or third limited): http://thewriteditor.wordpress.com/20...

Telling vs. Showing

How to show instead of tell in your writing: http://thewriteditor.wordpress.com/20...

Conflict

How to plot a novel (a lot of info about conflict is included): http://thewriteditor.wordpress.com/ho...

For more help with writing or to check out my editing services, visit my website:
http://thewriteditor.wordpress.com

Feel free to shoot me an email with questions or video ideas: ellenbrock (at) keytopservices (dot) com

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Closed Caption:

hi this is Ellen Brock freelance editor
today I want to talk about the five
biggest mistakes that aspiring writers
make this video was requested by a
viewer who actually asked what the
biggest mistake is that aspiring writers
make but I couldn't really narrow it
down to just one so I'm going to do the
top five
so number one is not understanding point
of view the biggest problem that I see
in my clients manuscript is almost
always point of view usually it has to
do with waffling between omniscient and
third limited a lot of writers do that
and they don't really realize it
I did write about that on my blog so the
link will be in the description had
hopping is another big point of view
problem night probably heard about and
you might not really understand so I'll
also put an article about that
so you really need to understand . of
view because editors are going to look
at point of view issues and they're
going to think this is a lot of work
it's going to take a really long time to
fix these problems and I don't know that
I want to be person to invest that time
and doing it
so when you submit to an agent or
publisher
they're going to be really really wary
of issues with point of view and if they
see errors they're probably not going to
consider your manuscript so that's why
would really consider that the number
one biggest issue because it really it's
really really going to hold you back
probably more than anything else
this second biggest mistake is too much
voice now this might seem a little like
unusual that you can have too much voice
but sometimes writers are trying too
hard to sound right early and sound like
interesting and poetic and creative so
they're using too many analogies in
there using too much figurative language
in too much description and too many
adverbs and adjectives and it's overly
describe another potential way you could
have too much voices if you're trying to
mimic somebody else's voice for instance
you want to sound like I'm Chuck
Palahniuk or stephen king or something
like that so you're trying really hard
with the voice and it comes across as
too much and it seems overdone
if you have a really strong voice
naturally that's great just make sure
that it's not laborious to read your
work that you're not having to like
three reeds and
it's like over and over to understand
the meaning because they are written in
such a like it in a poetic and abstract
way that it's difficult to grasp this is
a problem that some writers have it and
some don't
you're usually on one side of the fence
or the other which leads me to the third
biggest mistake writers make which is
not enough boys
this is a problem when the writing just
feels very standard almost like robotic
you just there's not a lot of
personality you don't feel close to the
characters and usually the problem is
that the narrative distance is too far
meaning like if you imagine your
perspective is like a camera the camera
is like way out here like beyond all the
characters so you're not like getting
into their head and you're not really
like delving deep into who they are so
if the narrative distance is really far
as a tendency to make the voice feel
very bland and robotic foremost writers
this is what takes the longest amount of
time is finding that balance between too
much voice and not enough voice the
fourth biggest mistake is too much
telling and not enough showing
I don't want this as high up because i
think it can be more easily overcome and
it's not as likely to scare off agents
and editors as something like a blatant
point of view issues or blatant issues
with the voice but you really should be
trying to show more than you tell that
doesn't mean you only have to show
because that doesn't really work either
it can bog down the novel with lots of
scenes that you're using to show a
concept that could just be told in a
sentence
that's not a good idea either but you
don't want to come across like your
writing lazily and you're not really
putting enough effort so you're just
sort of telling everything rather than
bothering to show it but some wondered
is completely by accident they tell a
lot of things because they don't know
how to show it
I have an article about that i will link
to in the description that I think
should really help you with that if
you're having problems knowing how to
show instead of tell the fifth issue
that I see is more when you get beyond
the first chapter you get beyond like
just a taste of your writing and if you
get the agent or
editor to read beyond that point and
they're getting into the meat of the
story
the biggest problem is not enough
conflict it's really important that
every scene in Chapter be moving the
plot forward the character needs to be
moving towards a goal which means the
character has to have a goal which is
something that a lot of aspiring writers
forget to include or don't really
understand how to include so it might
feel like the protagonist is just sort
of meandering through the story and the
scenes might be interesting but they're
not moving the plot forward because
there's not a clear conflict
I did talk about that in my video about
plotting so i'm going to put that in the
description because I don't really have
a better link right now but if I make
one in the future or a different one
so if you address those five issues you
should be way ahead of the game and it
should really give you a leg up on all
the other aspiring writers in the huge
flash file when you're submitting agents
and editors
so this is the top five biggest mistakes
that aspiring writers make if you have a
question feel free to send it to me via
email or leave a comment i'll put my
email in my website in the description i
am working through all of the video
requests that i have about like 15 right
now so if you haven't heard from me i
have gotten your request I just haven't
got a chance to get to it
i'm going to try to make videos more
often but it's a sort of depends on my
editing schedule in this video helped
you i would really appreciate it if you
would share it and if you need any
editing services or mentoring check out
my website and you can see my services
and all the details there
thanks for watching