You hit send, and then can’t resist the temptation to take one more—

*GASP* 

Ok, maybe a totally different four letter word just echoed through the room, but say it ain’t so! Right there, staring at you in black and white, is a blaring frickin’ error.

A word repeated twice in the same paragraph. The wrong to, their, or your. Punctuation gone horribly awry. You used a different agent’s name in your query letter, or spelled your comp title wrong. 

Long story short, you screwed up. Makes you cringe just thinking about it, doesn’t it? And I can guarantee every single person reading this has got not so fond memories of one, if not more, of those examples. 

Me? Oh, I’m guilty of every single one of those writing errors on more than one occasion. 

Which is why I’m here to tell you that none of them are the end of the world, and are only as bad as you make them out to be. 

Here’s some things to think about that will take the sting out of writing errors.

Sin #1: Repeat Words

Ugh I get it, and was just guilty of this in a recent Writer Fuel, which inspired this article. Check it out: 

“Not like pig in a tutu weird, but a little lipstick isn’t outside the realm of possibilities. I’d introduce myself, but I’m gonna bet you’ve already figured out that it’s not Gabriela or Lori typing this up.”

Yup, I double loaded on the buts and seriously winced when I read it. Especially since the sentence structure was so similar. 

BUT, you know what? Most readers read for enjoyment. Unless it’s super egregious, most people will cut you some slack over your writing errors. 

Overall, that article got some great feedback, and the only person looking at buts was me.

Ahem.

Which leads me to Sin #2.

Sin #2: The Wrong Word

This one is a straight up groan, and though AI programs are pretty good, not even a computer will catch all of these all the time. And yeah, sure, there are the usual suspects I mentioned above, but what about the sneaky ones like compliment (a polite expression of praise or admiration) vs. complement (a thing that completes or brings to perfection)?

Why yes, that is a super specific example. I wonder how I could have chosen it…

Look, unless you’re swimming in the Mensa side of the gene pool, you can’t expect yourself to know every single in and out of the English language, or any other language for that matter. 

That’s what editors are for, and even they miss stuff, which is why the publishing process goes through so many rounds of revisions.

And I’m gonna bet you’ve picked up a traditionally published book at some point in your life and there’s been an error that snuck through. Speaking of which, let’s check out Sin #3

Sin #3: Punctuation Gone Horribly Awry

Commas, I’m looking at you. True story, the last time I had a full-length manuscript professionally copyedited, it came back with over two-thousand corrected commas. To add insult to injury, I had run it through one of those AI programs before I sent it off.

If a computer is fallible when following specifically programmed algorithms, how can you expect yourself to be perfect every time? 

I mean, I get it. Those stupid little sickles of doom have given me a complex, and quite frankly, I’m so terrified of semicolons I won’t even use them. 

See the above editors / publishers comment and give yourself some grace.

Sin #4: Wrong Names and Misspelling

Using the wrong name on a query letter. Seriously, come on! You’ve researched the living daylights out of this person, agonized over toeing the line between informed and stalker-ish, the tears you’ve shed trying to distill your book into a frickin’ paragraph—

And instead of addressing it to Jack, you spelt it Jac, or called him Karen. 

For the record, at this point, it is entirely acceptable to curl up into a fetal ball of misery. Oh yeah, been there done that. Twice, actually. Repeating the experience doesn’t make it any easier in case you were wondering. And that also goes for misspelling a comp title or author name. 

So how do you deal with it? Well, at some point, you just have to laugh at yourself, and you know what? Agents are people, too. They have good days and bad, and they can tell a carefully crafted query with an oops from some schmuck just whipping out form letters.

In cases like this, you have to trust that the rest of your query will shine. And if the agent isn’t able or willing to look beyond that one flub, I’m gonna bet they’re not someone you want to tie your career to. 

Trust me, especially with the misspelled name thing. I’m kind of an expert with that. I mean what kind of a sadistic parent would saddle their kid with Alysen?

Um, this girl’s.

So, as someone whose family members can’t even spell her name correctly, it really isn’t that big of a deal. People who freak out about it generally have a chip on their shoulder and are best avoided.

Sin #5: Something You Wrote Rubbed Someone the Wrong Way

Are you laughing? I’m laughing. Because um, yeah, I’ve been here too. On numerous occasions and sometimes purposefully. Like, I have Lori scan all of my copy just to make sure I’m not saying something that’s too over the top. 

Look, almost none of us want to be hurtful or upset other people, but it’s inevitable that you’re going to unintentionally put your foot in it with someone at some point. 

And I will be the first to admit that my writing style and voice can sometimes be shocking.

But I like pushing my readers to look at the not so pretty and safe side of things. I write gritty books with edgy characters, and though my editorial prose is much lighter, there’s some bite to the self-deprecation. 

It’s not going to be for everyone, and neither is your work. That’s ok.

For me, writing is about eliciting emotion and making my readers feel something. A lot of the time, I want them to feel like they’re not so alone on this journey, and that they’re definitely not the only one making mistakes. Other times, I want them to question a preconceived notion. And I’ll admit it, sometimes I just want the shock value and a burst of startled laughter. 

That’s not without risks, and I’ve absolutely had people unsubscribe from my mailing list. But again, that’s ok. Not everyone liked you in high school and it doesn’t happen in real life either.

If you didn’t learn your lesson then, I’m here to tell you now: if you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one, least of all yourself.

And at the end of the day?

Institute a ritual, and celebrate your writing errors. 

Order nachos, break out the fancy bourbon, and text your BFF about what a bonehead you are. 

Promise yourself you’ll never do that again, knowing full well it isn’t a promise you’ll be able to keep.

You’ll be in good company. I, and every other writer, will be bumbling along right beside you, muttering the immortal words of Homer Simpson: “D’oh!”

AK Nevermore writes science fiction and urban fantasy with spice. She enjoys operating heavy machinery, freebases coffee, and gives up sarcasm for Lent every year. Unable to ignore the voices in her head, and unwilling to become medicated, she writes about dark worlds, perversely irreverent and profound, and always entertaining.

You can find her on her website or follow her on her sadly neglected Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram feeds.

The post Take the Sting Out of Writing Errors appeared first on DIY MFA.

Many of these elements are also basic narrative conventions. Of course, everyone has the right to tell their story the way they see fit, and sometimes rules should be broken. But it’s important to understand (and try to apply) the basic conventions of a good story before deciding to deviate. For one thing, readers come to stories with a set of expectations based on narrative and genre conventions. For another, debut authors—especially in the increasingly competitive market of traditional publishing—have to show that they know what they’re doing. 

If you want to write a compelling, meaningful story that hooks your reader, then you want to look for and fix these five common first draft mistakes in your novel. 

1. No larger point or message

When I read a draft that is missing a larger point or message, I’m often left confused or dissatisfied because the story elements don’t add up to anything bigger. The character’s journey doesn’t have a larger purpose, or the plot takes a sudden turn that doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t see a connection between what happens and why it matters. I don’t walk away having my worldview questioned or reaffirmed. 

Whether readers realize it or not, they come to books to examine something about the world or the human condition (for more on the science of why we read, check out Lisa Cron’s Wired for Story). The point or message is the heart of the book—it’s the central argument the writer wants to make and the piece that resonates with readers. 

It’s also the foundation that the rest of the story is built on because everything must drive toward making that point.

Not having a point or message is sometimes a symptom of the other story problems, and sometimes it’s the root. When it’s the root, the writer often has no driving force behind why the characters do what they do or why the plot goes where it does. When it’s a symptom, it’s often because the writer is simply seeing their story as a series of events without a greater meaning. 

If you don’t have a message—something you want to say with your story—stop and consider this: Why must you write this novel? What universal truth is it proving? 

It’s okay if your point sounds like a cliché. Clichés persist and resonate because there’s a kernel of truth in them. 

Now consider if your protagonist’s arc and your story events connect to that point. If not, I recommend tweaking your plans before continuing to write or revise forward. 

2. Too much focus on plot instead of story

We often use the terms “plot” and “story” interchangeably, but there’s an important distinction between them. A plot without story is simply not as compelling because it reads like just a series of events; there should be more going on underneath those events.

Plot is what happens, and story is why that matters to the protagonist. Story encompasses the protagonist’s arc of change—what they learn from the plot events and why. It also touches on the emotions they experience and the point of their journey. A draft that is all plot without story feels shallow. I often find myself wondering “why?” which takes me right out of the novel. 

This might be happening in your draft if you started with a plot and didn’t give as much thought to your point or protagonist’s journey. Try flipping the script before you go any further. 

Ask yourself: what does your main character learn throughout the course of the story? And how will they hold themself back from getting their goal? How do they change throughout? How do the events of the story change them? 

Map out your character’s internal journey, then weigh your plot against it to see if the events are challenging them and moving your protagonist forward in a meaningful way. 

3. No clear character arc for the protagonist

As I hinted at in the previous point, we come to stories expecting to see a change happen in the protagonist. There are other types of character arcs, but the most common and conventional is a positive arc where a character starts off as one type of person and ends as a different type of person. They change by recognizing their internal flaw and making an effort to overcome that. 

Why is this important? Because when we read, we put ourselves in someone else’s viewpoint with the interest in seeing how they overcome difficult odds (so we can experience difficulties without risking that same challenge ourselves). In that process, we want to see the protagonist change internally, not just externally. 

When I read a draft where the protagonist doesn’t change or the arc of change isn’t clear, I feel cheated. This person went through all these trials, and they didn’t learn anything?! I don’t buy it. 

If this piece is missing in your draft, start by asking yourself two questions: Who is my character at the start of the story? And who are they at the end? 

Those two things should be fairly different if not opposite (e.g., my character starts as someone who doesn’t believe in love and ends not only believing in love but also experiencing it for herself). 

Then plan how you can get your character to resist that change for as long as possible (until the climax) when they will finally learn the lesson of the story because everything else they’ve tried hasn’t worked, and decide to make that change. 

4. Details or subplots don’t pay off

When I read, I’m like a bloodhound sniffing out clues, and the clues I’m looking for are hints about what’s going to happen next in the book. I jump on every seemingly significant detail and assume that it means something. Oh, she set her diary down on the coffee table? Yeah, that’s going to come into play later. 

As writer Anton Chekhov said (in many various ways): “If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise, don’t put it there.”

Again, this is because of how our brains are wired: to look for meaning in everything. So when a writer calls out a specific thing early on in the story, we subconsciously believe that it will become important later, and we hold on to it.  

As such, significant details and subplots should connect to the main character’s plight or the theme of the story. If a detail or subplot doesn’t ultimately go anywhere, at best, the reader is distracted by it, and at worst, the reader is confused. 

What distinguishes general description from significant details? The latter are what you, the writer, take specific care to draw a reader’s attention to. So, you’ll probably have many descriptions of places, and characters, and actions throughout your book that won’t stand out to readers. But any time you emphasize an element—perhaps because it is unusual, memorable, abnormal, etc—that will stick in your readers’ minds as a significant detail. 

Check your draft to see if you have called out or lingered on any details. Do these matter in the larger story? 

If the character setting the diary on the coffee table doesn’t pay off, edit the description to make it less conspicuous (“I set the diary aside”) or take it out. 

Also check for any side characters or subplots that suddenly disappear. Make sure you either connect these to the story’s resolution or give them their own resolution. If not, cut them. 

5. No cause-and-effect trajectory from one scene to the next

When a draft doesn’t have a cause-and-effect trajectory, the story and characters can feel illogical. It often seems like they are acting without thinking or feeling, and the events are disconnected.

Because a novel is not just a series of events, it’s important to remember that each scene—each action your protagonist takes—should drive from one to the next. Ultimately, your characters are constantly acting and reacting. 

If a character gets a surprising piece of news in one scene (unless you’re creating a non-linear timeline), then they should either do something to process that news in the next scene or they should act in some way that is informed by that news. Even in the case of a non-linear timeline, there’s still that underlying cause and effect, you’re just presenting the scenes to your reader out of order. 

One of the best ways to test this for yourself is to summarize each of your scenes and try to insert the phrase “because of that” in-between them. 

An example would be: In the first scene, my character gets a surprising piece of news that her father had died. Because of that, in scene two, she rushes home from college to be with her family. Because of that, she finds out that it isn’t true. Because of that… 

If “because of that” doesn’t make sense between your scenes, then they are not being triggered by what comes before them. 

While these points don’t encompass all there is to a good story, it’s hard to have a compelling novel without them. Whether you’re in the planning stages of your next project or you’re revising a completed draft, I’d recommend using this list of common first draft mistakes to guide you. And I know it can be daunting to tackle such big-picture issues, but remember that your story can only improve from here!

Tell us in the comments: Have you made any of these common first draft mistakes? How did you fix them?

Heather Campbell is a book coach who helps writers develop tools to overcome their perfectionism and mindset blocks so they can create lasting and effective writing habits to complete a novel. When she’s not immersed in fiction, she’s running in the fresh mountain air of Colorado or snuggling with her rescue dog, Chase. Find out more at www.thewriterremedy.com and follow her on Instagram!

The post #5onFri: Five Common First Draft Mistakes (and How to Fix Them) appeared first on DIY MFA.

Copping to a fault is tough. We all want to think that we’re gifted by the heavenly virtues of writing and that our right to write is ordained by the gods. New writers are especially prone to the seven deadly sins, but even if you’re a seasoned professional, you might be sinning in your writing right now and not even know it!

Give yourself a good ol’ fashioned spiritual introspection with these seven deadly sins of writing:

Lust

Your fictional characters aren’t real. You can’t make their road any easier to travel—and they won’t sleep with you at the end of it. Not even if you buy them a drink.

New authors tend to love their characters so much that they pave their roads with gold and place designer cupcake stands along the way. While this might be a pleasant situation, that’s not a story. A story demands conflict. Bad Things must happen to your characters.

So give them real struggles. Stuff pebbles in their shoes and put dragons in their way. Make them so flawed that they write themselves between the proverbial rock and hard place. Make their journey so difficult that your own characters wouldn’t sleep with you.

Not even if you buy them two drinks.

Gluttony

“There’s nothing less impressive than someone trying to be impressive.”

Bigger is better, right? WRONG. Stop rolling around in your own genius adverbs, lusciously languishing in purple prose, or stopping every other sentence to contemplate the meaning of life. New writers (I am guilty of this, too) like to show off how beautifully they can shape words, to the point of stuffing too much sugary-sweet sentences down readers’ throats.

And worse—sometimes we can meander through a narrative without getting to the heart of the conflict. New writers and old tend to start the story too soon, languishing in character-building before anything actually happens.

Don’t glut your story with unnecessary words. Start the story as close to the main conflict as you possibly can. Trim up that baby fat and your story will be a leaner, meaner fighting machiner.

Greed

Have you heard about those hoards of money that await the willing writer?

Me neither.

Going after the writing gigs with money will get you a paycheck, but it won’t necessarily build your career as an author. Don’t get me wrong—I know a lot of very happy ghostwriters who are making bank and twisting their mustaches with railroad-baron-y glee* (*Dramatization).

But most writers I know want to not only write as a profession, but write what they love. Here’s the bad news—the only way to do that is to write what you love for free. Eventually you’ll write what you love for a pittance, and work your way up to just under minimum wage. I’m not saying don’t make money! Please, do make money! Because food and shelter is generally a good thing!

But just be careful of selling yourself out at the expense of your career goals. And sometimes that means avoiding the path laden with sacks of gold.

Sloth

We all get to that point in the story where we know exactly what’s going on and exactly what’s going to happen. It can be tempting to glaze over the details with bits like, “And then they fell in love with each other, and it was great, and everyone was happy about it.”

I’m looking at you, fairytales. “Happily ever after” just doesn’t cut it.

Here’s the quickest fix I know for lazy writing. “He was tall and handsome” is about the most boring thing you can possibly write, but it can be a little better if you delete that “was”—a “to be” verb—with something a little more exciting. “He stretched so high that he nearly bumped the ceiling” certainly gives a much better idea of what this guy looks like!

Don’t let your brain become a couch potato of lazy description. It’s hard work to get your readers to see exactly what you’re seeing in your mind, but you can do it. You’re a writer.

Wrath

One of the Big Six publishers didn’t like your work? Are polite turn-downs and civil rejections only adding fuel to the inner flames of wrath?

Raging at editors or sending snide remarks to people who didn’t accept you can really be tempting, especially since you’ve worked so long and hard on your story. I’m here to say: Don’t do it. Set the rejections aside. Throw them away. Burn them for all I care.

But do not—I repeat, DO NOT—reply to that rejection. Writer’s Wrath will turn around and bite you in the proverbial @$$ someday when that editor you exploded at tells all her friends: “There was this one guy who sent me this email…”

Envy

Envy is a many-headed beast that always rears up when least wanted or expected. Here are some different sides of writerly envy:

Covet not what publications your neighbor has. Writers are generally a very supportive community, but then there always is that bad seed. Don’t be the bad seed. Congratulate writers on their successes and know that one day they will congratulate you in return.

Covet not your favorite author’s ideas. When writing, the gripping stories and highly-acclaimed successes of your favorite authors can sometimes get to your head. You might think, “Heck, I’m better than that writer. I can do that,” and then write a dystopia in which children are forced to fight to the death. Don’t do that.

Be original. Be uniquely you. Write only the stories you can write, and take pride in your work.

Pride

But not too much.

Trust me, your first draft is never, ever, not in a hundred billion years ready. Not even if you’re super famous with a six-figure advance.

So please, save yourself and the poor publisher some embarrassment and don’t send your finished piece out right away. Let it simmer for a while. Get some critiques. Rewrite and edit. Read this article. No one is ever too good to swallow some feedback. It can only make your work better.

Constant vigilance! Once you are aware of these deadly sins of writing, you can train yourself away from them and make your writing—and your career—100% better.

Got a question? Tweet me @beccaquibbles with the hashtag #askbecca, email me at becca [at] DIYMFA [dot] com, or just leave a comment below! You could see your question answered right here at Ask Becca!

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Rebecca Ann Jordan is a speculative fiction author and artist in San Diego. She recently won Reader’s Choice Best of 2013 for her short story “Promised Land” at Fiction Vortex and has published poetry and fiction in Flapperhouse, Swamp Biscuits & Tea, Yemassee Journal and more. Becca regularly columns for DIYMFA.com. See more from her at rebeccaannjordan.com. (link to site)

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