In her AbsoluteWrite article “Top Ten Writing Mistakes Made By New Children’s Writers,” my friend Suzanne Lieurance offers some warnings to help you stop shooting yourself in the foot. The article may be written for the kiddie crew, but the advice applies to writers of all sorts.
Here are the 10 mistakes spun for a general writing audience:
- No clear POV character
- Multiple points of view
- Telling instead of showing
- Overuse of adjectives, adverbs, and other unnecessary words
- Improperly punctuated dialogue
- Long timeframes
- No narrative “hook” for the reader
- Dialogue that doesn’t sound real
- Random characters who step in to save the day (deus ex machina)
- No real conflict
Read Suzanne’s tips for avoiding these gaffes here.
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Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King. All rights reserved.
Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King
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Kristen:
Thanks for posting the tips from Suzanne. I can see why you two are friends – both quite bright and highly motivated.
Oh – thanks for the “pickles pictures” also – quite enjoyable,
tim
http://medicalmigrant.blogspot.com/
Hi, Kristen,
Thanks for posting my writing tips.
Pickles is adorable. I have a little dog named Daisy who looks like a little black pig. The vet thinks she might be part pug or shar-pei (is that the way to spell that) and part Labrador. We call her Miss Piggie.
Suzanne
The Working Writer’s Coach
http://www.workingwriterscoach.com