Top-5 mistakes of aspiring writers
"There is no such thing as a moral or immoral book," writes Wilde, "Books are well written or badly written. That is all." But what is a well written book?
Recently, many aspiring writers have asked me to write a review of their novel. I do not refuse, since we are in the same boat. After reading several works, I have noticed that all authors have the same flaws. And I remembered myself. After all, I am no exception, and I also went this way. To be honest, I'm still going through. So, here are five major mistakes of debutants.
1. A long start. Our task is to hook from the first pages. The reader is interested in the action, not in the biography of the protagonist. A few words about childhood may not hurt, but only when it affects the plot. If the beginning is boring, the vast majority of people will not read further.
2. Difficult text. Chekhov said that brevity is the sister of talent. I bet no one can get a word out of any of his stories. Unfortunately, the rule of brevity is neglected by many aspiring writers and therefore they easily fall into their own trap. Indeed, in pursuit of "prettiness" the author makes the text heavy with unnecessary words. Not to mention the comicality of the lush phrases. Can't you write clear? Then edit it carefully. It's like weeding out a patch of weeds. Without regret, we cut off everything that is superfluous and leave only the squeeze. You should not be afraid to lose in volume, because the main thing is quality. As parodaxic as it may seem, writing simple is difficult.
3. Pointless dialogues. The function of dialogues is to influence the action and reveal the characters. If the dialogue does not carry any semantic load and does not change the action in any way, it is superfluous. All those "Hello, how are you?" are appropriate in everyday life, but not in literature. Dialogue is not a record tape of chatter, it's a way to move the story forward. We are not saying that the characters should speak artificially. We are talking about unnecessary phrases. We leave only the most important thing, saving the publisher's money for printing.
4. Unnecessary characters. Here's about the characters that, for example, appear on the first pages and do not show again. Then there is a question: why were they needed? Returning to Chekhov: "If in the first act there is a gun on the wall, then in the last act it should fire."
5. Stylistics. It often happens that people who have no idea how texts are written will take up the pen. This leads to banal repetitions, inconsistencies, lexical errors, etc. etc. It's okay to make mistakes at the start of the journey. We are all humans. The main thing is to learn. Do not hesitate to analyze other people's works and learn from their experience. To read bad books is ok too, as you get to know how you shouldn't write. I will not be original: the more you write, the better it turns out later. Over time, your style will definitely develop.
I repeat that I am not an expert. My rules are based on humble observation and my own experience. Having stuffed the bumps on the first novel, I learnt the lesson. Therefore, I will blush less for the second one :)
And what do you pay attention to when reading debut novels?
Recently, many aspiring writers have asked me to write a review of their novel. I do not refuse, since we are in the same boat. After reading several works, I have noticed that all authors have the same flaws. And I remembered myself. After all, I am no exception, and I also went this way. To be honest, I'm still going through. So, here are five major mistakes of debutants.
1. A long start. Our task is to hook from the first pages. The reader is interested in the action, not in the biography of the protagonist. A few words about childhood may not hurt, but only when it affects the plot. If the beginning is boring, the vast majority of people will not read further.
2. Difficult text. Chekhov said that brevity is the sister of talent. I bet no one can get a word out of any of his stories. Unfortunately, the rule of brevity is neglected by many aspiring writers and therefore they easily fall into their own trap. Indeed, in pursuit of "prettiness" the author makes the text heavy with unnecessary words. Not to mention the comicality of the lush phrases. Can't you write clear? Then edit it carefully. It's like weeding out a patch of weeds. Without regret, we cut off everything that is superfluous and leave only the squeeze. You should not be afraid to lose in volume, because the main thing is quality. As parodaxic as it may seem, writing simple is difficult.
3. Pointless dialogues. The function of dialogues is to influence the action and reveal the characters. If the dialogue does not carry any semantic load and does not change the action in any way, it is superfluous. All those "Hello, how are you?" are appropriate in everyday life, but not in literature. Dialogue is not a record tape of chatter, it's a way to move the story forward. We are not saying that the characters should speak artificially. We are talking about unnecessary phrases. We leave only the most important thing, saving the publisher's money for printing.
4. Unnecessary characters. Here's about the characters that, for example, appear on the first pages and do not show again. Then there is a question: why were they needed? Returning to Chekhov: "If in the first act there is a gun on the wall, then in the last act it should fire."
5. Stylistics. It often happens that people who have no idea how texts are written will take up the pen. This leads to banal repetitions, inconsistencies, lexical errors, etc. etc. It's okay to make mistakes at the start of the journey. We are all humans. The main thing is to learn. Do not hesitate to analyze other people's works and learn from their experience. To read bad books is ok too, as you get to know how you shouldn't write. I will not be original: the more you write, the better it turns out later. Over time, your style will definitely develop.
I repeat that I am not an expert. My rules are based on humble observation and my own experience. Having stuffed the bumps on the first novel, I learnt the lesson. Therefore, I will blush less for the second one :)
And what do you pay attention to when reading debut novels?
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Jim wrote: "Ms. Levitski,Your willingness to utilize your most recent blog post to point out technical writing and narrating flaws you have noticed in the works of the novice authors which you have read and ..."
Thank you, Mr. Vuksic. I’m flattered to hear that. I hope my small advices will help the beginners to improve their writing skills, like it helped me years ago. And speaking different languages is my good luck, I guess. It was always easy for me to learn them, because that’s how my brain works.
Your willingness to utilize your most recent blog post to point out technical writing and narrating flaws you have noticed in the works of the novice authors which you have read and reviewed is to be applauded.
All too often, fellow authors, readers, and reviewers tend to tell novice writers what they would like to hear instead of the truth.
Your Goodreads author profile is quite impressive. Very few, including myself, possess the discipline and determination to become bi-lingual, let alone being able to communicate in six languages.