Writing What is the biggest mistake a novice writer makes while writing a story?

[Daichi]

I would like to hear opinions from seasoned writers.

 

[CupcakeNinja]

I would like to hear opinions from seasoned writers.

Giving too much of a fuck what their readers say

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

Becoming a good writer is a slow and arduous process.

You take at least 200 k words for your style to crystalise and from thereon you evolve.

Pacing, characterisation, it all gets better with time and it is all a matter of learning by writing.

 

[Horrorific]

Giving too much of a fuck what their readers say

This. I always got worried about what the readers like. Now I don't give a fuck about it and just write out of boredom.

 

[CupcakeNinja]

This. I always got worried about what the readers like. Now I don't give a fuck about it and just write out of boredom.

As you should. Boredom is the mother of creativity

Becoming a good writer is a slow and arduous process.

You take at least 200 k words for your style to crystalise and from thereon you evolve.

Pacing, characterisation, it all gets better with time and it is all a matter of learning by writing.

Then you got people like me who are just naturally god tier from the get go. Heh

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

As you should. Boredom is the mother of creativity


Then you got people like me who are just naturally god tier from the get go. Heh

Well, sadly, I can't share your sentiment.

 

[weakwithwords]

I would like to hear opinions from seasoned writers.

Seasoned writers: just add salt & pepper ... and a lot of ink.

Keep asking for opinions instead of actually writing.

 

[CupcakeNinja]

Well, sadly, I can't share your sentiment.

That's alright man i know im right regardless

Seasoned writers: just add salt & pepper ... and a lot of ink.

Keep asking for opinions instead of actually writing.

That last sentence is so passive aggressive lol.

You can right all you want but if you are shit you are gonna keep making shit mistakes until someone points them out.

Of course then you have people like me who are just natural writing GODS. But not everyone has my heaven-sent talents.

 

[gaylolis]

Giving too much of a fuck what their readers say

in your case, i guess you'd make them all pregnant :D

well, in my case, i think the biggest mistake is thinking that there is one in the first place, and get myself paranoid.

when it's actually just a happy accident?

 

[CupcakeNinja]

in your case, i guess you'd make them all pregnant :D

well, in my case, i think the biggest mistake is thinking that there is one in the first place, and get myself paranoid.

when it's actually just a happy accident?

I loves me some cream pies, its true. Bad habit, that.

Haha. Yours reminds me of all the times i freaked out over insignificant details probably no one notices. But i just keep thinkin, "wait. Is that right? Oh god, if i dont fix this the whole story is ruined!" And proceed to research the jumping height of a squirrel or some stupid shit like that

 

[LostLibrarian]

"Not writing at all."
Podcasts, articles, books on writing, youtube tutorials, chat groups, forums, etc are nice. But it's easy to plan/think too much.

 

[AliceShiki]

Not taking criticism well and getting overly defensive of your story.

Do that, and you'll stop receiving criticism altogether, which might get in the way of your improvement as a writer.

 

[Khiricastares]

Ignoring the basic writing rules when starting/learning to write.
If you begin with a solid idea of proper grammar, structure and dialogue then you are starting on a plateau high above the rest.
This doesn't mean focus on them until they're publisher level, but please don't ignore the basics.
Fixing bad writing habits takes a long time (and editing!), so it's better to give yourself a foundation.

 

[Ekfreet]

Not rewriting at all I guess?

 

[Goswick]

Speaking as, kind of a novice, I guess? I think one of the worst mistakes I tend to make is simply not planning out far enough ahead. Although honestly, that's probably less because I'm a novice and more because I'm super disorganised lol. It hasn't been a particular pain though. Since I have a rough idea what I'm working towards, it just means that the story I end up writing usually surprises me as much as it surprises the readers.

 

[Moctemma]

Giving too much of a fuck what their readers say

Damn right.

 

[jinxs2011]

I loves me some cream pies, its true. Bad habit, that.

Haha. Yours reminds me of all the times i freaked out over insignificant details probably no one notices. But i just keep thinkin, "wait. Is that right? Oh god, if i dont fix this the whole story is ruined!" And proceed to research the jumping height of a squirrel or some stupid shit like that

The amount of times i've done things like this is too damn high. Most recently, it was the habitat and behaviours of bison, as well as techniques and strategies traditionally used to hunt them.

At one point I was trying to find out what the aerodynamics of a fork are, which sounds incredibly odd out of context of my novel

But I wouldn't really say it's a mistake. It's good to keep elements of realism in your writing to enhance believability, unless of course it's something along the lines of a comedy and realism isn't necessarily important.

I would say the biggest mistakes I made early on were: not paying enough attention to tenses. I have read a lot of books for a lot of my life, so I was not expecting that I would trip up on my tenses so often.

Not planning enough - I always had the beginning and end of both my novels worked out to some degree, but the middles were just an amalgamation of places/characters/plot points floating around in my head in no particular order. Working on even a loose outline of the plot early on would have helped me a lot.

Not thinking about how things work - There have been a lot of aspects of my world(s) that I didn't think of until they became immediately relevant, and I would have to think long and hard for a good, sensible way for it all to make sense or I risked having to edit quite a few chapters to fix it. Working out every aspect you can think of beforehand can help everything make sense better, both to you and the reader, and also could help you think of potential implications and uses of those aspects ahead of time.

 

[GDLiZy]

Not editing. Not proofreading after editing. Not caring about grammar. Not listening to criticism. Not doing proper research. Not planning a proper ending.

World-building too much. Info-dump. Boring exposition. Irrelevant information. Bad dialogue. Sad formatting, and finally— procrastination.

 

[aree]

biggest mistake is to tell every thing. The first rule should be 'Don't tell, show them.' Though it won't be easy.

And not making a outline would be another mistake

 

[BenJepheneT]

At some point I realized why the fuck should I do all these research when they don't affect the story at all. I think to myself, "does it really matter if I find out how hard a gorilla can punch if the effect of 'it could punch really hard' is conveyed enough?" Of course, if it's regarding social context or basic information, I'd put it into the story, but sometimes, over indulging in unimportant realism could potentially drag your focus somewhere else unimportant.

That is, if you're doing a story like mine. I take more inspiration from stories like Baki, in which the only realism that matters are the one that directly influence the plot and goes with the themes of the story. In other words, there's a guy in the story who can physically digest bones and eats 30 steaks in one sitting. That's horrifically unrealistic. But, since the story's focus is on fighting, his style and punches make actual sense. It's all about where to do your research, not make it as realistic as possible.

Remember that you're doing a fantasy story. If it carries the plot has enough realism to bring a degree of believability that can be understood, you can relax have the audience suspend their disbelief on the other non important things. Like Beastars, where an amazing story is told in a universe where Komodo dragons can mate with wolves and have venom poisonous acidic enough to melt concrete and metal bars.

Sometimes, it's alright to slack off. Just know where and when to do so.