Sharon ReneA while back I posted a blog about common fiction writing mistakes. (Not that any of us would ever make a mistake).
I pulled the information from The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them) by Jack M. Bickham. Writer’s Digest Books, 1992.
The post seemed to interest a lot of you so I’ve decided to post a few more of the common mistakes.
Don’t describe sunsets.
Pretty prose is great but when the writer stops to describe something at length, the story movement also stops.
Description must be worked in piece by piece to keep the reader seeing, hearing, and feeling the story.
Don’t let your characters lecture.
Sometimes writers decide to use their characters as mouthpieces for a data dump, making the characters lecture one another in an unrealistic way. Dialogue is not a good way to work in research information.
Don’t forget sense impressions.
Dialogue should not be a long string of only spoken sentences. Keep the reader oriented and interested by including thoughts, and emotions of the viewpoint character. Also include things the viewpoint character is hearing, seeing, or smelling during the dialogue.
Don’t be afraid to say “said.”
Beats are great and should be used in dialogue to add interest but sometimes “said” is all you need. Said is a transparent word and keeps the dialogue moving along.
Don’t ignore scene structure.
When writing a scene:
- Decide what the main character’s immediate goal is.
- Get this written down clearly in the copy so the reader also recognizes the goal.
- On a separate note (just for you) write what the scene question is. This should be able to be answered with a yes or no. (Example: Will Mary convince Jim to help her rob the bank next week)
- Now that main character’s goal has been shown bring in another character who states the opposite. (Conflict)
- Plan all the steps in the conflict between the two characters.
- Write the scene moment by moment – no summary.
- Devise a bad ending of the scene. A turning of the tables or a surprise. (Example from above: Jim will not agree to rob the bank because he is an undercover police officer.)
I hope you found this blog helpful. Perhaps you make some of these mistakes too. I think we all do.
I’d love to hear any comments or feedback. Perhaps you’d like to share one of your “common mistakes.”
Tracy Popolizio
Laurie Germaine
Carol Eaton
These are great, Sharon! I especially like the reminder about not being afraid to say “said.” Sometimes I get so caught up in removing every vestige of “said” from my manuscripts that I clutter up what should be a short, snappy exchange.
Thank you.
Glad you liked it. I do the same with worrying about said. Then I read an Ally Carter book (huge YA author) and she uses said a ton. Just goes to show whatever works – works.
The Spenser books by Robert B. Parker–Parker’s style is lots of crisp, witty dialogue, a good deal of with the “said” tagline. Plenty of “deep POV” action beats, too, but when it’s time for dialogue, short, no-words-wasted, big impact sentences tagged with said. And I can picture a fully drawn scene clearly in my head.
I actually stopped reading a book one time because the author went out of her way NOT to use a dialogue tag–to the point the characters never sat still because we needed to know who was talking, thus…action beat! It annoyed me. 😛 We writers tend to try so hard to follow the rules that we forget sometimes it’s okay to break them. 😉
Great points! And thank you for giving permission to write “said.”
Yes, using said is a popular one.
All great points, Sharon, but I had to laugh about the sunset one. In my first 5-minute romance published in Woman’s World, I described a sunset in the second paragraph. But then the point was that it made my character stop—and that’s where she saw her love interest. So I guess it all depends on what you want to accomplish. And it was just a one-sentence description so not too lengthy. Now if I can just keep those characters from lecturing…