The following are the most common mistakes that people make when writing for fiction, a manuscript or looking to promote a book title.
Poor grammar, spelling, typos and usage
One of the basic aspects of writing is being grammatically correct, without making silly spelling mistakes. The single most common error that people make is the usage of the passive voice. In passive voice, nothing is ever anyone’s fault, because people do not do things. Things happen to people. “Bobby ate the pizza” is active. “The pizza was eaten” is passive. Note that the action of food and the food is more important than the character in the passive voice. When writers are unsure of themselves they often drop into the passive voice. Along with this, people often make mistakes in the usage of tenses. Immature writers will begin stories in whatever tense they want, and not maintain logic in their use of tenses.
Character developing
When one is writing fiction, character development is very essential. Avoid uninteresting characters. A story with dull characters will make the story dull as well. Let the characters life be full of action, nobody wants to read about a character who sleeps, gets up and goes to sleep again. Make the character humorous, yet amidst the humour, don’t lose focus of your character. If your character is someone you know, make them seem more real. Make this character do things that you would want your friend to do. Make him run after his dog, get slapped by a girl, or get caught by the police for speeding. This will make the narrative interesting.
Descriptions and lecturing
Avoid long descriptions about the character, but do give your readers some idea of what the character looks like and how they behave. Let your character move through your story and the dialogues to avoid unnecessary lecturing. What I mean to say by unnecessary lecturing, is that if your character has a problem meeting girls, do not write long descriptions. Instead, introduce your character to girls, and through his actions and dialogue, make this character trait evident to your readers. Be concise in whatever you want to say. Do not beat around the bush with certain thoughts or views, and don’t get into descriptions about everything that you’ve introduced in your story. If you have mentioned a flower in your story, do not go on describing each and every petal unnecessarily.
Be yourself
When you are writing, you have to use your own ideas, your own style and your own voice; don’t try to emulate someone else’s writing style. BE ORIGINAL in your approach and please yourself within your own writing. Only then will you be able to please others with your writing. Don’t write to impress others – write so that you can communicate what you want to. If people don’t understand the story you are trying to tell them, and you impress them with your writing style, they will not remember you because you will have failed to communicate your message. Try and remember to keep a clear plot outline.
The above are some tips that will help you overcome the initial hurdles of writing, and with practice, you will be able to accomplish these mistakes in your written English.