Some writing mistakes will make you look like an amateur, even if you’re an experienced writer — but there are ways to avoid them.
Before you send your manuscript to a professional editor and publish your book, you should start by running it through a high-quality grammar checker like ProWritingAid to detect and fix basic grammar issues. Using correct grammar and punctuation can go a long way to making sure your manuscript is ready for publication.
However, there’s a lot more to good writing than perfect grammar. Make sure you comb through your writing for these seven common writing mistakes.
Mistake #1: Overly long sentences
Break up long sentences to make your work easier to read.
If you’re writing nonfiction, try not to include more than three discrete pieces of information in any single sentence.
If you’re writing fiction, consider the pacing of the scene you’re working on. Use short, zippy sentences in an action scene. Use longer sentences to draw out the moment and include more sensory detail in an emotional scene.
Regardless of your topic, your lengthy sentences should be readable and clear.
Mistake #2: Flowery dialogue tags
Stick to simple dialogue tags like “said” and “asked,” which the reader’s brain will naturally gloss over, to keep your writing flowing smoothly.
Many writers make the mistake of using fancy words in their dialogue tags, like “whispered,” “mumbled,” or “exclaimed.” Rather than engaging the reader, these dialogue tags distract them from the story.
It’s also a common mistake to attach an adverb to the word “said,” such as “quietly,” “fiercely,” or “proudly.” If you’ve written your dialogue well, your readers should know your character’s mood from their words, so cut the flowery dialogue tags and let your characters speak for themselves.
Mistake #3: Adverbs instead of strong verbs
Using a strong verb is more effective than adding an adverb. The verb is the heart of the sentence — you should never rely on an adverb to do the job a verb should be doing.
Look for adverbs coupled with weak verbs in your writing and see if you can replace them with a specific, strong verb. For example, you might replace “He walked quickly to the store” with “He hurried to the store.” Or you might replace “She ate the biscuit slowly” with “She nibbled the biscuit.”
Of course, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use adverbs. Adverbs can be useful when they’re not obvious or contradict the verb they’re attached to. When you write “She smiled happily,” the adverb “happily” doesn’t do any work because we associate smiling with happiness. On the other hand, when you write “She smiled sadly,” the adverb “sadly” is useful because it helps convey the nuance of the smile.
Mistake #4: Clichés
You should avoid using clichéd phrases, because they’re weaker and less effective than original phrases.
It’s natural to use cliches when you’re drafting a book. Your early drafts might be full of phrases like “happy as a clam,” “light as a feather,” or “dumb as a doorknob.”
But everyone has read these phrases so many times that they’ve lost their impact. Instead of using clichés, reel your readers in with unique descriptions and similes.
If you’re writing a sci-fi novel with flying dirigibles, you might replace “light as a feather” with “light as an untethered zeppelin.” Or, if you’re writing a business management guide, you might replace “happy as a clam” with “happy as a newly elected CEO.”
Switch out clichés with original phrases to give your writing a personal touch.
Mistake #5: Overusing the same sentence construction
Avoid repetitive sentence constructions to keep your work from being boring.
Subject/verb constructions are particularly overused. If you’re describing someone doing something, you might find entire paragraphs that sound something like this: “He stood up. He grabbed his keys. He walked to the door.”
Change it up a little! The more you vary your sentences, the more professional your writing will sound. Try stringing some sentences together, like: “After grabbing his keys, he walked to the door.” Alternatively, try sprinkling some setting descriptions in there, like: “His keys hung from a chain by the door.”
Mistake #6: Using passive voice
Eliminate the passive voice to make your language more active and effective.
To target passive voice, start by looking for “to be” words (such as “was,” “were,” and “am”) and words that end in “-ing” (such as “singing” and “dancing”), and find ways to rewrite them. Usually, any person in the sentence should be its subject.
For example, if you have the sentence “The house was being painted yesterday,” you can rephrase it as “He painted the house yesterday.” The active version feels stronger and more compelling than the passive one. A smart grammar checker like ProWritingAid can help you change your sentences from passive to active.
Mistake #7: Unnecessary words
Trim excess words to make your descriptions shine and your prose tighter.
Start by deleting words like “really,” “actually,” “basically,” “somehow,” and “just.” They take up space without adding anything to your writing.
You can also delete words that are obvious or redundant. For example, you can replace “small in size” with “small,” “basic fundamentals” with “fundamentals,” and “prior history” with “history.”
Finally, delete filtering phrases like “she saw” or “he realized.” For example, if you’ve written “She saw the cat run away,” you can replace it with “The cat ran away” to make the sentence more compelling. Your goal is to make your readers forget they’re reading and immerse themselves in the story.
There you have it — seven writing mistakes to eliminate from your work. With these mistakes out of the way, you can publish a fantastic book that will keep your readers turning the page!
I have Pro Writing Aid software and have used it for 3 years. I love it and the people behind it, but it is a tad misleading to suggest the software eliminates passive voice. In reality, it merely minimizes it. You can have many instances of passive voice in a document and it will pass fine as long as it is not excessive.
I agree with Rosanne Dingli. Some people speak in ‘sorry sentences, remarkable repentance’s.’. A character in a book can be defined by how they speak or how the writer endows them to speak. I’m sorry, I put some words in parenthesis. I know it’s now incorrect. Forgive me.
Advice givers would do well to refresh themselves on how the passive voice is formed. One good source is The Chicago Manual of Style sections titled “Active and passive voice” and “Progressive conjugation and voice.” (5.112 and 5.113 in my 2003 edition). The use of forms of the verb “to be” gives only a crude indication, and sometimes it is symptomatic of different problems. I run into this issue sort of frequently in critique groups and advice columns.
On a different note, I go with the prior commentators who say that Ms. Yang has given us good rules of thumb, not to be lightly ignored, and that all these rules can be set aside when done skillfully for good purpose. Some other commentators have recommended exchanging one dogma for another.
Thank you. Great suggestions. Something that bothers me as a reader and a writer is when writers tell a parable-style story that ends with statements that tell the reader what they were supposed to learn from the story instead of letting the story tell itself.
“As so and so did such and such, he or she did this or that.” This is a sentence construction that makes me quit reading a book after the first two pages. Once in awhile, I can overlook it, but not as a consistent pattern. “As Maria looked dipped her teabag in the hot, steaming water, she looked out the window at the wintry landscape.”
These are simply rules of thumb, and as such, they are valid. But the skilled writer knows they are simply guidelines that work in general. In specific, knowing when to ignore them is key. Writing is like any other discipline – it’s important to master the basics and just as important to know when to stride beyond them. There should be identifiable purpose whenever that step is taken.
I shall hold myself from uttering ‘Utter bosh’. [See what I did there?]
As a creative writing teacher and lecturer since the mid-1900s, workshop coordinator, and author of more than 20 books, I can agree with those who have gone before me to cry, ‘Debunked!’.
We are no longer – thank goodness – living during the age when journalists-turned-novelists such as Hemingway changed the way people regarded words. The literary world, might I announce, has changed back, and creative writing is once more creative. We no longer have to listen to ‘teachers’ who denounce adverbs and the passive voice.
In the days when creative writing teachers had little else to go on than the conventions of journalism, it was forgivable. Today, it is risible to write such breathtakingly [adverb] stupid columns and short-sighted for emerging writers to heed this redundant advice.
I enjoyed your brazen (ahem) response. Your voice paints a strong visual image – tallish, straight back, glasses, chin out, moving, gesturing, strong feedback. Definitive!!! Website address please?
Solid reasoning and positive suggestions. Including criticism reinforces the article.
This silly list of “mistakes” is firmly rooted in Hemminwayesque modernism. Hey, guess what? We’re well into Postmodernism. Less is a bore. One of the elements of postmodern literary fiction is maximalism. Postmodernism welcomes adjectives, adverbs, lush descriptions, vivid and exuberant prose, ornamentation.
Prof. Roukez is utterly, absolutely, marvellously right on.
Good news: the title successfully lured me to reading the interesting article.
Bad news: it drew a quasi visceral reaction and disappointment. Valid arguments can be made to support each of the seven “mistakes” based on many factors, such as purpose, audience, etc.
There are many professional writers, educators, and entertainers who are very successful because of their mastery of literary images. In other words, describing a scene or concept through long flowery sentences, clichés, passive voice, and consistent construction, etc.
Suggestion: Perhaps it may be better to simply change the title to read: “Seven Writing Ideas to Consider.” And change “Mistake #” to Suggestion #”.
Let writers write in their own unique way. People of experience and wisdom understand there are really no amateurs. But some readers and editors who think they know the difference between good and poor writing, at least through their own lenses and biases.
Both seasoned and newbie writers express their thoughts and ideas in different ways. And readers will interpret the same words in different ways.
It will not be good if everyone had to follow the same conventions. Imagine a world without clichés, how does one reading it for the very first time in their life recognize it as a cliche, and same goes for the other “mistakes.”
Agreed. According to these rules, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Winston Churchill are “amateurs.”
Words are tools. The key is knowing when to use a spade, a shovel, or a back-hoe. There are times when using each of these “mistakes” is spot on.
You are right. I think most beginners should adhere to this advice. As they say: You have to know the rules in order to break them.
In my never-humble opinion, sound advice. (I write MM novels, mostly fantasy and my own version of Regency England). However, a quibble. You suggest replacing “She saw the cat run away” with “The cat ran away.” But what if the reader needs to know that “she” observed the departure of the cat? Just a thought.
When you write a story you do it from a point of view. If your character Jane was there, she saw the cat–who else? No one else is there. If she didn’t see it why would you mention it?