The Top 5 Mistakes Amateur Writers Make

The comment section of this video seems more well written than most.

The biggest mistake a lot of aspiring writers make, and I've met a lot of them, is spending all their time reading or watching "how to" when they should be sitting down and writing. It doesn't matter what you know or believe about writing if it stays in your head. The second biggest mistake is continually rewriting or editing what they've already written so they never complete anything. The best piece of advice I ever had, and it has seen me through four books over the past 3 years, is finish your novel before you start making any changes. Second to that was "don't write what you know, write what excites you". Finally, considering how poor royalties are nowadays, and how small advances are if you can even get one, I believe self-publishing is the way forward. I've had people from as far away as China (I live in the UK) chasing me up for the next novel in my series. I am selling to, and entertaining, people I don;t even know, so I must be doing something right.

Writers read. A lot. If you aren't well read, you're probably not dedicated to writing, either. The best way to learn to write well is to study the craft by those who forged the road before you. And then write every day. Writers read...and they write. There's no short cut. Read a lot. Write every day.

To find your natural voice in writing, 1. Pretend you are trying to explain your subject matter to one of  your good friends. This sounds much more natural, and that is what your voice is.  2. Read what you've written out loud (to yourself). Doing this always helps me to find errors and make edits. Try it, you'll be surprised.  3. Try speaking into a tape recorder then listen to what you've said. This will help you to omit over-explanations and keep your message  clear.  4. Probably one of the best things you could do to improve your writing is to make every word earn it's place on your finished page. Don't be afraid to cut, in fact cut a lot. You should not be using too many adverbs so cut those away first. Many young writers get way to wordy. No one wants to read a lot of fancy worded gibberish, in fact I bet you don't like reading it either. Cut, cut, cut. Then when you're done, read it again and cut cut cut.  5. Probably one of the best things that you could ever do to improve your writing is to be honest, and believe it or not, many people struggle with this one. Be Honest in your writing. It will show through and your manuscript will sound much cleaner and much more crisp. If you are not completely honest, that will show through too.  Write to express, not impress. Don't use words you're not comfortable using, especially words you wouldn't use in a normal conversation. 6. LASTLY, the very BEST THING you can do is Write. Write, write, write. Stay at it, don't be discouraged. Join an online writing group and you'll see great improvements. Also if you ever want to publish, you need to Read. Read, read, read. Likewise, if you're going to submit to a certain magazine you should look online and read at least 20 back issues, (articles only of course in your genre). Doing this will help your chances greatly because you will learn exactly what the magazine publishes. Naturally, doing this let's you know if your manuscript is even right for that magazine. It may sound like a lot of work, but consider just sending manuscripts out willy-nilly. Now wait for six months, get a rejection slip, and feel bad about it. It's simple, your manuscript must be what the magazine is looking for. That's how easy (or hard) it can all be!  It doesn't matter if what you've wrote is  the very best article that's ever been written. In fact, your article can save many lives, end world hunger, create peace among nations-- but it will never be seen if you send it to a Sports Illustrated. And if you write a captivating piece about Birds in Flight and Flowers in Bloom, it won't get published if you send it to an Automotive related magazine. Writing what the magazine wants is easy when you know what it is that they published. I know this sounds obvious, and in some ways it is. However, I bet you haven't done it!!!   If you want to get into a vault it helps a lot if you know the combination. Locked doors open easily if you have the right keys. And stories get published if you know what their editors are looking for. I hope this helps. Best to all writers. 

"Not Enough Voice"! That's it. That's what has been vexing me with my writing. I just couldn't quite put my finger on it. Your description of "through a camera lens" was perfectly stated for me. I need to dig in deeper into my character's feelings and share them more. My writing has been too journalistic.

This is a good list of common mistakes, along with some excellent advice on how to avoid them. Thanks, Ellen. I'll share my biggest mistake, it's one I still fall prey to, several years into my writing. It's a terrible mistake to give in to writers block, or to stop when you are struggling with a scene. DO NOT STOP WRITING! Push through, no mater how uninspired you feel, no mater how bad you think you're doing (which usually isn't as bad as you think). If you are absolutely stuck, set the story aside, but write something else. Don't get into the habit of giving in when it gets tough, because it will ALWAYS get tough. Keep that forward momentum going; nothing kills a story faster than stopping.

6. They use themself as the protagonist 7. They write needlessly complicated because: Look how intelligent iam 8. Infodump

hey Ellen, the previous comment segues nicely into the suggestion I am making. I have noticed that your views often contradict the work of classic writers. From watching your videos as well as the feedback you gave me, on my short story, I assume the standards in the publishing world are very different today, than they were centuries, or even decades ago. I suggest you do a video in which you discuss this topic. Perhaps you could choose a classic novel, and then give examples of how you would edit it by modern publishing standards.

This is amazing! I'm only 13 years old and was inspired to write a novel. That's I'll be starting to publish a book on WATTPAD!

The Top 5 Mistakes Amateur Writers Makes - with links and advice on how to fix them!

On mistake number 2: she was being kind in explaining, but in other words, don't write pretentiously! We all must be careful of this if writing in a certain "mood."

I LOVE that you keep all your videos short and to the point!!!! They are so much easier to watch than other videos I've seen and I get a lot more useful info. Nice job!

I think learning the basics is essential, whether we choose to incorporate or follow them. However, someone with too much voice to others may be Heaven sent to some. For proof let us look at all of the great classics written in the 18th and 19th century, many feel a lack of connection, others do. I think people should write for themselves and create their own writing style. If that happens to be the opposite of these top 5 mistakes and the basics of literature, I say so be it. Don't let anyone discourage you or make you belittle your writing abilities. I think these tips are great for maybe the modern day world. Just like singers who dared to be themselves, they had to change for success. However you shouldn't abandon what you've formed. Writing is Art, there are no limits.

Well done, and very correct. As an author who's matured a bit more from my first horrendous attempts, I nodded with everything you said. And I still have to deliberately watch myself to avoid falling back into those errors.

"the problem is that the narrative distance is too far"....this blew my mind. Realised that when I visualised the story from a camera angle, I wasn't getting into the characters head. Very good tip!

OH MY GOD. This is sooooooo accurate and aptly explained. So glad I found your videos as well as your blog. Thank you very much for your insight!

I appreciate the video but it occurred to me very early in the video that a person has to know a fair amount about writing to understand what you are talking about. I am reminded of a how-to golf video I watched recently where the professional golfer was demonstrating technique that could not be done by a golfer who did not have significant know-how already.

That was really solid advice. I honestly wasn't expecting to like the video—after flicking through YouTube a lot recently, watching a lot of bad videos—but this one was really interesting. Thanks.

As someone who is just starting writing seriously, THANK YOU. I will be following your blog too. I appreciate the advice.

These videos are invaluable, thank you so much for sharing! It can be hard to keep everything in mind when you're writing and editing, but these videos are a great help when it comes to staying on track!