Back when I first started these writing tips, I did a post on five mistakes new writers make. I meant to add more posts on other common mistakes, but I never got around to it. So, this week, I want to point out five more mistakes I often seen when critiquing other writers’ works. These are all simple things to fix, but often they happen subconsciously while we write so we need an editing pass to fix them. After some practice, you might be able to even correct them as your write.
1. Visual Descriptions
New writers tend to focus on only one sensory detail when they write descriptions: visuals. Writers need to learn to write using all five senses, but that isn’t what this point is about. Instead, I want to discuss how to vary the types of visuals you put in your story. When I first started writing, everything was described by color. My critique group started calling me out on it, and I had to find new ways to describe visuals without color. You may not be focused on color like me, but check your writing to see if you default to certain types of visual descriptions.
There are many visual cues you can put in your story so you don’t have everything described by the same detail. Color, shape, texture, material, etc. You can also describe visuals with imagery. For instance, “He wore his suit like he had just come from a fight, loose and wrinkled.” You can picture the man’s outfit. Each person may see the details a little differently, but everyone will get the same general idea.
2. Facial Expressions
Another description tendency that writers tend to have issues with is facial expressions. Depending on who you are describing, you have to make your descriptions different. If you are describing your POV character’s facial expressions, you have to describe them via actions. However, if you are describing a character your POV narrator can see, you use visuals. For instance, a POV character will “raise her eyebrows” while a character she can see will have “arched eyebrows.”
The way to make sure you have the descriptions right is to ask whose expression it is and then how the POV character would perceive it. If it’s the POV character, the facial expression needs to be an action because they perceive it by what they do. If it’s another character, the description needs to be visual as it’s what the POV character sees. Remember, everything has to be filtered through your POV narrator.
3. Bland Words
Writing is all about making concise sentences that portray meaning and evoke emotion. Often we pick words that are vague or bland when we write our first drafts. Words such as: look, walk, small, etc. When it’s time to edit, we have to replace generic words with more evocative ones. Instead of look, tell us how he looked at her. Did he leer, scrutinize, or gawk at her? A small room could be described as cramped, narrow, or modest.
Finding these words to replace can be harder than fixing the other issues listed above. When you’re starting out, the best way is to go through each paragraph and look for vague words. Once you gain experience, you’ll start finding a pattern of your default words. You can start making a list of words to put in the Find function to locate them easier in future manuscripts. It’s hard work, but powerful prose is worth it.
4. Unnecessary Word Pairs
Often in speech, we have phrases we say that no one questions. However, in writing, some of these phrase are repetitive and can be shortened to make a concise sentence. I’ve found several redundant word pairs come naturally to native speakers but aren’t needed to convey meaning. For example: sit down, stood up, past memories, unexpected surprise, future plans, personal opinion, added bonus, etc. You don’t need the italicized word in each of these pairs to convey your meaning.
There is no short cut to spotting these pairs. You’ll just have to train yourself to catch the word pairs either while you’re writing or editing. The more you write, the more your mind will filter out the unnecessary to create clean prose. For the first several manuscripts though, you’ll have to really focus and make your mind see the redundancy.
5. Eyes/Gaze
The last mistake I want to point out is very specific, but I’ve seen enough writers do it that I wanted to point it out. Often, new writers use eyes when what they mean is gaze. I still find myself doing it at times. For example, “He lowered his eyes to the floor” should be “He lowered his gaze to the floor.” When referring to looking, you should use gaze. When referring to the actual eyeballs, you use eyes. So, she can roll her eyes, but she will meet your gaze. Some common phrases are exceptions like “to catch someone’s eye,” but overall this is the rule.
I search for the word eyes when I’m editing my manuscript and examine each result. As I’ve grown more conscious of the rule, I’ve found less mistakes. However, I still find some that sneak through and need to be corrected.
Final Thoughts
These are just five small tips to make your writing look more professional and read clearer. Most don’t take a lot of time to fix after your first draft, and over time you’ll train your mind to correct these mistakes before you even write them. It’s still a good practice to double check for them in your completed manuscript, but hopefully they won’t be a time-consuming fix.
Thanks for reading!
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