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The Top Ten Mistakes
New Fiction Authors Make
By Sally Zigmond
Are you wondering why your short
stories keep coming back with polite rejection letters? It could
be that one of these ten "fatal errors" is standing
between you and publication!
Lack
of Editing
The best writers
re-write and re-write. New writers tend to think that editing
merely means a brief read through for typos and spelling errors.
That's the very last thing to do. The first draft of a short story
is like a lump of wood. Removing unnecessary waffle, sharpening
up images and choosing the exact word will reveal the beauty of
the grain.
Dull
Writing
Too many new
writers don't give their imagination full rein. They seem afraid
look beyond and beneath the surface. Their characters are dull
and lead dull lives. Above all, fiction must intrigue and entertain.
Avoid stereotyped characters and situations. Why can't a rich
business man be kind and compassionate? Why are unemployed men
always lazy and sit around in their vests swigging out of cans?
Why can't one or two learn Latin or take up line-dancing?
Too
Much Irrelevant Detail
In short fiction
especially, include information only if it furthers the
plot, aids characterization and provides a sense of place and
time. Too much background information makes a story all tell and
no show. Don't go into detail about characters if they have no
significant part to play in the fiction. Never give bit part players
a name. If all a postman has to do is deliver the all-important
letter, don't say he's Stan, the postman whose wife nags him and
has a bad back after falling off his bike in 1976. His function
is just to be a postman. Don't lead up to an event. Jump in straight
away. Drip-feed vital information subtly.
Don't drop in heavy indigestible chunks of history or description.
Make it a central part of the current action.
No
Attention to Language
Too many writers
are so busy "telling a story" that they fail to choose
their words carefully enough. All writers should try to increase
their vocabulary; not by using fancy words just for the sake of
it -- writing should always be clear -- but by using intriguing
language in new ways. Wind doesn't only blow. It can rip, roar,
strangle, whip. Be imaginative. It's not only what you say but the way you say
it.
Absence
of Imagery and Reliance on Clichés
Too much fiction
is flat because it lacks vibrant images. Clichés are similes and
metaphors that have been so overworked they cease to mean anything
and sound limp and stale, like as cold as ice, as black as coal.
Don't say, "she sighed with relief";
think of another way someone might show relief. Match your imagery
to the story and character. If your main character is always rushing
about, use imagery relating to speed. Send him to the greyhound
track to act out his scenes or place him by a railway line where
express trains thunder past. If your character is depressed then
send her into tunnels, underpasses, cellars and basements. Reinforce
the prevailing mood, but avoid the obvious. Don't draw the reader's
attention to what you're doing. Just do it.
No
Sense of Place
People are not
only the result of their genes, but are shaped by their environment.
Show the readers where your characters live and work. If it's
the sprawling suburbs, then show us. What does a suburban avenue,
sound and smell like? How does the light shine on it? Show us
its life -- a man delivering charity bags from door to door, wheelie
bins standing by gates. If someone lives in a filthy hovel behind
the gasworks, let's see, hear and touch it. Too many writers let
their characters float around in a vacuum. Don't forget to engage
all the senses. Most writers describe how things look, but how
does fear taste? How does anger smell? What does beauty sound
like? Be adventurous.
No
Shape or Structure
All
fiction, but especially the short story, works best when it concentrates
on one person in one situation that takes place in a reasonably
short space of time. A short story expresses a moment of
change and charts the journey through this change and shows what
happens at the far end. Begin the story as close as possible to
the moment of change. Don't waffle on once the change and its
aftermath has happened. Don't allow yourself to be sidetracked.
Learn how to pace a story, when to give and when to withhold information,
when and how to create tension, speed things up, slow things down.
This is done by carefully choosing words, not only for the sound
they make but the length of syllables etc. Writing is a craft
as much as an art. If a writer needs to introduce flashback, it
should be carefully sign-posted in and out, to avoid confusion.
Shifts in viewpoint should also be carefully introduced.
Poor
Dialogue Skills
Dialogue in fiction
isn't real but it must sound real. Keep it sharp. Don't allow
your characters to make long confessional speeches or engage in
too much cozy chit-chat. Use it to provide essential information
and above all to show character.
Lack
of Technical Knowledge
All writers should
learn or brush up their grammar by learning why things are so.
The most common mistakes, such as confusion of "it's"
and "its," "your" and "you're" mark
you as a beginner. Learn the reasons behind the rules and you
can't possibly get it wrong. Only when you know the rules inside
out can you be brave enough to break them. The best way to learn
how to do it is to read as much published fiction as you can.
If you read plenty by a variety of authors you cannot possibly
"pick up" their style. It will, on the contrary, help
develop your own.
My
Top Tip
When you think
your story is the best you can make it, put it aside and leave
it for as long as possible -- minimum one week. Then read it out
aloud. Your errors will leap up at you like snarling dogs! Now
rewrite it.
This Article was found at:
http://www.articleblast.com/
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