8 novel writer mistakes and how to avoid them

In today's article we will see something that everyone who has ever written a novel is familiar to us, the first time. As it sounds, the moment where more mistakes are made, not because you're bad, because it's just the first time you write and you're not born taught, so today we will try to avoid those mistakes.

1- Emotion does not start

Something habitual when you start to write is that it costs you to give it emotion, you recreate in which he gets up, he makes breakfast, he goes to work... That does not interest anyone. We must give the reader something to stop him from reading.

For me, it's the time when we need more time to invest, if the start is not good, the rest will never be known because nobody will reach that part. Of course, it's not enough with an interesting first paragraph and then nothing, the second paragraph should give the reader expectations to continue.

Then you can lower the pace because you will have it hooked, but while you must be relentless with him. Readers are not conformists and just have to go to a bookstore or the library to find thousands of proposals that interest them. Make your story the one they want to read.

2- There is no chance

Maybe in your day to day there are many coincidences, but when it comes to a novel,  we cannot let that happen, our readers are not as gullible as you think.

Therefore, you are in charge of getting the reader to believe in all that extraordinary universe you are creating.

If there are coincidences, things of chance or whatever, must be justified, do not make him think it's natural for no reason. He will never believe it.

Therefore, if you are able to give life to that universe and you get the immersion of the reader in it, you will be able to create literary magic, as long as he reads he will feel that all that is described is real.

3 - Do not abuse of the details

This error, even if it sounds familiar is not the same as the number 1, in this case refers to that once you have it living adventures, if you count too many things and cause the story to slow down, you'll end up getting bored, every step will become tedious and story will not advance.

If you've taken him to your world and then let him go, you will get worse than not hooking it at first and we can never afford it, we are to make enjoy not to defraud.

4- Do not give too many lessons

It's great that you have things to tell and feel free to do so, although if you get excited giving speeches about life or whatever it is that you think others should follow, you will not get anything.

Because if you try to educate the reader with your sermons, what you will get will be that it closes in band and it will go away, he will have discovered the card that you conceal under your sleeve and lose all sense.

5- good and evil

It is usually a recurring theme and is not the first time we talk about it, already in How to write a different book we comment on this point.

It is almost as vital to be fluid as to represent that naturalness as the story itself. With this balance we can represent the symbology in the way we want to express it.

Do not fall into the temptation to give a single defect to the hero and a single virtue to the villain, they must have pros and cons. In addition, getting that realism even our readers will be able to doubt who is the good and the bad, we will create conflicts in them unexpected.

6- Make you the writer

I do not know what you're thinking, but take it out of your head, it will not work if you write as you should and not as you want. In other situations you may be able to put on a mask, but here you should not fear.

Each book will get you undress a little more and that is not bad, do not be ashamed of these things, because only then will you get to where you want.

Do not write nice, write well. How? That same, that you must transmit what you want to transmit in each moment, it is not necessary to decorate it too much, it must be understood.

Choose carefully every adventure, sounding good is not at odds with creating a great work.

7- Beware of the point of view

This is an error too common, not only in first-time writers, even great authors happens to them, you can also find books with such errors on the street. How will not happen to you?

You have to be very careful, the view in each paragraph counts, if you speak from within a character, you can not leave without a coherent premise and enter into the other.

Okay, we could use an omniscient narrator and in this case he would know what each one thinks at each moment, but that does not favor the reader because it needs to feel identified and have a reference.

If you are going to change your eyes, you must put the reader on notice, that he knows he must change the chip. If we have more than one main character we must change in each scene the view, as long as the narrator warns.

8- What must the writer tell?

It is usually detected as a block, there comes a time when the writer does not know whether to explain some real experiences, doubt whether the reader will believe what has happened to the writer or if it is only part of the story.

On the other hand, we have that habitual fear about what they will say about me, After each sentence and prevent the development of the story naturally. It is a serious problem, if we consider it we will never write anything.

This case, when it is more habitual is in the scenes of sex. Normally the author does not dare express it naturally, when it is a common act, we all have sex in our lives, therefore it is not something that only happens to you. Explain it however you want, but do not curb. Also, the reader does not want you skimping on details at that time.

I will even say more, in these conflictive scenes, the euphemism usually appears. Why penis or vagina when it is a wild sex scene in which the characters have dirty language? If it's a dick it's a dick.

The same as if two characters fight and one is of another race, you're not going to say "boy of another color", you'll call it black or yellow because you're fighting and in that hot moment you will not think if you offend him.

These are some of the usual mistakes, now not to commit them ... or yes, it does not matter, the important thing is to write with the soul and the heart. Let nobody prevent you from succeeding.


What do you think of these tips? Do you think that you have committed any of them? Would you add anything else? Do not stop sharing your comments and we can all learn something new.