What mistakes do you betray as a rookie?

In today's article we will talk about those little details that give us as newbies, not that it is something bad, simply that we were not born taught.

As with any activity you start, It is normal that when writing, you make elementary failures and with time, like all other activities, you will learn and correct them.

1-      Excess of adverbs finished in -ly

It is very simple to abuse them, there are too many and it is very comfortable, but do you know what else it is? UGLY. It is very badly considered because they betray two things about us as writers. We have little practice in the domain of language and its norms and we are not careful when reviewing the text.

It does not mean that adverbs are ugly, if not, repeat constantly the typical "obviously, constantly, really, simply ..."

Check if it happens to you too, if you see that there are several in each paragraph or that few paragraphs, sure you can substitute an obviously for something like the obvious way.

While you are with your draft, use as many as you want. In the end they help to continue the story because it is the most agile, but when you are with corrections, try to change as many as you can.

2- Vary the time of the narration

I've been through a lot and I sure do more than one too. Suddenly the inspiration comes, you start to write, everything flows, it seems to have a great sense and you end up exhausted, but happy for the great advance achieved.

Later you stop to read what you have written and... Surprise! There are different tenses, passes from the past to the future, from the present to the past or your characters go from one place to another changing their conversations without realizing it.

No need to worry, is something very habitual, the important thing is to know how to correct it when you are reviewing the text.

On the other hand, it is also common to change the person of the narrator, you can start in third person "He went to the forest" and finish in first person "I cut a tree". When these occur, the alarms sound, because everyone knows that it is a clear indication that we are in front of a young writer or not so young, but it does begin its route.

3- Obvious cause-effect

It is often difficult to detect, because it usually happens when suddenly someone solves a problem miraculously, without giving much sense to what happened. If there is an effect, we need a cause.

You can make your characters act on impulse, but be sure to make it clear that the characters behave like this for a reason that makes them so.

As we always say, nothing can happen by chance, we need a reason.

If you pay attention to these details, surely your texts will improve. Besides demonstrating that sign of professionalism, of knowing the basic rules of the trade, of not being a rookie in narrative matters.

It all happens to us, so we must continue learning to avoid them and only then will we improve.


What do you think? Do you make mistakes or have you corrected them already? Do you know other common errors? Do not hesitate to comment so we can all improve.