3 Worst Novel Writing Mistakes and How to Fix Them

All writers make mistakes.

There’s not a single person alive or has been alive on this planet who can sit down and write a novel and have it be perfect from the first draft. Even the great authors you idolize made mistakes when they were first starting out and there's nothing wrong with that.

The best thing you can learn from mistakes is how to fix them and how to prevent them from happening.

Having taken part and lead many creative writing workshops I always came across the same mistakes with new writers crafting their novel for the first time or inexperienced writers who hadn’t been taught any better.

Listed below are three of the most common mistakes new writers make when starting out with their novels.

You’re telling me something, you’re not showing me.

“Agatha felt depressed as she sat on the bed.”

This is the most common mistake amongst newbie writers and seasoned authors alike. It’s much easier to just cut to the chase and tell the reader what you want them to pick up from the scene instead of having them feel it themselves.

Never tell your reader something when you can show it through action. What actions would your character be taking if they were depressed? What would the room look like?

“Her clothes were strewn around the room in piles of unwashed days across the floor. Agatha sat in the center of the bed, glancing at herself in the dresser mirror. Her cheeks were sunken in and her eyes carried the baggage of mountain trolls beneath heavy lids. Her shoulders sagged under the weight of her thoughts. Her attempts at nursing her body lay mounded in the nearby trash waiting for her to find the strength.”

The old phrase action speaks louder than words somewhat applies here. Use your words to show the action.

Avoid phrases that tell the reader what emotion your character is feeling.

Anger should be violent, fist-clenching, glass shattering. Fear should be legs shaking and sweat dripping. Pretend your story is a movie scene, what is the actor supposed to be doing to portray the emotions they’re supposed to feel? What actions have you done when feeling that same emotion?

There’s no fish on the hook.

When you’re deciding to buy a book in the store if you’re anything like me, the first thing that will catch your eye will be the front cover followed soon by the back cover. If I’m intrigued enough and I’m sure the book is placed within the right genre I’m interested in, I flip to the first page and read that very first line.

I’m sad to say it, but that first line is the make it or break it moment for me and many other readers.

If the protagonist of the story is waking up from some sort of dream… no. Likewise, if the alarm clock just woke them up.

If all I get is half a paragraph of setting and scenery…no.

If the first line is dialogue… unless the protagonist has something extremely interesting to say or is being told something that grabs me and holds me there to know what the response is going to be... it’s a big no from me. I don’t know who is speaking or why I care about them or who they’re speaking to.

To fix this simply reread through your first few pages and try to find the spot where the action of the story really starts.

Here are a few of my favorite first lines that catch me every time.

“It was a pleasure to burn.” Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” 1984 by George Orwell

“This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.” The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Each one of these examples has something about them that makes the reader need to know more. What was burning and why was it pleasurable? What type of clock strikes thirteen? How can a book be a favorite if it’s never been read?

Your first line should leave your reader with a question they need to find an answer to. This will keep their eyes moving past the first line, down the page, and keep them reading until they find the answer.

Research? Nope, won’t find it here.

My sister is one of the biggest history lovers I know. Her college major was teaching, but she specialized in European History with a focus on King Henry the 8th.

There is nothing that can equally give such pleasure or pain as picking up a historical fiction novel about her favorite King and they get things wrong.

“They messed up which wife he beheaded!”

“Anne Boleyn would never have a flushable toilet!”

It’s a silly notion to think that someone picks up a fiction book and expects it to be historically accurate, but there’s nothing that will take an invested reader out of your story faster than something that they know wouldn’t make sense.

I know this mistake first hand with my currently untitled novel set in an old British castle. As soon as my beta reader got no more than five pages into the story she sent me a strongly worded text about how my architecture and furnishing were wrong for the time period my story was set in. She would read no further until I corrected my mistakes.

The phrase for this section is: write what you know, and if you don’t know it… research it!

Although mistakes are easy to make they are almost always easy to fix with a little time and a lot of practice. Nobody is perfect on the first try or publishers and editors would be out of a job.

If you find it easier to write now and fix your problems later all of these can be fixed in the editing stage of your novel, but please do so before sending it out to beta readers or editors.

No matter what, just keep writing.

Best,

B.K