Some of these are outright awful and some of this advice is bad for me and my writing process. And of course, what didn’t work for me might work for you, and you might deem some of the poor advice listed here as perfectly useful. Whatever the case, I hope you enjoy it.
1: Don’t use exclamation marks because it makes your writing look “amateur”.
This awful little nugget of advice is something I stumbled upon on YouTube and everyone in the comments was confused. I believe this was given in stylistic advice, but it was utterly baffling. In general, I’ve seen people advise to not use exclamation points because it seems juvenile (generally it’s used a lot in middle-grade and young adult fiction) and that they think that there are better ways of conveying excitement within the prose.
Exclamation points enhance what’s already there; the writing itself needs to clearly convey emotion—whether through word choice or other forms of punctuation. Do what you please when it comes to punctuating your prose.
2: Outline all your scenes before writing them
This is a bad piece of advice for me specifically. Before I write a story I have no idea what themes, story elements, or ya know, plot, I want to explore, and while I can pull things out of thin air, it doesn’t always translate well to a strong story.
When I tried this method, I ended up creating a lot of scenes that were hollow and devoid of life. Part of the reason I felt this way was because it felt disingenuous to me. Generally, I come up with my best ideas as I write, but in editing, I need to make it cohesive and allow it to flow. I have to take all of my word-vomit ideas and put them into order—and you wouldn’t believe this—that forms what experts call a ‘plot’. I know, I know, I’m breaking new ground here. But doing all of that “prep” work before writing doesn’t bode well for personal engagement in what I write. However, I’m certain that this advice has helped tons of writers, and more power to you if you’re one of them.
3: You have to write (or master) short fiction before you can write novels
The idea behind this advice is to help wean new writers into longer-form content, and I can grasp the sentiment that one might need to build stamina before diving into a massive project.
Here’s the thing: you learn to write novels by writing novels. You form the discipline and learn the craft by doing it. Training yourself to write short fiction in preparation for writing long fiction is going to make you write novels that feel like short stories. Short fiction and novels have different structures, guides for pacing, character development, focus, and so much more because they’re differing forms of art.
Write short fiction if you want to! I enjoy it because it breaks up the monotony of a novel. I started writing novels long before I started experimenting with writing shorter fiction (I wrote my first book at fifteen, and I really started dabbling in short stories at sixteen), and that led to me writing short stories that are 13k words long.
Altering this advice but maintaining its heart, I would say: break down your novel into smaller chunks—whether that be acts, chapters, or even scenes, and work out from there. In editing, you can make it connect and flow.
4: In order for it to be a satisfying story, your protagonist must have a positive arc
This is true for more traditional forms of storytelling, but so long as the character changes, or at the very least is challenged in a substantial way, your story is well on its way to being satisfying—just make sure to nail your ending.
5: Don’t use common tropes
This is a lot newer, and I completely understand where it’s coming from. Everyone loves to harp on the quaint farm boy who’s actually the long-lost Whatever for Wherever and has mystical powers beyond belief—that’s about as fresh as a pair of sweaty socks. Because of that, people want to see it look different somehow, go against the grain, or avoid it altogether.
Common tropes are common for a reason. Don’t feel like you need to avoid them because they’re everywhere, instead, focus on your characters and making them interesting. I don’t hate the farm boy archetype (hell, I am the farm boy archetype), but make that powerful yet naive kid have depth and contradictions (easier said than done, I know). Or highlight the unique aspects of your world. Have a different story structure but follow the ideas of the chosen one trope.
I’m all for innovation and subversion within writing, but I do have an issue with writers feeling like something is “off-limits” because it’s “overdone”.
6: Only write what you know
I have a whole article detailing my experience with “write in your lane”, and in short, it made me (temporarily) quit a project I adore. In modern times, this advice is given in the hopes of avoiding ill-informed writers talking about something that steps on the toes, or offends, marginalized voices. Absolutely, room (in terms of awareness and traditional publishing quotas) needs to be made for marginalized writers to publish books about issues that affect them and people like them. Yet, there isn’t a finite amount of space for books/stories to exist. This topic needs an in-depth post unto itself.
The advice I’m against here is that writers should only create characters or worlds based on their own experiences only for the sake of others. In writing outside of my experience, I’ve grown and learned so much—and I still have a ways to go. I’ve grown in my writing, yes, but I’ve grown as a person and in my knowledge of the world.
Writing what you don’t know, and doing it well, forces you to improve in the same way that getting off the couch and exercising can help you build muscle.
7: You must include diversity
I’ll make it simple: I’d rather not read a story with tokenism because the author felt that they needed to add diversity for brownie points. Representation matters, but proper representation is imperative.
8: “The only way to ___”
Generally, I have an issue with “The only way to” or “the best way to” statements. There is no one way to do something in art. There are general practices, like the three-act story structure, but you don’t have to adhere to them. Study them, understand why they work, and then make the decision of utilization.
That’s all I have for right now. Some of these are a bit pettier while others are more serious, but I’ve heard a lot of advice in my time, and not all of it is great. I’m sure there’s more advice out there that’s less than ideal, and I might make another list in the future. Is there any writing advice that you think is crud? Let me know in the comments and I’d love to chat about it.
For quite some time, in the Instagram writing community there has been a discussion about repetition within the space, or issues it has. I got into contact with Anon after he interacted with my “Is Writergram repetitive?” story (March 20). He provided a very interesting response and I wanted him to expand upon his initial response.
The interview was conducted over Instagram DMs between March 21-24, 2022. This is the uncut version, with minor edits made for grammar, readability, or formatting. No hate or disrespect will be directed to the interviewee, who wishes to remain anonymous.
A note for those unfamiliar with the term “writergram”: “Writergram” refers to a niche community on Instagram focused on writing advice, sharing information about original content, and generally fixates on genre fiction. The community primarily consists of young adults and teens.
Q: You mentioned in your original response to my question box that you find the jokes on Writergram repetitive and not relatable. Could you expand on that thought?
A: So I’m in a very different spot than most of the writers here. I haven’t been writing since childhood, only for about 3 years now. I didn’t grow up reading a lot of fiction. The odd novel here and there but mostly books on science, space and dinosaurs. All of writergrams favourite books I’ve never read. Never read [Harry Potter] or [Percy Jackson]. Hell, I had never even HEARD of [Shadow & Bone] until the community had a collective aneurysm to Netflix announcement. So I’m already not relating to most experiences on here. But I think the biggest differences between them and me is due to theatre and fandom. I was a fan of things that did have fandoms (Gravity Falls, Pokémon, Musicals) but I never got involved with fandom (probably because of the mindset of constant internet stranger danger). And I know fandom is linked with fanfiction (and general YA fiction), and that has a lot of emphasis on tropes. That’s where the trouble starts. I’ll say: it don’t get tropes. I don’t care for them. I don’t go looking for them.
I don’t have strong opinions on any of them. And it’s not made better by the fact that theatre does have tropes, they’re not consistent across all the very diverse styles. Or maybe they are, but I just don’t care for them so I don’t notice them. Maybe you can put this together yourself, but when two people have completely different experiences and opinions with stories, and don’t consume same media, or if you do it’s not in the same way, they’re gonna be feeling awkward around each other. I have felt like a bit of an outsider in the community. I remember being jealous of accounts that got a “new writer alert” surprise that got them 200 followers in on days when it took me over a year to reach 100. And when you’re passively alienated like this, Bertolt Brecht starts making a lot more sense. I started looking at these posts and I noticed repetitions in posts, reels, general styles, etc.
Here are some ones I can name off the top of my head include:
Dialogue tags
How to write X group/trope -“I kill/traumatise my characters”
“I don’t get sleep lmao”
The writing community needs to stop romanticising not sleeping”
Taylor Swift is God -Fantasy/YA romance are the only books that exist
Marvel movies are the movies to exist
“When X trope does this, I go *keyboard smash*”
Enemies to Lovers, Found Family, Morally grey characters and arson are the only tropes in existence
I’m stopping myself there because I may go into full blown rambling. But I don’t relate to any of these. And so when you see these things over again and you aren’t caught up in the emotion of “speaking the truth” per se, you get a little bit… desensitised. Oh and also not obsessively in love with characters, my own or some from a some piece of media.
Q: Are there other fundamental things that you think the writergram community needs to improve upon? Why?
A: I’m scared this part may make me sound like an asshole but I can’t put it any other way. Okay one thing nags me about the whole thing with likes going down is that I see stories like “my likes used to be 900 now they’re at 700” and I’m like “listen, I’m sorry that a solid proportion of your followers probably are no longer seeing your posts, that’s sad I’ll admit. At the same time, can’t relate. I max out at like 25 likes and like 6 of them are probably spam bots” I say this makes me sound like an asshole because I understand that just because someone has it worse than you doesn’t mean your feelings are invalid. That’s true here. And I can also say that I have felt the same thing when my likes on a post are lower than usual. And I have to knock myself into shape by telling myself “shut up. You make good content. This is not a reflection of your ability” or something [I don’t know], I forget about posting for too many days so it’s not really a big deal for me.
But it’s a definitely not a good thing, and not unique to this community. The fact is: when something meant for escapism and fun from normal human shit, making about getting approval from strangers, and making gaining that approval a labour. That’s not good, and drains the fun. I’m not saying it’s easy to get out of the social media creator mindset, but at least make an effort. If you react poorly, just figure why you did and correct yourself. The only person punish you is you. So just take a fucking chill pill and make something fun.
The fact is: when something meant for escapism and fun from normal human shit, making about getting approval from strangers, and making gaining that approval a labour.
Q: In your opinion, what do you think are some ways to break out of this rut the writing community may (or may not) be in?
A: Well to know how to stop something, you have to know why it happened. And that’s difficult in this situation. Obviously the algorithm exists and there’s not much we can do about that except gain it. Really social media accounts are just businesses that replaced money with approval. So apologies but I’m about revert to my less than a year’s worth of A-Level Business Studies to try and answer this. Profit is made when supply a demand. Simply, the demand for what the community has been putting out was at a high, and has now dropped. People want something else that the community isn’t supplying, so they’re not buying. So what has been buying? Well my evidence is based on an unreliable sample and anecdotal evidence but I’d say we’re moving in a more story-specific direction. I’ve posts about asking your [original characters]s questions and how to write certain characters flop, while posts about writing X story do very well. That’s why trope based jokes are doing well.
Back when lockdown started and went hard on us, making posts on the little imaginary people we made up to talk to and project all the things we could if only we could go outside was fun and needed. But now a lot of things have eased up, and now you can do the things you wanted. Instead of vining with situations from incorrect quotes, you now have to make something worth telling. Worth doing. Story is replacing character as the big discussion point, and we need to supply the demand.
Q: What would you like to see more of in the writing community?
A: I do want more discussion of themes and intention behind stories. I’ve never found those epic plot descriptions in trailers that are like “would you read a story about an assassin who fights the evil Queen and falls in the royal mage”. Idk I feel like that’s a mad libs challenge with the blanks filled. Just makes sure it’s YA Fantasy with a mix of passionate romance and high tragedy. But I want to know what this story is putting out into the world. I love when a story teases what its underlying themes. Example: People, Places and Things by Duncan MacMillan: “When intoxication feels like the only way to survive the modern world, how can she ever sober up?” I read that, I know I’m going to think about something, rather than just blindly feel.
Q: What would you like to see less of in the writing community?
A: I know this is the internet, and what I ask for is very unlikely to come about, but I would like to see less absolutes. More nuance. Recently, after I answered the first batch of questions, I post my explore page that was very absolute about a method on improving dialogue. And, as someone who writes a lot of dialogue, I both understand the point and also think it completely missed the mark. A solid amount of advice is “always/never do this” when a lot more of it should be “if you’re going to do this, understand this/look out for this/do this as well/etc”. No method is going to work for everyone. They all have their pros and cons. Like IRL tools, every tip is best used when you know how use them and what they do. I feel like some of that is missing (probably in myself as well).
Q: Why do you think the writing community is prone to repetition?
A: Simple. It’s the reason most things are repetitive and don’t change. It’s just comfy where we are, for both creators and consumers. As creators, we’re still getting the positive feedback in the form of likes and comments. Whenever we make a character death joke, we know people will relate to them but we mix it up just a little bit by using the one TikTok audio that’s popular [right now]. Whenever we try something more experimental, it flops. That’s our sign to never leave our comfort zone again. As consumers, when we see something we already recognise, there’s the relief of risk. “That’s the classic writing community again” we say as we get a small blip of nice brain chemicals. When we something new, it’s off-putting. “We’ve gathered here because of our shared taste sense of humour. What is this new thing? It’s not what I thought you were”. This happens in business and in friendship. Companies releasing a slightly different version of the same product everytime.
And we do it with our friends. We tell the same jokes to keep them around. And what if that friend does something completely unexpected of them? How does that change how you see them. (Yasmina Reza’s “Art” is [a] great play about exactly this).
Q: Are there ideas (within craft, tropes, characters, etc.) that you think writergram is misrepresenting?
A: I guess I’ll say that realism, as opposed to escapism, needs to be re-understood. Like, I get it. Escapism isn’t just fun, it’s a necessity. I even have a side [work in progress] about a teen’s mental health going down the drain giving up her escape in order to pursue success. But what I’m getting at is that escapism is perfect and realism is not to be touched. It’s a sentiment not explicitly stated, but it’s more subtly, likely unintentionally, implied. Everything about character and plot and tropes is to project and stuff. I’m not with that. Realism gets you thinking about yourself, the people around you, the whole world around you. And I know the world is scary, but the first step to fixing it is to think about it. Generally, I think we need a mix of realism and escapism in our lives, and I’m just getting the sense that it’s tilting a bit too far in one direction. I legitimately once saw someone ask for book recs, but added “I only read fantasy” and threw me way off?
Like, I’d never think a fantasy writer could be so unimaginative. Do you know how limiting that is? As a reader and a writer? That you could miss out on your new favourite book, or an entirely new trope to add to your book because you’re so conservative with your tastes. Honestly I could never.
Realism gets you thinking about yourself, the people around you, the whole world around you. And I know the world is scary, but the first step to fixing it is to think about it.
Q: Are there other things that you would like to talk about that I didn’t bring up so far in the interview?
A: Just know I don’t hate the writing community. I’m not here to spread drama, despite being a drama student. And even if it was, strangely I think it would have benefits. I’ve never seen the community interact with each other more with each other than when a drama shakes it. That’s with every community, but still applies. If anything, what I hope to accomplish with all this word vomit is to get people to think about the community. Think about why they’re doing what they’re doing. Think about how long they can keep it up. And think about what they could change. Because as storytellers, change is what we’re all about.
Originally posted to Instagram on July 11, 2021. Edits for clarity and grammar have been made.
What is filtering?
Filtering is when you add unnecessary words to your document explicitly telling the reader what the character sees, hears, feels, and thinks. It’s the most obvious in first person POV, but it occurs in third person POV as well.
There are specific words that indicate filtering such as: noticed, saw, heard, felt, knew, wondered, believed, decided, hoped, smelled, watched, (and many, many more).
Examples of Filtering:
I see the birds flit from one branch to the other. I feel the humid, summer air wrap around me and I think about all the summers that came before this one. I hope that Grandma will be proud of what I’m doing… who I’ve become, but I don’t think she would be.
An example of filtering in the first person
He wondered about all the sorcerers that came before him—what they wanted him to be. He felt his stomach sink and the stave slip from his fingers. He heard it clatter to the ground, saw the oak wood split, and he tried to hold back a gasp and hot tears. He knew there was no going back.
An example of filtering in the third person
Here are the examples with the filtering bolded:
I see the birds flit from one branch to the other. I feel the humid, hot air wrap around me and I think about all the summers that came before this one. I hope that Grandma will be proud of what I’m doing… who I’ve become, but I don’t think she would be.
He wondered about all the sorcerers that came before him — what they wanted him to be. He felt his stomach sink and the stave slip from his fingers. He heard it clatter to the ground, saw the oak wood split, and he tried to hold back a gasp and hot tears. He knew there was no going back.
It’s super repetitive to read, right? It’s shocking how many times it crops up in those two short examples alone. Getting into other “good writing constructs”, you don’t want too many sentences starting the same way because it bores the reader (there’s more to it than that).
Now, let’s compare it without the filtering.
Birds flit from one branch to the other. Humid, hot air wraps itself around me. This is just like all the summers before: same warm yet chilled with loneliness days that never end. Hopefully Grandma will be proud of what I’m doing… who I’ve become, but she isn’t.
He wondered about all the sorcerers that came before him — what they wanted him to be. His stomach sank and the stave slipped from his fingers. It clattered to the ground, the oak wood split, andburning tears pressed against the back of his eyes. There was no going back.
I kept some filtering in the second example. Why? Because the third person is removed from the subject inherently. Generally, when it comes to thoughts/thought processes of the POV character, you can filter or place the direct thought in italics. Don’t filter actions or sensory details (there isn’t a need for it!). However, to push myself I’m going to eliminate all the filtering from the second example.
The disappointment of his predecessor sorcerers slammed down onto his shoulders and ripped the air from his lungs. What were they thinking? What were they going to do? His stomach sank and the stave slipped from his fingers. It clattered to the ground, the oak wood split, andburning tears pressed against the back of his eyes. There was no going back.
And still, the writing improves — there’s more details and a stronger sense of immediacy. Despite this being third person, we’re in his head. We feel what he feels. This dips into deep POV, which I adore.
Should filtering be used?
Like anything else in writing, it has its uses, but for the most part, ditch it. Filtering, at worst, alienates your audience and reminds them “hey, you’re not here”, and at best, it’s a drag and an eyesore. Sure, it’s grammatically correct, but it limits you as a writer. Most of the time you can cut it out and the sentence will be stronger for it.
First person POV has little to no excuses for filtering. The sentence doesn’t work without the filtering? Reevaluate the sentence. The vast majority of the time, you can cut out filtering and come up with more impactful, creative ways to convey what you need to. Removing the filtering in the first example shows me a lot of weaknesses within it, which I won’t edit for the sake of comparison. But in seeing those mistakes, I can work to make the deeper edits that need to be made in order to improve it.
Conclusion
Surface-level filtering is easy to spot and eliminate and it instantly cleans up your prose. However, there is more to filtering that’s deeper and more difficult to explain (which I’m in the process of learning about).
Want more examples and to do further research of your own? Check out Alexa Donne’s YouTube video titled “Filter Words and How to Fix This ‘Telling’ Problem”.
To be frank, I am heavily biased against filtering because it is one of my writing and reading pet peeves. Filtering annoys me because it’s such an easy fix but it clogs up a manuscript like nothing else. Once you see it, you can’t not see it.
Thank you for reading, and hopefully, you found this helpful.
As we near the end of November, many of you will be feeling a little frazzled and burnt out on your projects. But with plenty of time left to go, you need to try and avoid burnout as much as you can.
As some background, this past summer I hit some of the worst burnout I’ve ever had with writing; right at the beginning of it I finished the book I had been drafting, and I had no clue what to work on next and I had no motivation to actually work on another project. Having pushed through that, I’ve come to some realizations.
1: Consistently consume media while writing
This is one of my biggest mistakes, and it always leads to a “dried up” creative well. I don’t read as much as I should, I don’t watch any TV shows or movies, thus, I’m not studying stories.
It’s so important that you take the time to read/watch other media as you write — not only so that you don’t run out of ideas, but also because it allows for you to study story. Most of our knowledge on the subject is intuitive, and in order to continue learning, we must continue studying.
Take some time out of your day to pick up a book, or read a poem from a collection. Maybe listen to an audiobook while you do chores. Find the time to squeeze it in during your hectic schedule.
2: Don’t force yourself to write when you’re feeling sick of it
Or, if because of Nano you have to, break it up into smaller, more manageable chunks throughout the day. Listen to your “heart” when it’s telling you it’s tired. Sometimes, yes, you need to persevere, but there are times where it’s better to cut your losses and rest. If you can’t tell if it’s one of those times where it’s better to push through, set a ten minute timer and do a writing sprint. How do you feel after doing that? A lot of the time you’ll want to continue, but if you don’t, then simply don’t continue writing.
3: Schedule times to not write
I tell myself that I don’t need to write in the evenings, however, I need to write in the mornings. An extension of this tip is to have a writing schedule, but so much of the time we’re focused on when to write that we neglect how important breaks are.
You can prevent a crash-and-burn burnout by allowing yourself one or two days out of the week where you expect yourself to not write, or write very little. It’s like knowing you have a weekend, but with writing.
4: Don’t guilt yourself over not writing
Life happens. Motivation ceases. Brain does that thing where it’s unhappy. Whatever the case, beating yourself up over not doing a very time-intensive hobby is not going to make you want to do the time-intensive hobby. Take a deep breath.
And I’m here to remind you that if you haven’t written recently, that’s okay! You’re still a writer and you’re still doing amazing, wonderful things.
5: Do things that are adjacent to writing
One of my favorite examples of this is drawing my characters. Do something that’ll make you think about your WIP without having to expressly work on your WIP. Or, you can go for a walk, workout, generally do something physical to get yourself out of Writing Mode™ while you brainstorm ideas.
6: Journal your feelings about the project.
I do this via social media, but putting this in your personal journal or keeping it separate really helps. If you have a writing buddy, chat to them about all your feelings about the project. I find that when I’m feeling unmotivated, or I’m on the verge of burnout, seeing the passion I have for my project fuels me to keep going (or at the very least spite the honeymoon phase Jay).
7: Don’t take yourself too seriously
Tease yourself about your mistakes, pretend you’re a bestselling author giving an interview about your project, make memes/jokes about the characters/plot of your novel. Whatever you do, make it fun so that you don’t feel like you’re carrying the weight of this project on one shoulder.
Thank you for reading, and hopefully you found this helpful! No matter what you do, know that I’m proud of you and you’re doing so much better than you think you are.
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We’ve all been victim to picking up a book we really wanted to read and when we get knee deep into the story, there’s this dark wave of realization that the book is awful. Some of us love rant reviews. Others get really bothered by bad books and don’t want to talk about them. Some power through them and I never do.
We all know what a bad book is, as in, when we hear someone say “this wasn’t a good book”, we know precisely what they’re talking about. I want to dive deeper into elements that make up a “bad book” or “poor writing”, then I want to explore why we’re so bothered by it.
This is one of the easiest problems to identify and one of the most irritating. It grinds gears because it takes the reader out of what’s being said. For example, a phrase that is poorly worded, there’s a run-on sentence the size of Moby Dick, words are misspelled, or any number of atrocities committed against commas remove readers from the work.
Most aren’t looking for excellent prose; it’s just that readers don’t want to be tripping over words in their own head. If you can’t properly word a sentence, then people aren’t going to take you seriously. Janky grammar and or prose is by far the most common mistakes made. Most fluent English speakers have taken an English class or have peeked into the wild world of grammar, so they recognize a mistake when they see one. Compare that to things like pacing or intreite prose rules, where most won’t be able to point a finger at why the sentence doesn’t flow (they’ll still notice that the sentence doesn’t read right).
You don’t need to be an expert in grammar, but you do need to be familiar with it. People aren’t stupid and they will notice. Maintain a grammar standard.
Note that I’m not referring to folks who are just starting to learn English/don’t have a fantastic grasp on the language. They obviously get a pass. This is more so directed at people who are native speakers or are extremely fluent.
This is the more artistic side of our previous prose problem. Voice is the extra little umph to a sentence; it’s what adds character and distinguishes one writer’s work from another. For example, word choice or general sentence structures. Voice isn’t the be all end all of everything, and if you don’t have a distinct voice just yet, don’t worry — soon you can also go through the anguish of finding your writing style.
It’s easiest to illustrate voice through examples. I’m going to be using a situation from Johnathan Stroud’s The Whispering Skull.
“Quill Kipps is annoying to the point where it reaches his looks, and it’s not like he has the skill to back up his smack talk. I would love to punch him then walk away.”
Me, in a tired daze
It’s not awful per se, and having a brief description like that can be useful shorthand — like reminding a reader of someone. However, this is the first time in the book that I’m using that the character Kipps is being described. It’s… fine. About as spicy as a cardboard box but passable.
Let’s now compare that to how it’s originally written:
“Being undiplomatic (but more precise), I’d say he’s a pint-sized, pug-nosed, carrot-topped inadequate with a chip the size of Big Ben on his weedy shoulder. A sneer on legs. A malevolent buffoon. He’s too old to be any good with ghosts, but that doesn’t stop him from wearing the blingiest rapier you’ll ever see, weighed down to the pommel with cheap jewels.”
The Whispering Skull, page 18
Found on Pinterest
This passage conveys so much sass, so much, well, voice. It’s oozing with it. My sentence is, again, passible, but you’re given only the barest, most brittle of bones. With the passage written by Stroud, you get a marvelous idea of: what the narrator thinks of Kipps, where they are approximately, how Kipps looks, and wee bit of world building. This is essential to making a story stick with your reader; giving them something to hold on to on a molecular level.
Before this excerpt, there was a physical description of Kipps, but that paired with the voicy description of him brings up the saturation of the piece. Lucy — the narrator — is filling these pages to the brim with her personality, and everything is through Lucy-tinted lenses. The book would be extremely different if it were told through the eyes of another character. A little bit of Stroud shines through in his writing (naturally), but this is all Lucy.
Voice can be polarizing. The enjoyment of prose isn’t entirely dependent on how it was created, rather, the reader. The example I presented to you is right up my dry-humored alley, but you may have thought that Lucy was being too harsh, or think that my mish-mash of words is entirely unpleasant to the eye (in which case I don’t disagree).
When it teeters into “objectively” bad territory is when the voice overwhelms what’s trying to be said, or, it’s blandness seems to suck up color like a sponge. You don’t need to be weighing down your writing with cheap jewels. Think purple prose (where the prose is so outlandish and insubstantial it overwhelms the reader). You want to use voice to accentuate the characters, or bring the world to life. Author and YouTuber Alexa Donne made an excellent video entitled, “Writing With Voice — Does it Truly Matter?” where she goes into detail about how important it is to be a voicey writer in today’s writing climate.
There is also something called passive voice. Passive voice is when the subject of the sentence is standing by while the object of the sentence performs the work. This pertains more to my previous grammar section, but it fits snugly here.
“The chocolate cake was made by Sam.”
That’s an example of passive voice. The subject is Sam and the object is the chocolate cake.
You may hear advice that tells you to avoid passive voice. That’s because passive voice has a nasty tendency to be muddled and drags the sentence. It can be utilized tactfully when you want to make the sentence muggy (or other cases), otherwise, just use active voice.
Active voice is when the subject is acting upon the object.
“Sam was making the chocolate cake.”
Here’s an article you can read that goes into more detail about active and passive voice.
This a massive one for me — if I don’t enjoy reading about your characters, I won’t enjoy the story. Some readers love purposefully unlikeable characters (like Mr. Darcy), but all that backfires when it’s made apparent that this character was created to be likeable. This is evident in the way that other characters and story treats the protagonist: everything is too easy, they’re too well liked, or they act like an ass but no one does anything about it (but they can).
Let me introduce Mary Sue/Gary Sue. Mary Sues/Gary Sues are often overpowered, the world and other characters always bend to their will, and more often than not they’re beyond perfect. They lack a substantial personality, and most importantly, they hardly ever learn impactful lessons. These characters are plain annoying because they aren’t challenged in meaningful ways. Sure, a baddie may do a Bad Thing to them, but they always bounce back up like springs — never bothered and always winning.
Readers can’t empathize with these sorts of characters because they’re virtually flawless.
Crappy characters also appear when they aren’t fully developed. They can be unbalanced (ex: the hero without flaws, or the villian with no humanity at all), lack motivation, autonomy, or personality. No one wants to read about a potato sack being dragged around by the plot.
You can have a good set-up to a character, have them all lined up for a nice arc or what have you, but they never get fired off. Or, if they do, they’re a dud and land in the mud with a little splat. The main character(s) have to be dynamic, going from good to bad or vice versa is up to the writer, but they need to change in some way over the course of the story. If they don’t the reader is going to wonder what the point even was. Side characters need to be people in the sense they have their own lives, but they don’t need arcs all of the time. Pick and choose your battles because you don’t want to overwhelm your reader with too many moving parts.
They don’t always need to be good people or be the most well rounded, but they all need to have a point. Readers recognize pointless persons and they’re going to get bored.
There could be a lack of connectivity between the reader and character. Not every character you create needs to be adored by readers, nor does everyone need to have this deep connection with the fake people. But, there needs to be something there. That exact “something” isn’t for me to define. We all have read about characters that we just don’t give a shit about, find borning, etc.
If no one cares about the characters, they’re not going to care about the story. Simple as that. Character creation is complicated and I highly advise you to do further research. Here is a free MasterClass article entitled, “How to Develop Fictional Characters: 8 Tips for Character Development” to get you started.
Everything is moving at a gallop in the book, then everything stops for some info-dumping or a really windy dialogue scene. Or, we’re running at a breakneck speed and there’s no room to breathe. Pacing is one of the trickiest things to nail down with writing.
There’s two types of pacing, both of which play into each other. First, is line level pacing. This is when you have a super short, choppy sentence, or a sentence is long and windy such as this one. Massive blocks of text are an eyesore for me. No indentation? No em dashes or fun formatting? Come on.
The other type of pacing is the overarching one. This pertains to how bigger parts of the whole interact with one another. The length of a chapter, scene, and act/part. It’s the difference between the sprint that’s a battle scene, and the Sunday stroll that can be investigating clues for a mystery.
Here’s where it becomes a problem: When it takes too long to get to the point. Where we’re going scene after scene of just talking when this was supposed to be an action book. When it takes forever for obvious information to be revealed to the characters. When it feels like we’re just wandering around aimlessly looking for the plot. The reader could also be suffocated by how fast things are moving, and they can’t grow attached to the characters, or get invested in the story because everything is moving so fast.
Pacing is a delicate balancing act and one I’m not terribly familiar with. If you’re newer to the writing scene, don’t worry about this as much. But definitely do care. Take note of pacing in books you read, see when and why you’re growing bored, and all manner of different things. As always, do some further research.
One of my least favorite “harmless” tropes is the “very quirky and not like the others” kinds of characters. Ooh, they just annoy me to no end. You just really like comic books. Congrats. Don’t care.
A trope is something that is commonly used in genres (like a magic boarding school) and doesn’t necessarily have a negative connotation. A cliché is a trope that is overused and something most people are sick of seeing when not subverted (like some random kid stumbling into powers and becoming super powerful and is now adjacent to a god).
Anyhow, we all have those tropes that we could go on for ages about. Whenever they make a sudden appearance we roll our eyes or want to toss the book across the room. There is a time and place for all sorts of tropes and clichés, and just because one is being used that doesn’t mean it’s inherently cheap. I’m going to list some of the more vile ones out (in no particular order):
Pointless Racism, sexism (both ways), homophobia, transphobia, and ableism
Glorified abuser
Toxic Love triangle
The one useless best friend who’s only there to serve the protagonist
Sugarcoated relationship abuse
No one gets to be happy because this is dark and broody and super serious
Forced romance
Girl on girl hate for no better reason than to get the attention of a boy
A friendship must always turn into a romantic relationship
Men always have to fight each other and have sex because reasons
The female lead is a glorified sex object
Slut shaming
Fat shaming
The villainization of minority coded characters (LGBTQ+, people with mental or physical disabilities, people of color, and a whole host of others)
Stereotypes of minorities — especially racial
The savior complex
A character being outed for the sole sake of plot/the other person wants to be in a relationship
The glorification/downplay of sexual assault
I’m sure there’s so many that I’m forgetting. Now, these can be used if they’re utilized tactfully. They’re horrendous if it’s transparent that this is reflective of the author’s viewpoint, or there’s nothing counteracting these tropes, the characters don’t learn from these toxic viewpoints/actions, etc.
Here are some more commonly disliked tropes/clichés — though, these are far more subjective:
Chosen ones
“It was all a dream”
Here comes the calvary!
No communication whatsoever
The wise old person that always gets killed off (always)
Dead parents
Everybody has this terrible tragic past yet they don’t have any form of trauma
NO ONE GOES TO THERAPY NO ONE HAS TRUMA?? HOW? Y’ALL AREN’T OKAY
Bro I just met you but I’m so totally in love. Mm yes, true love.
Long, long descriptions of the characters examining themselves in the mirror
And you’re overpowered, and you’re over powered, and you’re overpowered, and…
This is how the human body works, oh yes, absolutely.
‘Yer a wizard Har—
Responses to my question of “What annoys you in books?” from my followers and friends on Instagram.
Obviously I’m a top psychologist in every field imaginable and know everything that has to do with humans. I’m just overqualified to speak on the human condition and why we do what we do.
Here’s what I think: when we notice faults in the prose, or we grow bored by the pacing, or any number of things I mentioned previously, we get taken out of the story. We’re reminded that this is all fiction and it ruins the flow.
We want to effortlessly be sucked into a new world filled with impossible scenarios and loveable characters, and when faulty writing interrupts, we lose that connection. This is especially true if it applies to published works that readers have paid for. With most online content, we’re more forgiving because we’re getting this for free and obviously it’s a work of passion.
Besides, mistakes can simply be annoying, and we don’t want to be annoyed while doing something pleasurable.
Being (presumably) human, we make mistakes; it’s inevitable. People aren’t expecting flawless work, but we do expect polished work — especially if we had to pay for it. I know I have made just about all of these mistakes in my own fictional work, but that’s okay.
If you think your writing is “bad”, that’s fine, but don’t let that stop you from trying to write and thus improving. If you think that your work is void of any mistakes whatsoever, then, well, I don’t know what to tell ya other than it isn’t as perfect as you think.
Naturally, all of these things have the possibility of being subjective, and what looks like a major flaw to me may not be a big deal to you. Taste exists.
Thank you for reading and I hope you get to have a buttery croissant later.
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~ Jay
Oh dear, some of this advice is terrible! Nice blog btw 😀
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Oh dear, some of this advice is terrible! Nice blog btw 😀