(The sound of a pen scratching.) LOGO. Hellooo everybody! Today we’re talking about writing quirks and how to avoid them.
A writing quirk is a pesky habit that sneaks into your manuscript. It's usually
on a sentence level, something a line editor or copy editor
might help you with. Every writer has quirks, myself included,
but the goal is to eliminate or at least lessen them as
much as possible. That's where I come in! I'm listing the ten (10) most common quirks I
see in people's writing. A lot of this comes from my experience
back when I used to critique people's novels,
but some of these issues are things that I still see today
in published works. Yikes! Before we get into it, I am SUPER excited to announce
that today's video is sponsored by ProWritingAid! ProWritingAid is an AMAZING platform that not only helps writers edit their work,
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Click the link, you'll thank me later! On to the writing quirks! These are the ten (10)
quirks that pop up the most in manuscripts,
most of which ProWritingAid can help you with - I'm just sayin’!
If you want even more writing and editing tips, be sure to subscribe to my
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description! Time for the quirks! Those little bastards... Number One (1): Filter
words. Filter words are probably the most
common writing quirk in existence. I don't know a single writer who hasn't
struggled with them at some point. Filter words are words that filter the
story through the character's experience. They essentially remind the reader that
they're reading. “But Jenna! Of COURSE they're reading.” Yeah, but they're not
supposed to know that! Reading is an immersive process. It can feel like
you're experiencing the story first hand. Filter words pump the brakes on
this, and you don't wanna do that. There are
a zillion filter words out there, but a few of the most obvious ones are:
see, hear, feel, think, and realize.
When you go through your manuscript, pay attention to filter words and see if you
can cut ‘em out. For example, if you wrote,
“She realized her car was on fire.” You could instead say,
“Her car was on fire.” Easy, right? Sometimes filter words are unavoidable, but
nine times out of ten, they're probably unnecessary. Number Two (2):
Crutch words. Crutch words are words we have a habit of using over and over
again, even if there are better options. You may
think you don't have any crutch words, but trust me,
ya do. The problem is we usually don't know what our crutch words are
until someone else points them out. In my last manuscript, I used the word
‘scurry’ so many times that one of my critique partners started to leave
crab gifs all over the document. There is no avoiding this issue because it's an
unconscious action. The best thing you can do is have
someone read your work and point it out. Once your crutch words are on display,
do a word search through your manuscript, and replace ‘em with synonyms.
Number Three (3): Adverbs. An adverb is more or less an adjective for a verb.
They describe actions. A lot of writers crap on adverbs, but the truth is they're
not inherently evil. They only become a
problem when writers overuse them, because
they're not usually necessary since actions kinda already describe
themselves. For example, if someone is running,
you don't need to say they ‘ran quickly,’ because the act of running
IS quick. This is an extremely common quirk, but it's an easy one to break if
you implement this single step: do a search through your manuscript for
every verb and adverb combo and ask yourself if the adverb is
necessary. If your character smiles happily,
the adverb is kinda useless, because smiles are inherently happy.
If your character smiles UNCOMFORTABLY, then the adverb makes sense because the
action is happening in a way that you wouldn't
necessarily expect. If your character is smiling widely, sure,
the adverb makes sense. But you know what would sound a lot better?
If the character was grinning, instead. A grin
is a wide smile, and in this situation, you are ditching a weak verb,
and replacing it with a stronger, more accurate one. Number Four (4):
Shifts in tense. When writing a book, you choose a tense, usually
past or present. But some writers struggle with keeping it consistent.
An example of this would be, “She saw a bird. It
is beautiful.” ‘Saw’ is past tense. ‘Is’ is present. Thus, we shifted, which is a
no-no! If you're confused regarding how to spot
shifts in tense, pay attention to the verbs, they will tell you all ya need to
know. Now part of correcting this issue is
understanding what ISN’T a shift in tense. The first and most
obvious is if you are including dialogue or internal dialogue in a past
tense book. In situations like this, the narrative
should be past tense, while the dialogue and thoughts
should be present. An example of this would be, “He stormed
into the room and yelled, ‘Where is my brother?’ ” The next example revolves around
good old present participles. A lot of amateur writers confuse the use
of present participles as shifting tense, but that ain't true. For example, the
sentence, “He slowed down, stumbling forward,” is PAST tense,
despite the use of the word ‘stumbling.’ ‘Stumbling’ is a present participle,
and though the use of the word ‘present’ is in the term,
it is NOT a shift in tense. This sentence is perfectly fine. If you're confused and
want further explanation, comment below. I could make an entire
video all about shifts in tense, what counts as a shift, and what doesn't.
Number Five (5): Shifts in point of view. Shifts in points of view are exactly
what they sound like - the story was told in one person's point of view and now it
shifts to someone else's point of view. “But
Jenna, that's how I'm writing my book! It's told from multiple perspectives!”
Then this doesn't apply to you, ya big bag of beans! Shifts in points of view
become a problem if the story is supposed to be told from
one character's perspective. This is easy to avoid in first person novels because
a shift would be BLATANTLY obvious. However in third person limited or third
person deep novels, shifts are a LOT harder to catch. If
you're not sure what a shift in a third person novel would look like,
here's an example. My book The Savior's Champion is told in
third person deep from Tobias's perspective, which means the narration
can only comment on what Tobias sees and experiences and thinks for
himself. Tobias is aware that the Queen of his
realm is magical, but he doesn't know how her magic works.
Thus, if the narration were to suddenly slip into an
explanation of her powers, that would be considered a shift in point of view from
third person deep to third person omniscient. The narration
is explaining stuff Tobias has no knowledge of, which means
we've left his brain completely. Number Six (6): Dialogue tags.
Whoever said ‘said’ is dead should be dead instead of ‘said.’
A lot of writers, myself included, learned that ‘said’ is dead
in school, and were encouraged to use dialogue tags like exclaimed,
demanded, responded, or ejaculated. English teachers are dirty rotten liars!
‘Said’ is a great dialogue tag because it's INVISIBLE.
Readers don't notice it, which makes the dialogue feel more natural. “But
Jenna, I can't just say ‘said’ a million times on the page! It would be too
repetitive!” You're absolutely right! But you
shouldn't need a million dialogue tags on the page, regardless.
Dialogue tags are only there to let the reader know who's speaking. If the reader
can easily tell who is speaking based on the number of people involved
in the conversation, or the narrative surrounding the
dialogue, then you don't need a tag at all. For the times you absolutely do
need a tag, look at the line of dialogue and ask
yourself, “Is the character speaking unusually?
Say in a whisper, mumble, or shout?” In those situations,
you can use the applicable dialogue tag. However, nine times out of ten,
‘said’ is your best bet. Number Seven (7): Paragraphs. A lot of writers struggle with paragraph
formation, thanks once again to school. We are used to writing essays, where
paragraphs are formatted COMPLETELY differently than novels.
In essay writing, a paragraph has to be a minimum
of six sentences. Anything shorter, and you're losin’ points.
In fiction, you'll see paragraphs that are three sentences,
or even one sentence. Hell, you'll see paragraphs that are one word! The general
rule for paragraphs in fiction is simple: when the subject changes, the paragraph
changes. If you are writing streams of dialogue,
when the SPEAKER changes, the paragraph changes. Two people should
NOT have dialogue in the same paragraph. Do this, and I will fight you! Number
Eight (8): Repetition. This is one of the most common writing
quirks I've come across in manuscripts. While crutch words refer to overusing a
single word throughout the entire manuscript,
repetition refers to using the same word multiple times in close proximity. That
doesn't necessarily mean it's a crutch word,
it just means you're using it WAY too much within the same scene. Now, there are gonna be words you use a lot, like ‘the,’ ‘a’, ‘it,’ and ‘and.’ I'm not talking about that shit! I'm talking about whether or not
you used the word ‘pleased’ twice in the same paragraph, or whether
you referenced the staircase three times on the same page. This is
another thing you could be unconscious of, so it may be hard to notice at first,
which is why it's a good idea to have other people read your manuscript, OR to
run your manuscript through ProWritingAid! Once your repeat words are
pointed out, they can be replaced with synonyms or removed entirely.
Number Nine (9): Internet speak. Sometimes slang,
idioms, and even trendy capitalization and punctuation can sneak into our
manuscripts. This is an EXTREMELY common quirk, because sometimes we don't know
that what we're writing is colloquial, and it's ESPECIALLY common when it comes
to internet speak. On the internet, we use capitalization to
indicate emphasis, but in fiction, capitalization means
screaming and ITALICS mean emphasis. We don't use italics on the internet,
because it usually isn't available. Another perfect example of internet
speak leaking into our writing is the interrobang. Interrobangs are informal.
They are NOT a proper punctuation mark, and you'd really
only use it in your writing if you were being intentionally irreverent.
And Number Ten (10): Homophones. Homophones are words that sound alike, but have
different meanings and are spelled differently.
Obvious examples are, ‘there,’ ‘their,’ and ‘they’re.’ And
‘to,’ ‘two,’ and ‘too.’ These little assholes sneak into manuscripts ALL the time,
ESPECIALLY if you're not well versed in their definitions.
Again, critique partners and ProWritingAid can help point these
suckers out. However, if you wanna ensure that this
particular quirk doesn't become a recurring problem,
you're gonna need to learn their definitions. Understand what these words
mean, so you know when to use ‘em. So that's all I
got for you today! Thanks again to ProWritingAid! If you need help
during the self-editing process, I cannot recommend them enough! Not only are they
a grammar, spelling, and style checker, they can also
help you learn how to improve and grow your craft! You can try ‘em out
for free, or get 20% off your premium membership by clicking
the link below! CLICK IT! Do it now! ‘Cause I said so!
Don't forget to subscribe to my channel! I post new videos on Wednesdays, and if
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ring that bell! The Savior's Sister is available for presale
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