7 Mistakes Beginner Writers Make

we're sisters best friends and authors on a mission to help you stoke your creative fire and live the life of your dreams we believe that purpose fuels passion and that creativity is your secret weapon for mass construction there's never been a better time to bless the world with your dream realized you're listening to the kate and abby show what's up guys welcome back to the kate and abby show this is episode 37 and today we are talking about seven mistakes beginner writers make this is i think a hot topic because i've seen a lot of people talk about the the beginner writer mistakes um but as sisters who are writers who have lived with each other from the beginning from the messy beginnings and helped each other on those messy beginnings i think we can bring a unique perspective to this topic and we're going to talk about some mistakes that i don't hear a lot of other people talk about writers so let's dive right in the first mistake that i think i've seen a lot of beginner writers make and a lot of writers make on their first work or their first few works is and by the way some of these are published books that i can tell just did not have enough thought and time and effort put into them is a story that has an aimless or meandering plot and by that i mean a plot that is kind of all over the place because you could tell that the writer did not take the time to use story structure of any type and they didn't really take the time to think out the plot and think of the outline and to the direction that the story is going in so it kind of just became this meandering aimless like the characters are just thrown into this situation and then they kind of have to navigate kind of in this chaotic reactive manner they have to navigate all this stuff happening to them um and this isn't just for uh like adventure action stories this can also appear very frequently in contemporaries and romance and things like that that is just this lack of thought from the beginning and i think that is why story structure is so helpful to especially beginner writers so that's why i recommend it to every writer but especially if you're a beginner and you're like i don't really know how to craft a good plot don't even think about it in terms of like a good plot i would recommend thinking about it in terms of a well-structured plot okay because when good is so subjective but if you think of it like this has to have a good structure to it then almost anything can happen you can take this in almost any direction but it has to have that structure or else it will feel aimless and meandering and that's what i love about the 3x story structure and that's why i teach that so much on my channel is because it's kind of this tried and true template that's almost filled in the blank but you're obviously bringing your own unique ideas to it but it is tried and true and that is so helpful especially when you're not sure how to create this strong structure and make it feel like it's going somewhere on purpose not just the characters are reacting to everything that happens so that is a mark of you're a beginner you don't know what you're doing when your characters are just like reacting to a bunch of random stuff happening to them and there's no sense of this is going somewhere so i think that's that's a big i put that as number one because that's a big one but there there really is no order to these to this list of mistakes but that that is one that stands out to me the most when i read it is like this is this needed help right this needed revising rewriting majorly it also makes the characters feel underdeveloped in my opinion because it's just relying upon the plot to drive the story forward and the characters are sort of these punching bags or red shirt guys being thrown around by the fury of the plot right exactly and um and that's really what story structure is about right character development right the character is what anchors you otherwise you just are being thrown around exactly yeah and that kind of leads into the second mistake big mistake that beginner writers make which is not editing their own work um or not editing it enough and i think that we can both speak from experience here that it's like you become a so much of a better writer by editing your own work over and over and over and over again when it gets tedious and boring and grueling that is the time when you keep doing it you don't give up you have to keep doing it keep editing it keep making it better because every time you do you're you are making it better right you're becoming a better writer yeah you become so much of a better writer from looking back and seeing what your mistakes were right so to not edit your own work is like um if you decided you were going to become a baker and have a bakery but you never tasted any of the things you made exactly you made you just made them and regardless of whether they sold or not you just kept making it over and over again yeah or you tasted it once and you're like uh that wasn't too great i'll change a few things about it and then you never tasted it again right but like yeah you have to exactly so like best you can from what i've seen from like films and documentaries about chefs great chefs are always constantly tasting things and very in tune with what ingredients at what flavors it's the same with writing and the tasting is the editing the tasting is the spending time to go back and read that scene over and over and over again and try to identify does this make me feel connected to the character or not if if it doesn't then why and what can i add there or take away that just hits that spot and makes me feel like yeah that's that's perfect now and it takes a long time to perfect that and it's the spending time editing that really helps you hone your craft in that respect yeah 100 and and it will only help you become a better writer so every time you edit just think you know i'm making this so much better i'm becoming a better writer um and it can be kind of an annoying process obviously very very annoying um and it can be disheartening sometimes it can make you feel like oh maybe i'm not that good of a writer and you know maybe it's this is just a hot mess and i should just delete the whole thing but that's why it's so helpful to have a writing buddy or having somebody who understands writing or understands your intent with this story or even just reads the genre um i love how you've been gesturing towards me that entire time my writing buddy in case you didn't know who mine was yeah well i think you can totally counteract the annoyance of editing because like that's what i've been doing like i'm currently editing a book i'm also writing a book and every day i'm like i want to write enough so hopefully that i have enough to read to abby because yeah the like dopamine hit and the encouragement and the feedback i get like even the constructive criticism will make me motivated to like oh yeah i see what you mean there and like you know it will get me excited to write yes and that will counteract the like feelings of editing yeah now if i was just editing a book and i've done this in the past where i'll be like you know what i have to edit and this has a deadline and i can't work on anything else other than this and all i do all day is edit it really has put me into um mentally unhealthy states emotionally unhealthy states where it's just like this constant loop of overly and being overly analytical and overly critical of your work and there's really no light at the end of the tunnel so i would say counteract that be working on a fun project at the same time even if it's only for like a half hour in the morning or something before you edit your book or whatever try to counteract that with something else something that is going to bring you joy in your craft because those things will balance each other nicely if you just have all of one thing just like all editing then that tends to be something that can dampen your spirits i have seen a few writers out there who love editing and i've i've heard from probably maybe two people like that i've ever seen in my entire life that are like i like editing better than writing and i'm like wow that's amazing it is but like i i think you know find the find bright places to counter that's something that might be kind of a depressing experience or kind of an arduous experience to have to go through right yeah 100 which kind of leads into the third big mistake that beginner writers make which is to not have a to have a lack of confidence in their own work and i think that's something that you have way more of at the beginning of your writing journey is you don't have confidence you have more self-doubt less confidence and more self-doubt at the beginning of your writing journey journey and you're like oh is this really good i don't know is this anything could this ever be good could i ever be good could i ever be a decent writer um and that's like you were saying you know about we read each other our books and we give each other feedback and that's something that really helps to motivate me and encourage me and feedback has always been really important to me and encouraging and i think that's something that every writer should put themselves out there and get that feedback because that is going to motivate you to keep going and like i said in and i can't remember what episode this was but we're talking about motivation and writing i can't remember which one it was but i was talking about how you have to just like keep writing i think it was the advice for teen writers yeah i think you're right yeah even if it feels like i'm not good at this and i you know i'm not really i'm not sure if i can even be a writer like if you just keep writing and you get feedback that inspires you to keep writing then you will get better with time like it's inevitable so i think ha that will i think that's pretty heartening i've always felt that way about anything that i try even when i'm new at it and i don't really know if i'm you know going to be able to be good at it i tell myself that okay first of all everybody is a beginner in the beginning and nobody is an expert right away and the more you do it the better you'll get at it whether it's learning an instrument or learning a new skill or writing or singing a song i do this all the time with songs that i can't sing i think i mentioned this before like if i find a song that i really like but i can't sing it technically i'll just like sing it over and over again badly until i can sing it well and without even like you know finding specific like techniques to use and stuff because it's really just a matter of getting to know yourself right and your own capabilities and then using those capabilities in a new way once you start growing and improving in that area um so the same goes for writing i think that the more you write the better you become the more confidence you'll have in your work and in the respect of taking feedback from other people that was the the fourth one that i had written down which is the mistake of not taking constructive criticism or taking it the wrong way which is i think a big thing for new writers is that once you start getting constructive criticism some of it might be like really nice words of affection and praise over your writing but then some of it might be a little bit like oh that kind of hurts or like i didn't you know think that it was like that or i didn't think that this needed help and then you start like taking it the wrong way and thinking that this person is being just judgmental of your work when really they're trying to help you right so i think that the the journey of receiving criticism right is something that's a bit of a rocky road for beginner writers yeah i think most beginner writers have like that joe march professor bear moment yeah where it's like you know oh you're saying that i suck at writing yeah exactly exactly and you're so offended and the whole world is ending and you'll never write again but really there's a happy medium with constructive criticism and first off anyone who's like being hateful about your writing don't listen to them because like like a negative review one star this book sucked don't that that is not the constructive criticism we're talking about because it leaves out the constructive part we're talking about people who are like well i liked it but i feel like this wasn't working together don't be like that's it i'm not writing anymore you know so look for people who want you to succeed who believe in your writing journey and then listen to them because that qualifies them to be able to give you advice and take it with a grain of salt you don't have to take it so seriously that's like oh my book's going to be crap if i don't um make it the way this person said to the tea but you also shouldn't chuck it out all together so there's a happy medium of being able to take advice and look at your work objectively and see if it works see if it doesn't maybe add pieces of it maybe not so there's like this happy middle ground you know what i mean yeah 100 and i think we did a whole we did a whole episode on reading reviews and like how to take constructive criticism and feedback and stuff like that and i think um another big tell is like is is the person is the person publicly telling everybody this after you publish the book in which case it's like you can't even do anything about it now so it's not really that helpful um whereas like a person privately messaging you or emailing you or responding to your request for their feedback before you publish the book is helpful because they're actually trying to be healthy instructive and rightful exactly um and then the fifth mistake that beginner writers make is that i've noticed anyway copying other authors in attempts to write good um and this is something that i've seen a lot of young writers struggle with is that you look up to certain authors read you read certain books that you really like and you're like oh i really want to write as good as them and the problem comes in when you start to like inadvertently copy their stuff and not i don't i say inadvertently because you're not like copying and pasting like your your book is propped up their book is propped up there and you're copying it i mean like copying their ideas or their way of writing or something in hopes that you can be good like them in air quotes and i think that the problem here is not even in the thing itself but it's like this belief that this published author is such a good writer and i'm not so i kind of have to like borrow ideas from them or borrow things that i've seen done before in order to make something good you know not like oh well maybe my own unique idea is good i think a lot of young writers will have great ideas that they think aren't good because they haven't seen them done before a lot or maybe not a lot in their genre but that doesn't mean they're not good and doesn't mean that they can't be amazing it just means that you haven't seen them done a lot before or maybe it's something that's just all your own and that's okay that's cool that's unique right you know i think that a lot of young writers especially can kind of hold other authors up on a pedestal of like they have this great story and this great imagination and this great you know style of writing i wish i could be like them instead of like just imagining that there are no books in the world and it's just you and this piece of paper what would you write you know if you didn't have to impress anybody if you didn't have to live up to some expectation that you've set up in your mind what would you write just from your own creativity in your own mind and don't be afraid to try new unique ideas that are that seem crazy and that seem all your own and maybe you've never seen them done before but you might be surprised by how well-received they are and how awesome they turn out so i think take risks take risks with your writing and believe in yourself right like that's it throughout the history of art that's been so much of what has shaped artwork really like you know imagine if pablo picasso had been like oh i have to try to paint like you know yeah the old masters right you know well then that style that was new and fresh and you know it was controversial at first because it was like this is uh not what we're used to but that's really what what the those are always the critics saying that the consumer is like oh something new and different so if you're like oh my writing style isn't as like prozy and it's not very poetic and whatever well whatever you know what i mean like your people are out there that's something to remember is that there are so many different types of writing styles so many different types of stories that they're you have your people you will find them if you persist and there will be an audience who will love your writing yeah 100 i think that that's something that's this i don't know there's this idea perpetuated in in schools and universities i know that's like you know you study these certain works and then you inadvertently like start to hold them up and like kind of idolize them of like well i have to write something as you know compelling as that it's like right what if that just didn't exist i mean like not like it didn't exist it's their thing like what if you just focused on your own thing you know and being just working from your own creativity exactly and not being afraid to take chances and try something new um step out on the limb yeah exactly exactly mistake number six is when beginner writers force themselves to write even when they're sick of it and by that i mean like this i have to write every day i have to be committed i have to be consistent we don't write every day no that's a that's a well-known fact yeah i actually made a video like years ago that was called like why i don't write every day i don't even remember what i say in it hopefully it's good it was good from what i remember i don't remember specifically what you said but i remember it being good yeah i was basically covering the fact that um i don't write every day because i don't feel like writing every day yeah and if you did write every day you would get sick of it and be like i feel like i'm forcing myself to do this thing and it wouldn't be fun anymore right and so your creativity would be dried up exactly and part of what if any of you guys have like watched some of my videos about like um mindfulness and such mindfulness and applying it to your author career is that every other part of your life every other area of your life affects your creativity and so if you treat yourself just like this writing machine and like i have to crank out words then you're kind of neglecting your own spiritual emotional health and happiness and it's out of that happiness and stability that creativity actually flows so it's important to be looking after yourself in other areas such as taking rest days taking time to fill the cup not always just pouring out of the cup all the time because eventually it's going to be empty right exactly exactly you need to fill your cup in order to pour out of the cup you need to take in inspiration and take breaks like you said and i find that when i take that time and just like chill and relax and stay inspired and do things that inspire my creativity i want to write more than when i'm like forcing myself like okay this day is the only day i have to write this week and i'm gonna write and then you like end up on that day and you're like i don't feel inspired to write because you're like kind of forcing yourself to do it right um whereas if you just you know chilled a little bit yeah it would come more natural to you right um so i think that that's something and a lot of beginner writers start by doing writing challenges like nanowrimo and stuff where you're writing consistently every day and that can be healthy but it can also be unhealthy so it's important to just pay attention to that and be like am i pushing myself beyond what i want beyond what i feel creatively compelled to do um and once you feel like you're like pushing yourself beyond your creative like uh your natural creativity it kind of starts to make your writing suffer yourself your writing suffers as a result so i think that it's important to focus more on how do you feel do you feel creative today do you want to write today and the seventh and probably worst mistake that beginners beginner writers make is giving up don't give up don't give up for anything if you feel like you are compelled to be a writer and you have this story inside of you that you need to write don't give up on that it matters to you it matters to the world so find out why it matters to you find out why it matters to the world and then what matters to your characters of course and um keep going check out our podcast on on staying what was it called how to believe in yourself as a writer how to believe in yourself as a writer because that that will anytime you feel like giving up just go listen to that podcast yeah that was a really good queue on the phone i think it's still our most popular episode of this podcast which says a lot so don't give up that would be the biggest mistake that you can make and the thing is is if you don't feel motivated and you feel like meh just take a break go do something else don't like make a snap decision about it right now you know what i mean it's like don't make a decision about it right now just go do something else rest watch a movie you know drink some tea do other things maybe even let it sit for a while maybe you need to think about it maybe you need to plot if you're if you like plotting or you know if you want to follow a story structure or if you know you're a pantser and you don't do that then whatever maybe you need to take a break maybe you need to step back from it and have an epiphany about something you know what i mean so don't make any snap decisions just like leave it alone for a little while yeah that's yeah i agree that's great advice and that has helped me so much because like there's a difference between taking a break and quitting oh yeah so like take a break take a break don't like give up on the whole thing yeah rediscover your inspiration and your your um motivation to create this story and that's that's really helped me i know in my journey and i think every writer at some point feels like i hate this why am i doing this yeah so it's not you're not alone every writer's felt like that at some point right and yeah i think that you know in this age of like the internet and social media sometimes you can like look at other authors and it looks all just like this book they just effortlessly wrote in like two months and they didn't need to edit it and the biggest publishing house on earth just bumped into them on instagram was like hey can we publish everything you've ever written and fun trips for you to go to europe and around the world to speak at big conferences and you know all this stuff and that's all they do here they are at ted here they are in the bahamas here they are signing books on a tropical island you know yeah that's just the pieces that go online the highlight yeah that's the highlight reel so for a lot of people even the most successful authors out there had to deal with going through all kinds of really uncomfortable experiences like probably rejected or or having to edit their work over and over again or having like five books flop and then one finally takes off so it's never this um this like uh like peaches and cream image you know of like nothing was hard and this all just fell into my lap that's like almost non-existent yeah exactly it takes discipline it takes for it it takes hard work and grit but it is so worth it and i think we would both recommend it to any writer out there yeah stay on the path stay motivated stay inspired and keep writing and always remember why it matters if you like this episode share it with a friend and on social media if you're into that sort of thing if you haven't seen the video um go over to kate's youtube channel follow her by the way awesome channel full of amazing videos youtube.com k a eminence and you can also um check out my youtube channel i post writing videos every wednesday as a lot of you probably know which is youtube.com abbyemens and if you want this show to stay on youtube and stay alive then go to patreon.com the kate and abby show because our amazing patrons are what makes that happen you guys are amazing and we love you so much and we couldn't do this without you so comment below if you're on the video and tell us what are some big mistakes you made as a beginning writer add to the list and we will see you in the next one until then stay stoked and rock on

Channel: K.A. Emmons

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Id: 3FEYjkYDkm8

Length: 26min 57sec (1617 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 11 2021