Weak Writing to Banish From Your Manuscript

you might have the best story idea in the world a compelling set of characters and a solid plot but if your writing Falls flat then it's unlikely your story is going to resonate with readers and it probably isn't going to end up being as successful as you hoped but it can be hard if not impossible to figure out if your writing is good or if it is weak it takes a trained eye to be able to spot mistakes and pitfalls in prose especially if you are evaluating your own so today I want to offer some practical tips for how to identify weak writing in your own manuscript so that you can go back to it with a fine-tooth comb and make sure that each and every sentence is serving its purpose and is as effective and strong as possible if there are sentences that are not doing the work that they should be doing then you need to either tweak them so they are or omit them entirely and as a whole once you do that through the entire manuscript it it is going to be so much stronger I'm going to walk through specific examples of week writing so you can see what it looks like and go through edits that I would make to this passage to make it a stronger piece of writing if you are anywhere along the book writing Journey or you are interested in writing and Publishing I recommend subscribing to my channel if you haven't already every week I either offer writing tips like this one or I talk about the publishing industry and how to get your book out into the world so I'd love to have you around for all of that I also have a resource in the description below for anyone who has a current work in progress it is called my story self assessment worksheet it is a free tool that is going to help you pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses in your overall story elements like plot character Etc to help you return to your manuscript with that editorial eye and strengthen any weak areas so it really goes hand in hand with the advice we're talking about today when you go into the link in the description below it's also going to sign you up for my news letter where I share exclusive tips and insights you won't find anywhere on this channel so don't miss out on any of that while you're at it if you could go ahead and hit the like button on this video as well that would mean a lot to me as it helps me grow this amazing community so now let's dive into the first example of week writing which is vague character descriptions you want your characters to come alive off the page and feel like real layered authentic human beings because that is what is ultimately going to make a reader invested in your story and one of the most common areas of weak writing is vague character descriptions where you are trying to describe one of your characters but it's really not telling us a lot about them or it's not the strongest way to convey what that character is all about and what their personality is like you might list a series of adjectives for example to describe this character but we don't really see those adjectives in action or understand how they really affect how that character thinks feels and acts so let's go through an example of of a weak character description this could look like the line Cara was generous and kind instead it would be so much stronger to describe something specific that Cara has done that then exemplifies her generosity and her kindness so for instance this could look like on Ken's first day at his new school Kara noticed him sitting alone at lunch instead of sitting with her friends she joined him and even shared her mom's homemade cookies do you see how this tells us so much more about Cara's character than simply saying she's generous and kind we understand how she puts that into practice in this specific example also gives us the bonus insights about the beginnings of Kara and Ken's relationship so it's really doing two things at once here so what I'm talking about with transforming your weak character descriptions into something that is more robust and revealing is a version of the classic writing advice show don't tell now I don't I abide by the rule that you always need to show over then tell sometimes you do need to tell us things in the story but this is a case where showing often is the more effective strategy so go back through your own work especially in the initial descriptions that you have of characters when they are first introduced in your story and see if there are examples of ways you can work in stronger character profiles by describing specific things they've done to exemplify the character traits you are talking about if you want some more tips on how to write authentic characters that have a whole other video that goes into a deep dive on that so definitely check that out the next example of weak writing I want to go over is excessive imagery sometimes writers especially who are newer in their craft get hung up on the idea that their writing has to come across as poetic or literary and as a result they end up stacking a bunch of images on top of each other in a scene to describe something but oftentimes this actually has the opposite of effect and it makes it more difficult for the reader to decipher what you're trying to get across and ultimately the passage with all of these images can just end up feeling clunky remember that using a single evocative image or metaphor or analogy is often much stronger and more memorable to the reader than stacking a bunch of them into one passage so let's go through an example of this her eyes were a deep forest green and Shone like emeralds when the sun hit them with more Sparkles than a disco ball they were the most beautiful he'd ever seen so here we're seeing a number of stacked images first the comparison of her eyes to the forest then the comparison to emeralds and finally the comparison to the disco ball as a result you're directing the reader in a bunch of different ways and we're having all these different visuals of what her eyes are like so let's look at a passage that is more simple and in my opinion more effective her eyes were a deep forest green and shown when the sun hit them they were the most beautiful he'd ever seen do you see how this passage get it's pretty much the same idea across without stacking those additional images on top of the image already of her eyes being like the forest and shining in the sun you ultimately also don't want to dwell too long on the specific description of her eyes because at some point the reader is going to just want to skim through and get on to the next moment in the plot so take a look through your own work and watch for any sections where maybe you are lingering a bit too long on some imagery or you're mixing imagery and it is really not necessary the next example of weak writing is distracting choreography in your scenes you might run into the tendency to over describe what your characters are physically doing as they are talking or as they are reflecting on something else while it is important for the reader to always have a sense of what is going on physically in a scene you want to give us just enough choreography that we understand what's going on and can picture the entire scene without distracting us with too many references to their bodily action that actually takes us out of the real content of the scene so this often happens if you have a passage of dialogue where two characters are having a conversation and you continually punctuate the dialogue with descriptions of what they are physically doing as they are talking as I said some amount of choreography can help us picture the scene but too much of it is going to feel interruptive so the key is to not overdo it such that you are taking the reader's attention away from the actual important parts of the scene this example will definitely help you see what I mean Cara and Ken walked hand in hand along the beach feeling the ocean breeze on their faces do you think we'll ever come back here he asked rubbing his thumb across hers I hope so she replied digging her toes into the sand they continued to walk steadily and sink as the sun set as they passed two Surfers Kara shifted her grip on Ken's hand and thought about bringing up engagement suddenly she noticed a shark fin above the water's surface this passage has a few pieces of excessive choreography that we can actually take out and therefore will move through the scene much more swiftly and get to that dramatic incident of Kara seeing the shark fin much quicker so let me show you what I mean Cara and Ken walked hand in hand along the beach do you think we'll ever come back here he asked rubbing his thumb across hers I hope so as they pass two Surfers Kara thought about bringing up engagement just as she was about to speak she noticed a shark fin above the water surface so this passage just gets us through the scene a bit more smoothly and more swiftly you'll see I did keep the piece of choreography of Ken rubbing his thumb across Kara's because that does give a bit of tenderness to the moment and it helps us understand the Dynamics between these two characters however the other piece of choreography of Tara digging her toes in the sand doesn't really tell us much so we can cut that similarly we don't need to reiterate that they are continuing to walk in the next line because the reader is already going to presume they are continuing to walk as they are having this conversation so you don't need to say it then in the last paragraph we really don't need to see Kara shifting her grip and we can just go straight to the moment of her noticing the shark fin so as you go back through your scenes make sure you are giving us some choreography but not so much that it becomes distracting the next week writing example I want to go over is overdone sentiments conveying your character's emotions is critical to getting the reader invested in the story but it is crucial that you don't Veer into melodrama which can actually turn the reader off because it can come across as inauthentic and not realistic so I want you to watch your use of exclamation points all caps and ellipses which can often come across as being a bit overdone or overly emotional when you actually don't need to lean on those elements remember when conveying extreme emotions less is often more and remember your reader is going to already register the drama of the scene from what is actually taking place without these unnecessary elements that you are adding on top of it for extra emphasis so let's look at an example oh my god did you see that carrier shrieked we have to find a lifeguard now so here we have the question mark plus exclamation mark with the first line and then we also have the all caps now with two exclamation marks this feels a bit overdone and we can cut it back which will read much more professional and we'll still convey the same emotion so let's look at how the revision would be oh my god did you see that Kara shrieked we have to find a lifeguard we don't even need Kara to say now because we're presuming that she means go find the Lifeguard now and you'll see I cut out the exclamation mark from the first line but I did keep one exclamation mark in the second line because it feels appropriate there but we certainly don't need two if you find yourself leaning into these elements when you are writing go back through any points of extreme drama or extreme emotion in your story and make sure that you are not overdoing it I promise that those moments will still feel just as dramatic and impactful the final week writing example I want to talk about today is meaningless details as with the point about distracting choreography you need to ensure that as the author you are only drawing the reader's attention to elements that are actually important to the scene and the story if something that you are drawing our attention to ultimately is not important to the plot or how the story unfolds you should omit it it doesn't belong in the scene and it is likely actually just going to clog up your prose so go back through and watch for any descriptions of mundane activities that actually aren't important to how the plot unravels or just unnecessary details regarding a scene description that actually doesn't change how anything happens let's go through an example of what this could look like Cara and Ken arrived at the lifeguard station the chair was white and worn down from years of use but no one was there about a yard away stood in impressively sized sand castle Cara began to panic so in this case do we really need to know what the lifeguard chair looks like and that it's worn down do we need to know that there's a sand castle nearby not really because that's not important to the scene nor what we care about in this moment so as you are going through any given scene ask yourself is this detail important to what happens if the answer is no you can most likely omit it and your scenes will be much more streamlined so let's look at an example of how to revise this one Karen Ken arrived at the lifeguard station but no one was there Cara began to panic you see how that just immediately moves the plot along and we really didn't need those details at all I hope these examples and tips helped you train your own editorial eye so you can turn back to your own manuscript and strengthen any areas of weak writing I want you to feel empowered to ensure that every sentence is purposeful and ultimately furthering your story leave me a comment if you've ever caught yourself using any of these weak writing habits it's totally fine I promise they are common for a reason and we are all learning and growing together here if you want some more tips on mistakes to catch in your writing check out my video on amateur writing mistakes I go through some other easy things you can look for in your own manuscript if you found this video helpful it would mean a lot to me if you hit that like button subscribe if you have already and don't forget that resource in the description below that will help you take your story to the next level thank you so much for watching and happy writing [Music]

Channel: Alyssa Matesic

Views: 10,570

Keywords: authortube, writing advice, writing mistakes, amateur writing mistakes, newbie writing mistakes, worst writing mistakes, worst amateur writing mistakes, best writing advice, mistakes writers make, common writing mistakes to avoid, most common writing mistakes, common new writer mistakes, writing mistakes to avoid, creative writing tips, how to write a novel, booktube, bad writing, weak writing, fiction writing tips, creative writing, how to write better, write a novel, novelist

Id: TEtkuAEI1f8

Length: 13min 40sec (820 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 11 2022