When beginning to write a novel, you may want to insert many plots, twists, and perspectives which appeal to your instincts. However, failing to consider your readers and what might be of interest to them is like digging a pit for your plot with the very first letter you scribble.
For some people, the prospect to write a novel stems merely from their intention to feel the pleasure of it. In this case, there is perhaps no harm in writing whatever pleases you.
For the majority of others, however, writing a novel comes from an intention to have others read it. They aim to write a story with the hope that it will get published. Before your novel ends up with your intended audience, it will probably pass through the skeptical eyes of critiques, editors, and agents.
That is a whole lot many filters through which your writing must pass. Hopefully, by the end of it, you may gather enough acknowledgment for your work from people who feel that they can go on with your writing. But that is not how well the process occurs for every writer.
Take a look at the top mistakes which can avoid while writing a novel.
What Not To Include In Your Novel?
Writing Something Without Enough Passion
Are you gearing up to write a thriller book, or perhaps a lasting romance novel? Have you thought through the plot of your proposed story well enough?
You will be surprised to know just how many books fail to garner the attention of their reader merely because they were not up to the potential. It is not uncommon to recall titles that were meant to be humorous but failed to tickle any bones or a fiction which felt drenched of all dazzle!
Just consider what would happen if an editor or critique had the choice to select between your work and another one. Would your novel stand out between the two?
Writing And Not Telling
When writing a novel, do not forget why you are doing it in the first place! Writing is something that anyone can do. However, as an author, it should be your forte to write in a way such that your words depict a story.
Merely writing a bunch of sentences and putting them in a binding does not serve the purpose of writing a book. Think and reconsider how you can balance the two.
Selecting Bland Characters
Unless you are writing non-fiction with no need for extensive characters, you might be cutting yourself a bad deal by dimly playing with your leads.
The characters of a novel are the elements that hook the reader and give them a sense of attachment with the book. Failure to draw this parallel for your readers with sterile characters or too many of them might just give them the perfect reason to put down your book.
Expression Is Not Always Economic
Taken that writing is your forte, you probably love to express yourself with words. In doing so, it may not be surprising that you exceed your emotions by far too many notches at various spots. While it is okay to do this during the initial stage of writing, these extras have got to go while you edit your novel.
Failing to do this might add a brilliant load of content to your novel but at the cost of diminishing the value which your reader draws from your work. Plus, there are far better ways to express certain plots than to drag them with more sentences and words.
Muting Descriptions
Unlike a cinematic movie, you have got only words and a page to paint your descriptions, whether for an event or for a dramatic scene. Muting this description with bland transportation of ink on paper, without the emotional punch, seems like a dim-witted idea about writing a novel.
A work such as this one may easily pass for a newspaper of the day and not a bestseller novel. Masking weak descriptions with strong words and expansion of plots is an absolute must to correct this.
Transitioning Without Grace
It is natural how you may want to shift the point of view from one character to another, but in doing so, there is a huge scope to leave the plot open to misrepresentation.
As an author, it is necessary to control how you present your point of view. You can follow any approach to avoid or fix this problem, but one simple way to limit it is to completely avoid shifting the point of view more than once in a chapter.
Failing To Give A Unique Selling Point
Fine! Almost every book is bound to revolve around a story that may sound similar to another one.
Yet, what reason are you giving your readers to pick your book over the other one? This is the consideration that will point you in the direction of creating a USP or a unique selling point.
It is the reason or the plot that sets your book under a completely different limelight than everything else. Either consider it right before you begin writing the book or during it, but do so with diligence because it is this particular element that will come to make or break your book later.
Finishing In A Hurry
Perhaps you have reached the end of the intended word count of the book, or you feel that writing anymore would only stretch the plot further. You spell out a few sentences and consider it the end of your book.
However, is this how your readers will see it too? Hushing through the end of your book is a mistake that can spoil all your efforts and make it worthless to even attempt writing a book.
The good idea is to let the flow continue and then trim out the book from the previous sections to make room for a decent end.
Conclusion
Today, there are many novel writing app available to writers so that they can pen down their words with ease. Thus, it has become easier than ever to write a novel. However, taking note of these points will help you reach a draft that really holds some value.
This should be the ultimate goal of every writer when attempting a book, given the effort which it involves to write every single word!
