Writing a novel is the golden dream of so many writers around the world… Nowadays, the novel is the literary genre most chosen by the general public.
Historical, romance, science fiction, and other novels are top sellers in traditional and digital bookstores.
If you’re looking for a step-by-step manual on how to write a great novel and turn it into a bestseller, you can use PaperHelp discount code, you can find useful templates, not to mention useful information from the article.
But if you need a quick guide that will allow you to correct the main mistakes when writing a novel, this article is for you. Get detailed information about the writing techniques that are common nowadays, on this website: https://www.bigbusinessboard.net
Read on, and you will learn the most common novel writing mistakes and how to get rid of them for good.
What are the most common mistakes made when narrating?
A novel is a more or less extensive narrative in prose. An average novel can be one hundred and two hundred pages or more.
But… what makes a novel charming? How do you manage to keep the readers’ attention from beginning to end? What makes a novel to be recommended and sold thousands of times all over the world?
Undoubtedly, every story and every writer is unique. But some literary best practices allow you to write a good book.
What should a writer not do?
A good way to write a novel that reaches thousands of readers and sells well is to know what are the main mistakes made by novice or inexperienced writers.
Novels that lag behind at the bottom of the sales charts are characterized by a series of avoidable mistakes, common errors that are best detected in time before sending the text to the publisher.
What should I not do when writing a novel?
Main mistakes in novel writing:
#1. Too many irrelevant descriptions
Many authors start their book descriptively and spend pages and pages describing places and objects in great detail. Big mistake!
Today’s readers are used to movies, YouTube, and TikTok. They live with a fast and direct audiovisual language and are no longer interested in reading long descriptions.
Instead of starting with a boring description, you should start your novel with a shocking fact.
#2. Empty and stereotyped dialogues
Don’t write filler conversations, superficial dialogues that only imprint tedium and lethargy in your narratives.
Every time a character “opens his mouth,” he should do it to say something important, something revealing, something that determines his relationship with the other characters and his place in the story.
Dialogues must be witty and intelligent and must be able to show us the true personality of the characters.
Don’t waste time on empty and poorly crafted dialogues. This is a mistake that detracts a lot from the quality of your novel.
#3. Not proofreading enough
Some authors finish their first draft in three days and think they have written the next best seller: they rely too much on inspiration and assume they did everything right the first time. Big mistake!
This “sacralization” of the text speaks more of egocentrism than of a writer’s talent… The right thing to do is to correct (and even rewrite) the text yourself a few days or a few weeks after finishing it.
And, for a 100% professional result, the best thing to do is to hire a proofreader to check your text from end to end.
The basic advice is the following:
- Don’t write thinking only of yourself, your family and friends.
- Write for the general public.
- Write something that will excite and appeal to people in general.
Obviously, every novel has a specific target audience, a group of readers who are fans of that book’s particular genre and subject matter.
But beyond this audience segmentation (which is crucial), you must write a “universal” message using easy-to-understand language.
Unless you are a genius, it is difficult to achieve the effect mentioned in the previous paragraph if you do not write with a method. Perhaps the most common mistake in writing a novel does not have a plan.
You don’t need to plan down to the last comma; that’s counterproductive. But you need to establish an approximate path you will follow and a goal you want to reach.
Next, we will show you which roads you shouldn’t take and the goals you don’t want to reach when you are writing your novel.
#4. Believe that your book is a masterpiece
This mistake is a direct consequence of the previous one. An author who does not proofread or allow his novel to be proofread is more conceited than brilliant.
All the great writers in history have spent hundreds or thousands of hours proofreading their novels and polishing them down to the smallest detail, and even the greatest geniuses did it.
Let others judge whether your book is excellent or not, but give them a chance to read an optimized text, and show them respect by giving them as perfect a novel as possible.
#5. Writing an autobiography “undercover”
This is another classic mistake in novel writing. You want to write a novel, but you don’t have enough experience or imagination to talk about topics and issues you don’t know about.
So you create a supposedly fictional character, but in reality, you talk about yourself, tell your story, and your anecdotes camouflage under that character’s name.
The novel will be mediocre if your life hasn’t been truly interesting.
#6. Not working the characters enough
Characters are fundamental in a novel. Many authors start writing their novels without having written the biography of their characters. Big mistake!
Even if the character’s biography is not part of the final text of the novel, you must know his or her background, experience, and intentions. This is the best way to give plot coherence to a novel.
#7. Write an uninteresting or unoriginal plot
Another big mistake in creating novels is writing predictable plots, a typical Manichean story of good guys and bad guys.
Work on your plot, choose topics that will interest large groups of people and develop all the storylines in a rough draft.
At this stage, you can get someone else’s opinion, allowing you to expand your horizons and spot inconsistencies you may not notice. Ideally, hire a professional reading report.
#8. Being guided by fads
Writing a novel on a topic that doesn’t interest you just because it’s trendy? Big mistake! If it’s your first literary experience, it is not recommended to write just because it’s fashionable.
And, if you are already an experienced writer, it is not worth writing a novel on a certain topic just because many other writers do it. Think that when there are many books on the same subject, competition is fierce, and it is difficult to position yourself well.
#9. Poor spelling and writing
Good spelling is an essential attribute of any good book. In other words, if your book is full of spelling mistakes, nobody will take it seriously.
And, in the unlikely event that you sell a few copies, those readers will get a bad idea of you and will never buy a book bearing your signature again. It sounds like an exaggeration, but it is a reality.
For example, many authors do not know that the adverb “solo” does not have an accent. And, like this spelling rule, they ignore many others and are unable to recognize why sales of their novels never take off.
#10. Overly complex language
Many authors believe that the reader values a text full of turns of phrases, epithets, and other lexical embellishments that make the reading complex. Big mistake!
Something is wrong if your reader gets lost in the middle of a ten-line sentence or has to go to the dictionary twice a page.
Write in the plainest language you can without losing the solemnity or style you have chosen for your text.
More mistakes when writing a novel
#1. Commonplaces and clichés
Readers are sick of reading the same story a hundred times. Avoid stereotypes as much as possible.
Remember that your novel must bring something original to your audience, a unique value.
#2. Abrupt plot jumps
Don’t leave gaps in the plot. Give an end to each sequence of actions. Remember that a story is a succession of changes in the characters’ states.
Don’t make huge ellipses expecting the reader to fill in the blanks with the story you imagined.
#3. Undefined narrator
Who is telling the story, a witness, the protagonist, an omniscient narrator? This must be well defined.
The narrator’s definition is such a complex issue that even Cervantes stumbled over it in Don Quixote. Now sit down and write. Success to you!
