{"id":11183,"date":"2013-08-24T16:28:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-24T20:28:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-09-12T18:14:17","modified_gmt":"2020-09-12T22:14:17","slug":"twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/","title":{"rendered":"Twelve Rookie Writer Mistakes and How to Mend Them"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" border=\"0\" height=\"426\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/RookieWriter.png?resize=640%2C426\" width=\"640\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">For the past couple of weeks I&#8217;ve been critiquing several young writers&#8217; works. I like helping them out, and it helps sharpen my eyes for critiquing my own works. But while I was doing it, I noticed some errors common in all of them and were also very common in my own past writing.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">When I sent some critique back for a friend, she liked it when I explained how to fix each problem. To me it&#8217;s easier when I&#8217;m shown exactly what&#8217;s wrong then I&#8217;m shown exactly how to fix it. So that&#8217;s what I&#8217;m going to do for you all.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">I&#8217;m not a professional or anything, but I&#8217;ve been seriously studying writing for four years, including attending <a href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/2013\/03\/conference.html\">four writers conferences<\/a>. I hope these tips can be helpful. \ud83d\ude42<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">1.) Telling of the Senses: Saw, See, Look, Heard, Listen, Felt, Knew &#8211;&nbsp;<\/span>These words are cumbersome to sentences. They slow down pacing. 90% of the time they can be cut. There are a few instances where they are necessary, but if you use them over and over they get&nbsp;repetitive.&nbsp;They&#8217;re an easy fix and they make the point of view deeper.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b><br \/>\nIncorrect:<\/b> Cora walked along the road on the side walk. She saw a dog cross the street.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b>Correct:<\/b> Cora walked on the wet sidewalk. A dog crossed the street.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">2.) Telling Emotions &#8211;&nbsp;<\/span>I see this a lot. Telling emotions doesn&#8217;t allow the reader to be as immersed in the story as much as she\/he could be. A lot of common ones I&#8217;ve seen are: sadly, angrily, and surprised. This is a little bit tougher to fix. You have to think of how to show the emotion, but it&#8217;s possible and your reader will feel more connected with your characters. Sprinkle in some interior monologue if you have to.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b><br \/>\nIncorrect:<\/b> &#8220;You stole my boyfriend!&#8221; I said angrily to Lana.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b>Correct:<\/b> &#8220;You stole my boyfriend!&#8221; I yelled at Lana and clenched my fists. How could my best friend do this to me?<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">3.) Crowding the Dialogue &#8211;&nbsp;<\/span>A lot of times I see a line of dialogue with someone else&#8217;s action at the end or even more than one action. That&#8217;s incorrect. Every character needs his own line for speech. Sometimes it gets very confusing especially when there are a lot of pronouns and the reader doesn&#8217;t know who is doing or saying what.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b><br \/>\nIncorrect: <\/b>Casey giggled. Laura&#8217;s cheeks burned. &#8220;That&#8217;s so mean.&#8221; She said as Clara walked into the room and sat down. Why does she have to say things like that? Coco the cat jumped up on her lap curled into a ball.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b>Correct:<\/b> Casey giggled.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">Laura&#8217;s cheeks burned. &#8220;That&#8217;s so mean.&#8221; Why does Casey have to say thing like that?<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">Clara walked into the room and sat down. Coco the cat jumped up on her lap and curled into a ball.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">4.) Comma-ing Action Beats &#8211;&nbsp;<\/span>This error is very easy to fix, but a tough habit to break. I know I did this one a lot when I was younger. An action beat is an action placed next to dialog to define the speaker and to show emotion. When you connect the dialog and the action beat with a comma that&#8217;s incorrect. You can&#8217;t &#8220;throw the ball&#8221; your words. Let me show you.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b>Incorrect:<\/b> Jace threw the ball, &#8220;Catch it!&#8221;<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b>Correct:<\/b> Jace threw the ball. &#8220;Catch it!&#8221;<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/4\/41\/Baseball.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><span style=\"color: black; font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" border=\"0\" height=\"213\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/4\/41\/Baseball.jpg\" width=\"320\" \/><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">5.) Action &amp; Reaction &#8211; &nbsp;<\/span>This is a writing technique error. Action and reaction means when you sense something then you react to it. You can&#8217;t react to something then see it\/hear it\/sense it and neither can your characters. It&#8217;s out of order. These are a little harder to root out, but you&#8217;ll get the hang of it. \ud83d\ude42<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b>Incorrect:<\/b> I gasped and ducked. The wolf leaped toward me.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b>Correct:<\/b> The wolf leaped toward me. I gasped and ducked.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">6.) Massive Paragraphs &#8211; &nbsp;<\/span>I used to do this so bad. I&#8217;d have massive paragraphs ten lines long. I know we&#8217;ve seen it done in old books or we just do it because &#8230; well we don&#8217;t really know why it just kind of happened &#8230;<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">But for modern day writing it&#8217;s a lot better on the eyes if you trim these big babies down especially when there&#8217;s a lot of them in one place. I like keeping mine to an average of four or five lines. I&#8217;ve seen some people go a little bit longer. But if you make one that&#8217;s half of the page use your enter key <i>a lot<\/i>.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">7.) Caps &#8211; &nbsp;<\/span>Using caps in blog posts and chatting and texting is fine, but using them in writing looks amateur. I&#8217;ve seen them used on rare occasions, but using them too much makes you look less professional and sometimes it just gets annoying. \ud83d\ude1b Italics can easily be used to replace caps if you want to emphasize a word (but don&#8217;t go crazy with them like I&#8217;ll discuss in the next tip), but using them for yelling is unnecessary.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b><br \/>\nIncorrect:<\/b> &#8220;I am NOT going to do that!&#8221; Steven yelled. &#8220;YOU CAN&#8217;T MAKE ME!&#8221;<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b>Correct: <\/b>&#8220;I am <i>not<\/i> going to do that!&#8221; Steven yelled. &#8220;You can&#8217;t make me!&#8221;<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;\">8.) Overuse of Italics &#8211;&nbsp;<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">Italics are used for letters or writing like that in books and also for emphasizing a word, but if you emphasize every other word italics lose their power.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b><br \/>\nIncorrect:<\/b> &#8220;You <i>are<\/i> going to go take out the trash <i>right now<\/i> or I&#8217;m taking away <i>your <\/i>video games for a <i>month<\/i>.&#8221; Mom said slowly. &#8220;Stop giving<i> me<\/i> back talk.&#8221;<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b>Correct:<\/b>&nbsp;&#8220;You <i>are<\/i> going to go take out the trash right now or I&#8217;m taking away your video games.&#8221; Mom said slowly. &#8220;Stop giving me back talk.&#8221;<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/fartheroutnearerto.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/10\/ice-cream-cones.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><span style=\"color: black; font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" border=\"0\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/fartheroutnearerto.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/10\/ice-cream-cones.jpg?resize=254%2C320\" width=\"254\" \/><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">9.) Which &amp; That &#8211; <\/span>These words have their use as with any word, but a lot of times they&#8217;re not needed and just bog down sentences. They often lead to long sentences that&#8217;d be better off chopped in half or thirds even. Do a word search for these as with some of the previous words I&#8217;m mentioned to see how often you use them. You can be amazed how many will show up.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b>Incorrect: <\/b>Jamie walked to the Tom&#8217;s with Sam and Ty, which was her favorite ice cream parlor. She purchased Pistachio, that was her favorite.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b>Correct: <\/b>Jamie walked with Sam and Ty to her favorite ice cream parlor, Tom&#8217;s. She purchased Pistachio, her favorite flavor.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">10.) As &amp; -Ing &#8211;&nbsp;<\/span>This little word and this little suffix are used to say two things are happening at the same time. The thing is I&#8217;ve seen them used and the things listed can&#8217;t happen at the same time. It just isn&#8217;t possible&#8211;even for Superman.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b>Incorrect: <\/b>Putting on his suit, Superman flew to Metropolis and scooped up Lois Lane out of the jaws of the alien monster as he ate a taco and watched the Yankee game.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b>Correct: <\/b>Superman put on his suit. He flew to Metropolis and scooped up Lois Lane out of the jaws of the alien monster. After he returned to Smallville, he and Lois ate tacos and watched the Yankee game.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">(Note: This is a lot of telling, but I couldn&#8217;t help the Superman thing lol.)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">11.) Was, Were, and Went &#8211; <\/span>These are weak and vague verbs. If you can avoid using them do so. Omitting them as much as possible also allows for stronger verbs. These words are sometimes the only words that can do the job, but if another one can do it better, type in that one. Sometimes you&#8217;ll have to consult a thesaurus, but it&#8217;ll make your writing much more powerful.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b>Incorrect: <\/b>There was a box resting on my doorstep. I went over to it.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b>Correct: <\/b>A box rested on my doorstep. I walked up the driveway to it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">12.) Passive Writing &#8211; &nbsp;<\/span>This is another place where &#8220;Was&#8221; likes to crash the paragraph party. Passive writing slows down the pacing. of your story and gets tedious.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b>Incorrect:<\/b> Lucy was killed by John.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b>Correct: <\/b>John killed Lucy.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;\"><b>Do you catch yourself doing any of these? Do you have any questions about them? What are some other common writing errors you&#8217;ve noticed?<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"background-color: white; clear: both; line-height: 20.79px;\">\n<b><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">You may also like:<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"background-color: white; clear: both;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/2013\/08\/harnessing-pain-for-your-writing.html\">Harnessing Pain for Your Writing<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"background-color: white; clear: both;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;times&quot; , &quot;freeserif&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; line-height: 20.790000915527344px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/2013\/06\/do-you-lack-passion-in-your-writing.html\">Do You Lack Passion in Your Writing? A Guest Post by Lauren Claire<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"background-color: white; clear: both; line-height: 20.79px;\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/2013\/04\/how-to-make-your-fantasy-world-feel-real.html\" style=\"color: #bf9000; text-decoration: none;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">How to Make Your Fantasy World Feel Real<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"background-color: white; clear: both; line-height: 20.79px;\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/2013\/04\/reeling-in-your-reader-guest-post-by.html\" style=\"color: #bf9000; text-decoration: none;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">Reeling In Your Reader: A Guest Post by Lauren Claire<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"background-color: white; clear: both; line-height: 20.79px;\">\n<span style=\"color: #bf9000; font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; text-decoration: none;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/2013\/04\/five-tips-on-writing-good-main-character.html\" style=\"color: #bf9000; text-decoration: none;\">Five Tips on Writing A Good Main Character<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the past couple of weeks I&#8217;ve been critiquing several young writers&#8217; works. I like helping them out, and it helps sharpen my eyes for critiquing my own works. But while I was doing it, I noticed some errors common in all of them and were also very common in my own past writing. When &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Twelve Rookie Writer Mistakes and How to Mend Them<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[54],"class_list":["post-11183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-writing-tips"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Twelve Rookie Writer Mistakes and How to Mend Them - Wanderer&#039;s Pen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Twelve Rookie Writer Mistakes and How to Mend Them - Wanderer&#039;s Pen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For the past couple of weeks I&#8217;ve been critiquing several young writers&#8217; works. I like helping them out, and it helps sharpen my eyes for critiquing my own works. But while I was doing it, I noticed some errors common in all of them and were also very common in my own past writing. When &hellip; Twelve Rookie Writer Mistakes and How to Mend Them Read More &raquo;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wanderer&#039;s Pen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-08-24T20:28:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-12T22:14:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/RookieWriter.png?fit=1280%2C853&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Victoria Grace Howell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Victoria Grace Howell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Victoria Grace Howell\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#\/schema\/person\/7a44162284e065d06efefff684584955\"},\"headline\":\"Twelve Rookie Writer Mistakes and How to Mend Them\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-24T20:28:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-12T22:14:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/\"},\"wordCount\":1469,\"commentCount\":6,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/RookieWriter.png?fit=1280%2C853&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"Writing Tips\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/\",\"name\":\"Twelve Rookie Writer Mistakes and How to Mend Them - Wanderer&#039;s Pen\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/RookieWriter.png?fit=1280%2C853&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-24T20:28:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-12T22:14:17+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/RookieWriter.png?fit=1280%2C853&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/RookieWriter.png?fit=1280%2C853&ssl=1\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":853},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/\",\"name\":\"Wanderer&#039;s Pen\",\"description\":\"&quot;Wandering through worlds, real and fictional&quot;\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Wanderer&#039;s Pen\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Inukshuk.icon_.tn_-e1567372691732.png?fit=150%2C150&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Inukshuk.icon_.tn_-e1567372691732.png?fit=150%2C150&ssl=1\",\"width\":150,\"height\":150,\"caption\":\"Wanderer&#039;s Pen\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#\/schema\/person\/7a44162284e065d06efefff684584955\",\"name\":\"Victoria Grace Howell\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Victoria Grace Howell\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/author\/01849013182543674707\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Twelve Rookie Writer Mistakes and How to Mend Them - Wanderer&#039;s Pen","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Twelve Rookie Writer Mistakes and How to Mend Them - Wanderer&#039;s Pen","og_description":"For the past couple of weeks I&#8217;ve been critiquing several young writers&#8217; works. I like helping them out, and it helps sharpen my eyes for critiquing my own works. But while I was doing it, I noticed some errors common in all of them and were also very common in my own past writing. When &hellip; Twelve Rookie Writer Mistakes and How to Mend Them Read More &raquo;","og_url":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/","og_site_name":"Wanderer&#039;s Pen","article_published_time":"2013-08-24T20:28:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-09-12T22:14:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":853,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/RookieWriter.png?fit=1280%2C853&ssl=1","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Victoria Grace Howell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Victoria Grace Howell","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/"},"author":{"name":"Victoria Grace Howell","@id":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#\/schema\/person\/7a44162284e065d06efefff684584955"},"headline":"Twelve Rookie Writer Mistakes and How to Mend Them","datePublished":"2013-08-24T20:28:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-12T22:14:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/"},"wordCount":1469,"commentCount":6,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/RookieWriter.png?fit=1280%2C853&ssl=1","keywords":["Writing Tips"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/","url":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/","name":"Twelve Rookie Writer Mistakes and How to Mend Them - Wanderer&#039;s Pen","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/RookieWriter.png?fit=1280%2C853&ssl=1","datePublished":"2013-08-24T20:28:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-12T22:14:17+00:00","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/twelve-rookie-writer-mistakes-and-how\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/RookieWriter.png?fit=1280%2C853&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/RookieWriter.png?fit=1280%2C853&ssl=1","width":1280,"height":853},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#website","url":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/","name":"Wanderer&#039;s Pen","description":"&quot;Wandering through worlds, real and fictional&quot;","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#organization","name":"Wanderer&#039;s Pen","url":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Inukshuk.icon_.tn_-e1567372691732.png?fit=150%2C150&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Inukshuk.icon_.tn_-e1567372691732.png?fit=150%2C150&ssl=1","width":150,"height":150,"caption":"Wanderer&#039;s Pen"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#\/schema\/person\/7a44162284e065d06efefff684584955","name":"Victoria Grace Howell","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"Victoria Grace Howell"},"url":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/author\/01849013182543674707\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/RookieWriter.png?fit=1280%2C853&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11183"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11185,"href":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11183\/revisions\/11185"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}