Writing

Common Writing Mistakes You Should Avoid

The biggest, most sweeping mistake is to submit a first draft for publication. After typing “The End” on your final page, you may be tempted to consider the book done and immediately send it to the publisher. This is the biggest disservice you can do to your book. Put it aside for a day or two and then reread it. Pretend that you’ve never seen it before and keep an eye out for these common writing mistakes.

Verb Tense

Inconsistent verb tenses are among the smaller errors we frequently find and some of the hardest to fix. Typically, a book is written either in past tense (I walked quietly up to him) or present tense (I walk quietly up to him). Some authors flip-flop back and forth, sometimes in present tense, sometimes in past. If done deliberately (say, for flashbacks), it can be effective, but if it’s done randomly, it upsets the storytelling structure.

Possessives

Another common mistake is the misuse of possessives. The apostrophe-S construction is your friend here. Some authors misuse it or leave it out entirely.

CORRECT: We went to my brother’s house
INCORRECT: We went to my brothers house or We went to my brother house

And speaking of possessives, possessive pronouns don’t need an apostrophe. You would use his, hers, and ours, not his’, her’s, and our’s.

Additionally, please be careful not to use an apostrophe when making nouns plural.

CORRECT: Look at all the horses!
INCORRECT: Look at all the horse’s!

Dialogue Punctuation

Be careful about punctuating dialogue. The best way to learn how is to read published novels. Look at how the dialogue is written. Some things to note:

• Each new speaker gets his or her own paragraph, even if saying only one word.
• Dialogue is surrounded by quotation marks, and the end punctuation almost always goes inside the end quotation marks, like this: “I believe,” said Jerry, “that this is the best I have ever tasted!”

Paragraph Breaks

On the subject of paragraph breaks . . . please use them! We recently edited a 400-page book that was sent as one long paragraph. In addition to breaking up dialogue, paragraphs break up individual topics. Each new topic gets its own paragraph.

Subject-Verb Agreement

Be careful with subject-verb agreement. For example, you would say “Pete and Carol are my friends,” not “Pete and Carol is my friends.” Subjects and verbs have a number: singular or plural. When they don’t agree, the sentence doesn’t work.

In conclusion, the biggest error authors make in submitting their manuscripts is not to have them copyedited and proofread. Whether it’s done by AuthorHouse or by someone you know and trust, have a skilled editor go over your work carefully. You may have written the most important book of the year, but if readers can’t get past your spelling and grammar, your message is lost. If a reader thumbs through your book and finds nothing but mistakes, that book won’t be bought. You owe it to your readers, to yourself, and to your manuscript.