5 Mistakes Writer Make

1.  Stop Reading: 

             A piece of advice given that was given to me, when I started to dream of becoming a writer was to stop reading so much.  If given in the hopes of helping time management, it would have been valid advice, but it wasn't.  People say stop reading to avoid plagiarism and making you piece too much like all the others.  This is not advice you want to follow.  In fact, read everything.  Read whats in your genre, read whats outside of your genre.  The only way to become a truly outstanding author is to know what works, and sadly what doesn't.  Don't be afraid of plagiarism, unless you take the Hunger games, change the names and put your name as the author.  (Don't do that).  If you have ever heard, there is no idea under the sun, well, it applies here.  Find out what is working in the published books, then change it, mold it, and utilize it for your own purposes.

2.  Trying to be Completely Original: 

            There is no new idea under the sun.  Like seriously.  If you try to hard to make a story like nothing ever printed before, it probably will not be printed.  There is a reason those books were published.  Now, I am not saying write only towards the audience.  Write what you want, and how you want.  But, if your sole purpose is to make something completely original, then you are going to be hard pressed to find any material for you work.

3.  Never Using Said: 

              But every where, people say that 'Said' is an over used word.  Well, there is a reason for that; people say a lot of things.   When reading, conversation should be fluid and constant.  You want the reader to be lost in the story.  If the dialogue is constantly broken up with "she exclaimed," "He shouted," "He whimpered," ect. Then the flow will be broken.  People don't even register the said, because it is used so often.  Now don't take this to mean that you ALWAYS have to use said.  Those other words are great, but if you used them for every dialogue tag, they will lose their power.

4.  Not Planning: 

             I like 'winging it' as much as the next writer, but you can never lose the benefits of good planning.  An outline can save your life, and the life of your story.  At least have a general knowledge of what is going to happen and how.  Often stories lose steam because the author has no idea where to take them.

5.  Focusing too Much on Planning:

               But you just said..... Yes, plan!  But, if your story no longer fits you plan, don't be afraid to change it.  Sometimes short stories need to be novels, and a character needs to live, even after you have already written the death scene.  One of the worst mistakes a writer can make is thinking they control the story.  Stories are living breathing creatures, we are just slowly and surly drawing them out of the shadows.