Ierrech
Holy shit I regret typing this on mobile. Please forgive any mobile grammar mistakes lol. Lesson 1. Don't type this long ass response on mobile.
I'll start by saying that I believe I started out far better than most beginners. So, I made less mistakes than most beginners. That's not to say that those that started out worse than me won't surpass me. They very well might =p. Writing, like any skill, requires a lot of practice to improve regardless of how good you are when you start.
That being said. Here are my main mistakes for Uniform System. My first novel. I've listed them in order of most severe mistakes to minor mistakes.
1. No major goal introduced early on. I actually liked doing this, as it allowed my character more freedom in finding himself. But it also meant there was no real story or plot. Just a sequence of events about our MC.
Lesson Learned:
In my 2nd novel I made sure to introduce MCs major goals/aspirations relatively early. Some of those aspirations actually changed slightly as time went on and the character developed. Point is, make sure you give MC a major longterm goal/dream from the beginning.
2. Writing flow. This was mainly caused by my lack of familiarity with writing. I used characters names way too often. Go skim ch1 of Uniform System. Gaurentee almost every paragraph starts with MCs name. It's irritating to the reader and takes them out of the flow. I didn't start fixing this until around chapter 13. Then I rapidly improved from there.
Lesson Learned:
Don't repeat character names more than needed. Use he/she more if possible. Also, add some flair to the speaking. In Uniform System I kept writing James spoke, "blablabla". In my 2nd novel I try to not use 'spoke' as it's boring and tells us nothing. Instead I do things like Ed frowned, "blablabla." Or Ed rose an eyebrow while giving the man a suspicious look. "Blablabla". These little tidbits explain character emotions and expands their personality while breaking up the large chunks of dialogue I tend to write.
3. Poor planning. Like I said earlier, I entered that 1st contest for shiggles. There was no plan. Still, the 1st volume went suprisingly smoothly. Then I hit the 2nd volume. BOOM! Writers block! Each chapter was difficult to write. I felt they weren't interesting. There was no real arc or goal for the 2nd volume at all. I didn't know where MC was going or who he was meeting. This caused my writing time to take nearly twice as long and still resulted in worse quality.
Lesson Learned: Plan a basic outline. I still probably do less than I should here. But when starting the 2nd volume of my current novel I atleast knew the major arc and goal of that volume first. I also try to plan out atleast a few chapters worth of major events in advance. I dont always stick to those plans strictly, but they serve as my guidelamps on the way. My writing quality improved as a result, as did my writing time.
Those 3 above were my major mistakes. I have other minor ones I don't feel are worth mentioning/listing.
Now, lets talk about mistakes other authors make that I didn't. I see these constantly and they're irritating. Every item listed below is something I believe I did really well right from the beginning, but other authors seem to screw up a lot.
1. GRAMMAR. Sorry, but my grammar is really damn good for not having an editor. So many grammar mistakes. People use commas wrong so much. Or don't use them at all. Or are lazy in their editing, which is just as important as the writing. At the very least authors need to learn:
Proper commas. Not sure? Read it aloud. If you naturally pause somewhere in a sentence then it probably needs a comma. When in doubt leave it out or divide up the sentences more.
He/She. Many authors don't understand possessive he/she. For example, they'll write "He didn't like her own Sister." This is wrong. It's his sister. If unsure then google possessive he/she.
To vs too. Google it if you don't know it.
They/their/they're. Learn the difference.
Then vs than. Same as above.
There are others. I used to struggle with some of these back in middle school. But the answers are easily searchable if this is your weak point.
2. Characters. Don't make 1 dimensional characters. Plan out their personality and give them their own motivations. A character should never exist to serve as an accessory for the MC unless they are a very minor throw away character. For that matter, make your MC have more than 1 dimension as well.
I think characters is probably what I'm best at. They may not be the most badass at the start, but I gaurentee they'll only become more interesting as time goes on and they continially experience character growth.
3. Don't force your MC to do something because of X. This is a common mistake and I've made minor versions of it myself. Example, MC is forced to go to magic school by his father. He goes to school and learns magic. Bad writing. The MC is just following the plot flow, which is boring. Make sure the MC is directing the story. It's his adventure and he must suffer the consquences of his own decisions. Same example, but now good writing. Father attempts to force MC to go to magic school. MC pretends to go but really runs away to join the thieves guild instead. He directed the flow. It's his adventure now! Not his fathers path.
4. Lack of conflict. Conflict drives the story. Man vs man. Man vs nature. Man vs himself. Got writers block? You need to introduce more conflict. This also ties in with #3 about MC driving story.
Bad example: Arrogant villian kidnaps Lazy swordmasters wife. He is now forced to not be lazy and display his skills to save her! He slayed his enemies in cold blood to rescue his beloved! This is bad writing. Good conflict, but now MC is following the story flow instead of directing it.
Good example: Arrogant villian kidnaps Lazy swordmasters wife. He refuses to go against his lazy nature, so he outwits the arrogant villian using his superior intellect. Lazy swordmaster gets drunk at a noblemans party. He frames the arrogant villian for a crime of stealing the nobles jewels. This was done while exerting little effort. The villian is arrested and swordmaster is reunited with his wife! He directed the plot instead of doing the expected. So this is good writing.
5. Don't focus too much on other people's stories. Look for writing flow styles and ideas. Don't try and copy them. I actually made a serious attempt at writing once before I ever even learned about webnovel. I basically tried ripping off Coiling Dragon. I spent more time and effort writing 4 chapters of it than I did writing 10 chapters of Uniform System. The result? It was absolute shit. I keep those 4 chapters around as a reminder of not to do that.
6. This is my personal lesson also related to those 4 chapters mentioned above. I imagine some other authors do this too. Don't waste tons of time on pointless research. Those 4 chapters I wrote? I dug into tons of greek mythology and symbolism. Every name had a significant background and symbolic meaning. Fucking hell, what a waste of my time. Know what I did for my novel currently raked top 100? Gave MC my nickname of Ed. Named his rival Jake after the dude from state farm. Not even joking. Some other names I atleast put some thought into. Dupe was named after his powers with his real name Nick being based off of Akumetsu, which inspired the character. Mr. Ardy was a pun of Research & Design(R&D haha, get it?). Hell, I named a guard after the penguin from adventure time just for the hell of it lol. Point is, unless it's essential to your novel theme (historical for example) don't waste tons of time on useless research that 99% of readers won't care about or appreciate.
7. Perhaps the most important. This one is subjective. Make sure the story is interesting!
