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    How to Avoid 10 Writing Misteaks: The Top 10 Fatal Errors Made by Novices Writing Fiction and Non-fiction
    How to Avoid 10 Writing Misteaks: The Top 10 Fatal Errors Made by Novices Writing Fiction and Non-fiction
    How to Avoid 10 Writing Misteaks: The Top 10 Fatal Errors Made by Novices Writing Fiction and Non-fiction
    Ebook70 pages31 minutes

    How to Avoid 10 Writing Misteaks: The Top 10 Fatal Errors Made by Novices Writing Fiction and Non-fiction

    By OverDog Press

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    About this ebook

    The manuscript of the book you have written will probably have only one chance to impress each publishing house. Don't ruin that chance by unknowingly including errors you could have easily avoided. If you are self-publishing, then don't turn off your readers with the top 10 fatal writing errors described in this ebook.

    You may have a great story to tell, either fiction or non-fiction, but HOW you tell it is crucial. The classic and preventable mistakes detailed in "How to Avoid 10 Writing Misteaks" are gleaned from Euan Mitchell's 20 years in the industry as an author, editor, publisher and lecturer.

    Solutions to each mistake are provided in a concise, clear format with numerous examples. Ignore at your own peril!
    (Global edition.)

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOverDog Press
    Release dateMar 15, 2013
    ISBN9780975797938
    How to Avoid 10 Writing Misteaks: The Top 10 Fatal Errors Made by Novices Writing Fiction and Non-fiction
    Author

    OverDog Press

    OverDog Press is a small publisher based in Melbourne, Australia.

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      Book preview

      How to Avoid 10 Writing Misteaks - OverDog Press

      How to Avoid 10 Writing Misteaks:

      The Top 10 Fatal Errors Made by Novices Writing Fiction and Non-fiction

      by Euan Mitchell

      Smashwords Edition, updated 2015

      Published by OverDog Press, 2015

      ISBN: 978-0-9757979-3-8

      Copyright of text and diagrams © Euan Mitchell, 2013, 2015. All rights reserved.

      Copyright of cartoon © Robert Stephenson, 2000. All rights reserved.

      The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

      For permission to reproduce, store or transmit any part of this book, please email the publisher: info@overdogpress.com

      Cover design by Les Thomas, Phil Campbell and Euan Mitchell with imagery from ShutterStock.

      Author photo by Mackenzie Photography.

      Please note: all care has been taken in the preparation of this ebook. However, the publisher and author shall have no liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by the information contained herein.

      Contents

      Introduction

      Mistake #1

      Confusing Tenses

      Mistake #2

      Confusing Points of View

      Mistake #3

      Leaving the Editing to a Publisher

      Mistake #4

      Relying Too Much on Second-hand Sources

      Mistake #5

      Writing a History When You Intend a Story

      Mistake #6

      Creating a Mary Sue or Gary Stu Book

      Mistake #7

      Telling Too Much, Showing Too Little

      Mistake #8

      Overusing Adjectives and Adverbs

      Mistake #9

      Using Dialogue for Exposition Instead of Conflict

      Mistake #10

      Repeating Idiosyncratic Tics in Your Expression

      The Next Steps

      Other Ebooks in the Series for Writers

      About the Author

      Introduction

      Publishers routinely reject book manuscripts submitted by new and emerging writers due to errors that can easily be avoided. Readers are turned off by self-published books with errors that can easily be avoided. The trick is to know what these fatal errors are before presenting your work, so you are not dismissed as a lazy or inexperienced writer. Forewarned is forearmed.

      Running a spellcheck is a start but not enough. The grammar checker can be misleading. Well-meaning family or friends who offer to proofread your writing because they enjoy armchair pedantry as a hobby, or won spelling bees at school, often fail to understand this does not qualify them as professional editors. What was acceptable for educational purposes may be inadequate for professional purposes. It is far harder to be discovered via the ever-growing slush piles of submissions to publishers’ offices than to earn an A+ for a writing assignment.

      The following misteaks are gleaned from more than two decades of working with new and emerging writers through publishing companies, public workshops and universities. They are ranked according to how readily the mistakes expose the writer as an amateur. And we are not simply talking about irritating thai-poes here, but deeper flaws in a writer’s approach to their craft.

      These flaws persist day after day, year after year, slush pile after slush pile, yet too few writers ever bother to learn what killed their chances with a publisher or reader. Too often they are busy working on their next masterpiece with the same flaws, on a fast track to anonymity. Publishers often reject such submissions after reading the first page – next! I know, I’ve done it myself many times. If only those writers would take a little extra time to read this short ebook, they could save

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