TT #19: Ways To Screw Up a Manuscript

Yes, these are all things I have done. Yes, I regret them all.

1 – Say over and over in one chapter that the hero’s eyes are a vivid blue then mention how brown they are two chapters later.

2 – Fall in love with the word “That”, or “As” and refuse to get rid of a couple hundred usages.

3 – Include more than two exclamation marks in a paragraph.

4 – Forget to include any setting details.

5 – Let the hero come off looking like a total jerk for most of the book just because he’s that kind of guy.

6 – Fall in love with passive tense and refuse to get rid of it.

7 – Write dialogue that doesn’t move the plot forward at all because it’s what the characters would say at a time like that. “Oh no! You mustn’t!” “Oh, but I must”

8 – Use words like “oh” and “looked” and “just”, and “Glock” way too often.

9 – Lose track of who was talking so I put the dialogue tag in the wrong place.

10- Make a sentence so long and convoluted it not only takes up a whole paragraph but fills the page.

11- Switch out every flipping verb for something action packed so I end up slamming into the car seat instead of getting into the car and verbally attacking the butler instead of telling him he stinks, and generally sounding like an episode of Batman and Robin. Bam! Pow! Woof!

12- Forgetting that I want the reader to come away with a clear and particular emotion.

13- Confuse all these bad habits with my voice.