I’ve been thinking about this for a while. More accurately, I’ve been thinking about this with regards to recognising and correcting these in my own writing, and what I’ve noticed by reading fanfic.
To start, I need to say one thing: fanfic is, in my opinion, the best thing that can happen to a writer. Through writing fanfic, you can grow so much. This is your chance to make all of your mistakes and learn from them. This is also your chance to read other fanfic and see those mistakes and realise why you shouldn’t make them, to be inspired by the ability of someone else who is also not a professional writer, and to be exposed to the different styles that are out there.
Through my own writing of fanfic and being a published author myself, I often find myself being hyper-aware of these common writing mistakes that I made when starting off and if I’m honest, find myself still making (luckily I catch them). I recognised the ones I made (some cringe-worthy) and now I see them all the time when I read fanfic from someone just starting off. So, I’ve decided to compile a list. In no particular order, I’m going to identify some important things for beginner writers to be aware of, and provide some advice on these things.
Warning: there are probably going to be some SPaG mistakes in this post because I’m human and this is not Offical™ or anything. This is aimed at those just starting out on this whole writing thing. Also, this is by no means a full list and is, technically, entirely based on my opinion because I’m pulling from personal experience. If you’d like to add on, feel free.
I’m going to start off with descriptions in writing, and the common pitfalls beginner writers can find themselves falling into with them. So, let’s get cracking.
Descriptions
What seems to be a huge pitfall is writing descriptions. I’m going to break this into two parts: scene and character. Also, for the record, I’ve made these mistakes A LOT in the past. So trust me, I know the struggle.
When writing a scene, it is a common beginners mistake to describe too much. If you go to the bookstore and pick up a few fiction novels, you’ll notice that every detail of a scene isn’t being described. The protagonist might be on a mountainside with a breathtaking view, but there isn’t a lot of description for their surroundings, yet you see it perfectly. I’d recommend thinking of a scene you think is really well done and that you know well in a book (or fic) and describing it for yourself, without looking at the actual passage. Write it out. How much did you describe? What did you describe? Now look at the actual passage, and compare. Odds are that you describe more than is in the passage.
A lot of the time when we start by describing things, we tend to want to describe everything. In our minds, we see it so clearly and we want so badly for everyone else to see it, too. But that is not necessary. Search for the essence of what you are saying. The point of a description tends to be because we want to evoke a feeling in relation to what we are describing. We over describe the scene because we want the reader to get how magnificent or how gross something is. It isn’t necessary. All you need to do is describe the things that are vital to the scene, and that is a lot less than everything. Try describing the bigger things, the things that in real life draw your attention first. These are often times what evokes the emotion. The small things you realise later or add on to that emotion.
Information dumping is a common mistake as well. You don’t have to describe everything at one time. It will be much more effective to pepper it in than give two solid pages of description to the building the character just walked into. Try breaking up your description, including the absolutely necessary description only at first. Then, pepper the rest in as the scene goes along. Keep in mind, you might not need all of the descriptions you wrote. A good rule to follow if you aren’t sure if something is necessary is that when you’re peppering in the rest, don’t include it unless motivated. Do we need to know the bar stool is red? Because your reader doesn’t really care unless it is important in the future (ie: has a significance, is going to be referred to in future and needs an identity marker, etc).
This part can be hard because you know it’s red and you see it in your mind’s eye as red, and this is your story that you want the reader to get an accurate view of in their mind’s eye. The thing is, your writing will be better if you leave that out. You know it’s red, but your reader’s don’t need to know that. It doesn’t matter in the story.
This brings me to characters because the most common mistake I see with characters is the description of the character. This comes in the form of background, physical appearance, and personality. I like to think of the ‘show don’t tell’ rule. In writing that goes to not explicitly saying a character is stubborn, but letting their actions show this. The reader will know they are stubborn, you don’t have to tell them. And if the reader doesn’t know they are stubborn at the end of the book, then you’ve got a problem. You can’t claim a trait and not use it. Why even claim it if you’re doing that?
Over-describing with background and physical description is really common. I used to do this all the time, too. In fact, I cringe hard every time I think of my first fanfic. I like to think of JK Rowling here. I remember her saying once (in an interview or something) that she has so much information on the Harry Potter world that she hasn’t shared. She knows all this information because it is the world she built, but she hasn’t shared it. Why? Because it wasn’t relevant.
You’re going to know more about your characters and the world you built than your reader. It’s just a fact. And you know what? That’s okay. Everybody else doesn’t have to know all of the background. Why? Because it’s not important to the story. If it is important, you’ll end up showing or describing it when it becomes relevant. You won’t get out of it. So, save the information. You might use it at some point, or you might not. Whatever happens, it’ll be fine. Your writing will be better for it.
A character’s physical description can be a real pitfall that new (and experienced!) writers fall into. I’m pretty sure the first time I described my protagonist in my first fanfic I had a solid four paragraphs on her physical appearance. Even later, I found myself writing several sentences on it. It was really important to me to describe the exact eye colour they had (shade and all), and the exact way their hair fell. It was ridiculous. It was unnecessary.
You should only describe your character’s physical appearance if it is relevant if it is motivated. 99% of the time it doesn’t matter that the protagonist has shiny blonde hair with a pixie cut, high arched eyebrows, teardrop lips, soft pale skin, and steel grey eyes. Now, if a person matching that description was under orders to be executed and had a price on their head, okay. Include it. But the reason you included it is that you had the motivation to do so. Also, keeping physical descriptions for later can make a moment more significant. Character A sharing a moment with Character B and noticing their hair has natural gold highlights in it, that makes it more intimate. More significant. Learning that information then and there made the moment. If you don’t get the motivation to describe it, then you don’t describe it. It won’t be missed.
If you’ve got any questions, feel free to send me an ask or a message.
