Avoid These 6 Common Mistakes as a New Writer

I beta read regularly for new writers and this is what I often find: we don’t half fancy ourselves when we first start out.

Honestly, we haven't got a clue. We think it's never been done before; it's fabulous and unique. Ok, sometimes it really is. But that's rare. Generally what happens is we assume our story is ready to go from the very first draft. When it comes to finding out about your writing skills, you need to be realistic about your first offerings. In my experience these are the most common mistakes new writers make.

Usually you'll want to stop their mouths up with cotton balls ... but this is their time to shine.

1. Buy into the Family/Friend Fan Club

Your family tell you you can write. The younger you are, the more praise and adoration will be showered on your masterpiece. Not in anyway patronising or indulgent, oh no.

Look, here's the truth. You’re not going to get much truth from friends and family. They truly believe. They also truly lie. Yes, pedants it's an oxymoron, but you get the gist. Stretch that imagination. If you're lucky, though, you might have a Special One among the clan. You know the one: their mouth has no cover. They don't know how to filter. Their top lip flaps permanently from verbal diarrhoea.

Usually you'll want to stop up their gob with cement. Now is not the time; this is their time to shine. Hold on to these rare gems. Let them point out the harsher truths about your writing and save yourself a bellyful of heartache down the line.

2. They Believe Someone Will Steal Their Idea

No, they really won't. Because we writers are far too in love with our own and think that your story is poo. So don't waste time hiding your masterpiece, or plotting how to ensure it doesn't get carted off by some talentless hack. Almost every story idea has been already written. Chances are if you think it's fantastic, it's already been done. And even in science fiction it's a race against time—no pun.

3. They Believe Their Plot is Unique

Look, even so-called unprecedented real life disasters can't manage to be unique. Although we've still got space to explore. Outer space, to be specific.

Ever heard of, or read the The Wreck of the Titan by Morgan Robertson? The similarities with the real RMS Titanic are endless. Here's a few, taken from Wikipedia:

• Similar names.

• Both were described as the largest craft afloat and the greatest of the works of men.

• The Titan was 800 feet long, displacing 75,000 tons (up from 45,000 in the 1898 edition).

• The Titanic was 882 feet long, displacing 46,000 tons.

• Described as "unsinkable".

• Had triple screw (propeller)

• Shortage of lifeboats.

• Struck an iceberg.

• The Titan, moving at 25 knots, struck an iceberg on the starboard side on a night of April, in the North Atlantic, 400 nautical miles (740 km; 460 mi) from Newfoundland (Terranova).

• The Titanic, moving at 22½ knots, struck an iceberg on the starboard side on the night of April 14, 1912, in the North Atlantic, 400 nautical miles (740 km; 460 mi) from Newfoundland (Terranova).

• The Titan sank, and the majority of her 2,500 passengers and crew died; only 13 survived.

• The Titanic sank, and 1,523 of her 2,200 passengers and crew died; 705 survived.

• The Titan and Titanic both sank on a night in the month of April.

Yet no one could accuse the author Morgan Robertson of plagiarism. He wrote his fictional tale The Wreck of the Titan fourteen years before the real life tragedy of The Titanic.

4. They Haven't Checked for Grammar and Spelling

It's crucial to get your work checked by someone with a good grasp of the language. Here's why. Some of your readers will know how to form sentences. Some will be teachers, and some will be fully paid up members of the grammar police. And some are looking for one mistake: just one. It's their mission in life.

While you don't have to genuflect grammatically to these particular gods, respect your product and give it the best look you can. Even as they're dissing you, these readers are your eyes and ears and can provide great market research as well as being an excellent tool for improving your work.

Almost everyone misses the odd typo; it's not going to murder a good story. But take your time. Take a break; a long one. I don't mean just a three-hour lunch break: I mean days, weeks, even months. Then look at your work again. Or use a professional.

However you do it, just get a fresh pair of eyes on your work, even if they're your own. You will be surprised at what you see.

Don't expect to sell and make millions unless you love putting yourself on Twitter and Instagramming yourself all over the place.

5. They Expect to Sell Their Finished Story Immediately

Most writers, being either naive or conceited egoists, expect that the world will love their debut novel: how can you not? It's so fantastic. Oh, dear me, no. You will have to showcase and plug to get sales of a certain level. If you're a shazy like me (shy-lazy), and all you want to do really is show others the pitfalls, it might be a little bit more easy, but not that much. Don't expect to sell and make millions unless you love putting yourself on Twitter and Instagramming yourself all over the place.

6. They Fail to Do Any Research

I wouldn't accuse all new writers of this; many do write from personal experience and that's the flip side of this point. However some new writers just make it up as they go along. It's fiction but it has to be grounded in reality.

Don't have your character flying to Australia where everyone speaks French—or worse, to the Caribbean where they all sound like black Americans from the antebellum Deep South. "Yassa massa, dis po chile..." Nuh-uh. Do your research and get it right so that you don't get laughed off the literary stage on your first performance.

7. They Over-Explain

"It was the day that Burt was arrested. But the truth is he wasn't the one who'd committed that dreadful crime of crucifying all those poor squirrels. And this was because...the thing that really happened...what no one knew...huff puff..."

Really?

You don't have to tell all. Let the reader do some of the work. Otherwise it's like sitting in the cinema for the long-awaited movie and having someone that's seen it already reel it out line by line for you. Remember, you're the writer. Think of how poets do it. Tantalising us with their crazy opaque verses until we're insane. ("I think I can ... just ... make out what they mean...")

Most poets don't give us nuthin', not a clue. Your role is to spin a little mystery and intrigue. So let your reader find their own way some of the time.

Check your writing as you go along. Work at keeping all the above in check. Venture out from the shoe box beneath the bed. While remembering those most common and fallible assumptions that new writers have about venturing out.