Bad writing habits – Page 2 – Write Well, Write To Sell

Writing advice from author John Grisham

06/05/2017 Write Well, Write To Sell 390 Views bad writing habits, good writing techniques, John Grisham, rick taubold

From Rick: Shortly after writing last week’s blog on Reader Expectations, I came across an article that fit right in with that post. Here’s the link: JOHN GRISHAM’S DO’S AND DON’TS FOR WRITING POPULAR FICTION Grisham listed eight points. Because

Bad writing habits Basics of writing

Common writing mistakes—PART 5

05/09/2016 Write Well, Write To Sell 373 Views 0 Comments bad writing habits, editing tips, good writing techniques, novel writing, rick taubold, trademarks in writing

From Rick: This is the last installment (for now anyway) of my “Common Writing Mistakes” series. I subscribe to a few blogs that focus on writing techniques and tips, and I figured I’d end this series with a list of

Bad writing habits Basics of writing

Common writing mistakes—PART 4

05/02/2016 Write Well, Write To Sell 401 Views 0 Comments bad writing habits, good writing techniques, novel writing, overwriting, rick taubold, show don't tell, underwriting

From Rick: Last time, I talked about overwriting, and I gave you one modest example of it. In its mildest form, overwriting leads to over-explaining and to telling where you should be showing. At its worst, it results in manuscripts

Bad writing habits Basics of writing

Common writing mistakes—PART 3

04/25/201604/26/2016 Write Well, Write To Sell 393 Views 0 Comments bad writing habits, good writing techniques, newbie writing mistakes, overwriting, point of view, POV slips, rick taubold, story details

From Rick: This past week, I came across an excellent article from Anne Allen (whose blog I have linked to before) that points out ten things that will flag you as a beginner because they represent poor or weak writing

Bad writing habits

Common writing mistakes—PART 2

04/18/2016 Write Well, Write To Sell 375 Views 0 Comments bad writing habits, good writing techniques, rick taubold, weak writing

From Rick: Let’s continue where we left off last time with those common writing mistakes I encounter all too frequently. OVERUSE OF “AS” CLAUSES AND PARTICIPLE PHRASES: I feel as if I’ve beaten these two topics to death, but since

Bad writing habits Basics of writing Verb tenses

Common writing mistakes—PART 1

04/11/201608/21/2017 Write Well, Write To Sell 433 Views 0 Comments bad writing habits, editing tips, good writing techniques, rick taubold, self-editing

From Rick: Continuing our series on problems writers encounter, I want to mention the most common mistakes I see among new writers in particular. We’ve covered some of these before, but I thought it would be helpful to see them

Bad writing habits Basics of writing Dialogue

Dialog vs. correct grammar

02/29/201603/08/2016 Write Well, Write To Sell 404 Views 0 Comments bad wriitng habits, good writing habits, grammar in dialog, rick taubold, writing believable dialog

From Rick: I received a comment on last week’s post by Kellee regarding where to draw the line between correct grammar in our writing versus how our characters talk. As the commenter noted, Mark Twain often used idiosyncratic dialog. Twain

Bad writing habits Basics of writing Guest posts

Common mistakes

02/22/201602/25/2016 Write Well, Write To Sell 411 Views 0 Comments adverbs, bad writing habits, common writing mistakes, good writing techniques, Kellee Kranendonk, redundant writing

guest post by Kellee Kranendonk Over the next several weeks, I’ll be interspersing Scott’s and my posts with some posts on writing craft by Kellee Kranendonk. Kellee has given us a number of excellent posts in the past, so we’re

Bad writing habits Basics of writing Writing software

Out, damned participle phrase! out, I say!

02/08/201602/08/2016 Write Well, Write To Sell 571 Views 1 Comment bad writing habits, good writing techniques, rick taubold, self-editing

From Rick: For those unfamiliar with it (or who have forgotten the source) title of this post comes from Act 5, Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The original line (“Out, damned spot! out, I say!) is spoken by Lady Macbeth,

Bad writing habits

Weak words and faulty phrases

11/02/201504/18/2016 Write Well, Write To Sell 392 Views 1 Comment bad writing habits, good writing techniques, rick taubold, weak words, weakl words in writing

From Rick: Most of us have heard admonitions against using certain weak words and phrases, and I’ve talked about some of these previously: WEAK WRITING: THERE, IT, WAS If you do a Google search on “weak words” or “weak writing,”