For this post, I thought I would do more of a fun topic for people who might want to get started with writing.  Over the last several years, I have picked up a lot of tips and tricks to help make my writing better.  However, what I have not really touched on is what you shouldn’t be doing while you’re writing.  There are a lot of common mistakes beginner writers make that almost automatically peg them as an amateur writer.  Luckily, there are a few easy tricks you can use to make sure you do not sound like a beginner.

My first piece of advice is to avoid using too many adjectives and descriptive words.  This is sometimes difficult to do.  It is very hard to figure out how much description is too much, but what beginner writers tend to do is describe EVERYTHING.  The trick is to only describe what is necessary (e.g. the scenery, a character’s facial features, etc.).  For example, if you’ve already established a character has black hair, you don’t need to mention the black hair in every scene that character is in.  You should also avoid describing too many things that are not essential to the plot. This is something amateur writers often do because they’re afraid of underwriting they’re scenes.  It’s okay if you overwrite your scenes during your first draft, but when you’re going through and editing for the second draft you should be looking out for any unnecessary descriptions that can be taken out.

The second thing I would avoid is info-dumping.  “Info-dumping” is basically an umbrella term for writing too much information at once. This mostly happens in fantasy or high adventure stories that require a lot of world building because the writer has the difficult task of explaining the universe their story takes place in (i.e. if the world has different food, currency, holidays, creatures, traditions, etc.).  However, it’s a common mistake many writers often make and I get so annoyed when I read a book with several info dumps because they’re just difficult to read. If you don’t know how to sprinkle your world building throughout the book, it’s pretty easy to they you’re an amateur writer.

Lastly, it’s very important to look out for word or phrase repetition.  This might seem like an obvious mistake, but even the best of writers make this error.  It can be something as simple as overusing “very” or “really,” but I’ve even come across writers overusing phrases like “to my chagrin” (this is big for Victoria Aveyard books) or “I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding” (namely in any Sarah J. Maas book, but I’ve seen it in others).

Although implementing these tips won’t automatically make you a writing pro, they’re easy mistakes you can fix that will make you’re writing so much better.  I admit I’m guilty of making some of these errors, but I’m working on it and I hope some of you find this helpful!

I know a lot of you previously commented on some of my posts that you don’t really care too much for writing poetry.  I totally get it.  I don’t even like writing it most of the time (I much prefer reading it).  However, this got me thinking: what if some of the words were already written and you just had to pick which words to put in your poem?  Then I remembered there is technically a form of poetry where you can do this!

It’s called “Blackout” poetry.  I had never seen this until my creative writing class senior year of high school, but it has been around for quite a while.  The premise of it is very simple.  All you have to do is find a page from an old newspaper, book, magazine, etc.  You also need to get a black marker or black pen (some people even use black paint if they’re really feeling ambitious).  The next step is to read the page you have selected and see if you can pick out certain words you think might make good lines for a poem.  A good idea is to circle the words as you go so you don’t forget which ones you picked.  Once you have circled all the words you want, you need to “blackout” all the other words on the page using the black pen or marker.  When you are done with this, you are left with a new original poem made from words already written on the page.

Of course, the method I just explained for this type of blackout poetry was pretty straightforward. There are many ways you can get way more creative with this!  This mainly has to do with howyou choose to “blackout” your words.  For example, instead of just coloring over all the other words on the page with the pen or marker, you could try and blackout in a pattern (i.e. stripes or polka dots) or even try and create a picture that corresponds with the poem.  The idea is to make it as visual as possible so the reader is not just looking at a piece of paper colored black with a few words circled.  It’s meant to be very inventive and I highly recommend this form of poetry to anyone who does not have the patience or inclination to write it. I’ve included some examples below to give you all some inspiration if you decide to try it.  Hopefully you will find this fun!

The other day, my little sister called me on the phone.  She wanted to know if there were any books on my bookshelf at home I would be willing to donate to the public library.  I have A LOT of books at home, so I asked her if she could read me some of the titles in order to determine which ones to donate.  We got through the main shelf rather quickly.  My sister thought we were done, but I have a pile on the second shelf underneath my desk containing most of the books I was forced to read during high school. I had forgotten about most of those books, mostly because I didn’t particularly enjoy them.   However, my sister read a title that caught me completely off guard.  The book is calledEats, Shoots, and Leaves.  It’s devoted entirely to the importance of grammar.

I know that probably sounds SUPER boring.  To be honest, I think I’m the only one in my English class who actually read the book. It didn’t tell a story or anything, but it talked about various misused bits of punctuation.  Some examples include: comma splicing, the difference between semicolons and colons, and the Oxford comma (something I really like using. I feel you should always use it when listing things).  Most importantly, it discusses how you can change the entire meaning of a sentence by adding a few bits of punctuation.  For example, the title comes from a sentence about a panda.  It goes something like “A panda was walks into a restaurant and eats shoots and leaves,” but when you add extra commas to it, the sentence turned into, “A panda walks into a restaurant and eats, shoots, and leaves.”  The first sentence sounds like the panda is eating shoots and leaves, while the second sentence made it sound like the panda ate his food, shot a gun, and left the restaurant (which totally makes no sense, but you get my point).

I mentioned before a lot of people didn’t even bother to read this book, and as uninteresting as it may sound it does teach a very important lesson.  We have to be careful of how we word our work, especially when we present it to other people.  I know it may seem trivial (and the example used was a little silly), but we cannot overlook the importance of grammar.  Sometimes when we just write for ourselves, we can get really sloppy. Then when it comes time to present written work, our bad writing habits have a chance to shine through.  We should always practice good writing habits, even though it might seem unimportant.

I know I said I was going to focus on other aspects of writing for my blog this semester, but I got an idea for a blog post last week and decided to make an exception this time. The other day, I was walking through the bookstore on campus.  Sometimes I like to browse through the books on the top floor just to see if there’s anything new in stock.  There’s a small section of shelves up there where they put books that people might enjoy as gifts.  Mostly they consist of diaries, planners, etc., but there was one book that caught my attention.  It’s called Wreck this Journal.  I had seen it before, maybe a couple years ago, but I had completely forgotten about it.

It’s similar to 642 Tiny Things to Write About, which I talked about last semester.  However, this new book doesn’t contain only writing prompts.  It includes little prompts such as: “Rip this page of the journal into little strips of paper.  What might they be used for?  What would you do with them?” or “Write in nail polish on this page as if it was graffiti. What would your tag be? What’s its significance?”

Basically, the goal is to become inspired by the chaos of whatever it is you created by wrecking the journal.  I find it to be a very interesting concept.  For someone like me, I’m really organized, but sometimes when I write I have noticed this approach can be a bit restrictive. Sometimes it’s really good to let loose and be creative, even if it seems messy.  It’s interesting to see what kind of ideas you can come up with if you’re challenged to step out of your comfort zone.

I did a little digging and I found out there are several new editions of the book (either ones that have been updated or ones that contain completely new prompts).  I know some writers are into journaling, but I’ve never actually tried it.  I think when I have time I would like to try it out.  I usually stick to outlines or small writing exercises, but sometimes they can get a little repetitive and I don’t always feel like they help very much. Trying something new definitely can’t hurt and will hopefully help my writing grow.  I’m really excited to do this so I’m hoping I can get my hands on a copy soon and find the time to start it!