hello
everybody today we're talking about
writing quirks and how to avoid them
a writing quirk is a pesky habit that
sneaks into your manuscript it's usually
on a sentence level
something a line editor or copy editor
might help you with
every writer has quirks myself included
but the goal is to
eliminate or at least lessen them as
much as possible that's where i come in
i'm listing the 10 most common quirks i
see in people's writing
a lot of this comes from my experience
back when i used to critique people's
novels
but some of these issues are things that
i still see today
in published works yikes before we get
into it i am super excited to announce
that today's video
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to the writing quirks these are the 10
quirks that pop up the most in
manuscripts
most of which pro writing prowritingaid
can help you with i'm just saying
if you want even more writing and
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description time for the quirks
those little bastards number one filter
words
filter words are probably the most
common writing quirk in existence
i don't know a single writer who hasn't
struggled with them at some point
filter words are words that filter the
story through the character's experience
they essentially remind the reader that
they're reading but jenna of course
they're reading yeah but they're not
supposed to know that reading is an
immersive process it can feel like
you're experiencing the story first
hand filter words pump the brakes on
this
and you don't want to do that there are
a zillion filter words out there
but a few of the most obvious ones are
see
hear feel think and realize
when you go through your manuscript pay
attention to filter words and see if you
can cut them out for example if you
wrote
she realized her car was on fire you
could instead say
her car was on fire easy right sometimes
filter words are unavoidable but
nine times out of ten they're probably
unnecessary number two
crutch words crutch words are words we
have a habit of using over and over
again
even if there are better options you may
think you don't have any crutch words
but trust me
you do the problem is we usually don't
know what our crutch words are
until someone else points them out in my
last manuscript i used the word
scurry so many times that one of my
critique partners started to leave
crab gifs all over the document there is
no avoiding this issue because it's an
unconscious action
the best thing you can do is have
someone read your work and point it out
once your crutch words are on display
do a word search through your manuscript
and replace them with synonyms
number three adverbs an adverb is more
or less an adjective for a verb
they describe actions a lot of writers
crap on adverbs but the truth is they're
not
inherently evil they only become a
problem when writers overuse them
because
they're not usually necessary since
actions kinda already describe
themselves for example if someone is
running
you don't need to say they ran quickly
because the act of running
is quick this is an extremely common
quirk but it's an easy one to break if
you implement this single step
do a search through your manuscript for
every verb and adverb combo
and ask yourself if the adverb is
necessary if your character smiles
happily
the adverb is kinda useless because
smiles are inherently happy
if your character smiles uncomfortably
then the adverb makes sense because the
action
is happening in a way that you wouldn't
necessarily expect
if your character is smiling widely sure
the adverb makes sense but you know what
would sound a lot better
if the character was grinning instead a
grin
is a wide smile and in this situation
you are ditching a weak verb
and replacing it with a stronger more
accurate one number four
shifts intense when writing a book you
choose a tense usually
past or present but some writers
struggle with keeping it consistent
an example of this would be she saw a
bird it
is beautiful saw is past tense is
is present thus we shifted which is a
no-no if you're confused regarding how
to spot
shifts intense pay attention to the
verbs they will tell you all you need to
know
now part of correcting this issue is
understanding what isn't
a shift intense the first and most
obvious is if you are including
dialogue or internal dialogue in a past
tense book
in situations like this the narrative
should be past tense while the dialogue
and thoughts
should be present an example of this
would be he stormed
into the room and yelled where is my
brother the next example revolves around
good old present participles
a lot of amateur writers confuse the use
of present participles as shifting tense
but that ain't true for example the
sentence he slowed
down stumbling forward is past tense
despite the use of the word stumbling
stumbling is a present participle
and though the use of the word present
is in the term
it is not a shift intense this sentence
is perfectly fine if you're confused and
want further explanation
comment below i could make an entire
video all about shifts intense
what counts as a shift and what doesn't
number five shifts in point of view
shifts in points of view are exactly
what they sound like the story was told
in one person's point of view and now it
shifts
to someone else's point of view but
jenna that's how i'm writing my book
it's told from multiple perspectives
then this doesn't apply to you you big
bag of beans shifts in points of view
become a problem if the story is
supposed to be told from
one character's perspective this is easy
to avoid in first person novels because
a shift would be blatantly obvious
however in third person limited or third
person deep novels
shifts are a lot harder to catch if
you're not sure what a shift in a third
person novel would look like
here's an example my book the savior's
champion is told in
third person deep from tobias's
perspective which means the narration
can only comment on what tobias
sees and experiences and thinks for
himself
tobias is aware that the queen of his
realm is magical
but he doesn't know how her magic works
thus if the narration were to suddenly
slip into an
explanation of her powers that would be
considered a shift in point of view from
third person deep
to third person omniscient the narration
is explaining stuff tobias has no
knowledge of which means
we've left his brain completely number
six dialogue tags
whoever said said is dead should be dead
instead of said
a lot of writers myself included learned
that sed is dead
in school and were encouraged to use
dialogue tags like exclaimed
demanded responded or ejaculated
english teachers are dirty rotten liars
said is a great dialogue tag because
it's invisible
readers don't notice it which makes the
dialogue feel more natural but
jenna i can't just say said a million
times on the page it would be too
repetitive
you're absolutely right but you
shouldn't need a million dialogue tags
on the page regardless
dialog tags are only there to let the
reader know who's speaking if the reader
can easily tell who is speaking
based on the number of people involved
in the conversation
or the narrative surrounding the
dialogue then you don't need a tag
at all for the times you absolutely do
need a tag
look at the line of dialogue and ask
yourself is the character speaking
unusually
say in a whisper mumble or shout in
those situations
you can use the applicable dialogue tag
however 9 times out of 10
set is your best bet number 7 paragraphs
a lot of writers struggle with paragraph
formation thanks once again to school
we are used to writing essays where
paragraphs are formatted completely
differently than novels
in essay writing a paragraph has to be a
minimum
of six sentences anything shorter and
you're losing points
in fiction you'll see paragraphs that
are three sentences
or even one sentence hell you'll see
paragraphs that are one word the general
rule for paragraphs in fiction is simple
when the subject changes the paragraph
changes
if you are writing streams of dialogue
when the speaker changes
the paragraph changes two people should
not have dialogue in the same paragraph
do this and i will fight you number
eight repetition
this is one of the most common writing
quirks i've come across in manuscripts
while crutch words refer to over using a
single word throughout the entire
manuscript
repetition refers to using the same word
multiple times in close proximity that
doesn't necessarily mean it's a crutch
word
it just means you're using it way too
much within the same scene
now there are going to be words you use
a lot like the
uh it and and i'm not talking about that
[ __ ] i'm talking about whether or not
you used the word pleased
twice in the same paragraph or whether
you referenced the staircase
three times on the same page this is
another thing you could be unconscious
of so it may be hard to notice at first
which is why it's a good idea to have
other people read your manuscript or to
run your manuscript through
prowritingaid once your repeat words are
pointed out they can be replaced with
synonyms or removed entirely
number nine internet speak sometimes
slang
idioms and even trendy capitalization
and punctuation can sneak into our
manuscripts this is an extremely common
quirk because sometimes we don't know
that what we're writing is colloquial
and it's especially common when it comes
to internet speak
on the internet we use capitalization to
indicate emphasis
but in fiction capitalization means
screaming and italics mean emphasis
we don't use italics on the internet
because it usually isn't available
another perfect example of internet
speak leaking into our writing is the
enterobang and tarot bangs are informal
they are not a proper punctuation mark
and you'd really
only use it in your writing if you were
being intentionally irreverent
and number 10 homophones homophones are
words that sound alike but have
different meanings and are spelled
differently
obvious examples are there there and
there and
two two and two these little [ __ ]
sneak into manuscripts all the time
especially if you're not well versed in
their definitions
again critique partners and
prowritingaid can help point these
suckers out
however if you want to ensure that this
particular quirk doesn't become a
recurring problem
you're going to need to learn their
definitions understand what these words
mean so you
know when to use them so that's all i
got for you today thanks again to
prowritingaid if you need help
during the self-editing process i cannot
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