Most Common Writing Errors ✔️

Clunky Dialogue + Realism

I use many different writing programs, and one of which is Scrivener. Scrivener has a text-to-speech option that allows me to listen to my stories so I don't have to physically read it myself. There are many programs and websites that do this for you. I would recommend looking into them so you can improve your editing.

Obviously, dialogue is spoken. That's why I recommend reading it out loud!

Now, let's move into something else. Conciseness doesn't just come from contractions, it also comes from redundancy.

When it comes to any type of writing, not just dialogue, you shouldn't repeat the same thing twice. 

I don't mean repeating the same thing word-for-word, Most people aren't going to say "Jimin was sad. Jimin was sad." No, they do this:

"Jimin was sad. He wasn't feeling happy."

That's what I mean; people phrase the same idea in a slightly different way. The sentences are different, but they're saying the same exact thing. Every sentence should bring something new to the story. You should be building on what you said, not repeating it.

One of the hardest parts of writing is trusting your audience. I still struggle with this, especially with fanfiction.

You need to trust your audience to understand what you're saying. You don't need to repeat things over and over again. Trust your audience to pay attention to what you're writing. Not only will the audience like you more (audiences like it when writers treat them as if they have brains), but it will also keep the pacing even and the story flowing.

If the audience isn't paying attention and they don't pick up on what you're writing, that's not your fault.

I mean, if you're being too vague, yeah it is, but I think you get what I mean.

If you're giving the readers what they need, it's not your fault if they don't understand it.

Let's talk about Captain America: Civil War, the airport scene. Many people complained and said there was no explanation as to why it was happening. AKA: they were criticizing it for not setting up why there was no one at the airport.

If you were paying attention, you would have noticed they did set it up.

Shortly before the fight, an announcement comes on over the PA system saying the airport is being evacuated. Bucky, the one who can understand many foreign languages, is the one to translate and tell the team what's happening.

I think this is a case where the audience got too excited for the fight that they forgot about the lines that happened before it. Through dialogue, the writers showed the audience the airport was being evacuated. I can't find the scene on YouTube and I'm far too lazy to open D+, so you'll have to take my word for it, but that scene does happen. It sets up the fight in a way that makes sense for the characters (having Bucky be the one to translate). The same applies here: trust your audience, and if they don't understand, it's not your fault.

That's why you should keep your dialogue concise.

The final point I'd like to make is repetitive language in dialogue. Let me give an example off the top of my head:

"I love burgers because burgers taste great."

That's a terrible example, but it's hard to think off the top of my head.

Look at this sentence and tell me why "burgers" is used twice. Can you think of a reason? Probably not because it isn't necessary.

Burgers is the subject of the sentence; you don't need to repeat it. An alternative would be: