What Not To Do When Writing

Recently I've come across several mistakes or simply annoying things writers do on Mibba. Here is a few:

1) When writing a story that has alternating points of view, try not to write an event in one chapter and then repeat the event in the next chapter from another point of view. Although you may want to get how the character thinks/acts in comparison to another character across to the reader, it can get deadly boring reading the same thing twice.

2) NEVER over-use slang in dialogue or casual writing. Even if the character originates from an area where slang is common, not all readers will be familiar with what it means and may stop reading. Using phrases such as 'cos' (because), 'wanna' (want to) and 'gonna' (going to) is acceptable in moderation, but spewing out line after line of "dayyuuum gurl, yew be lookin' mightyy finee!" gets unbelievably frustrating and boring, even if the character is from 'the ghetto'.

3) Use correct punctuation. It may seem like the most obvious rule of writing, but I've read so many stories where the author simply misses out on basic punctuation. This includes full stops, comas, exclamation marks...I could go on. Alternatively, try not to over-use punctuation as this makes reading choppy and stuttered, rather than smooth and enjoyable.

4) Remember to use paragraphs in correct places. No matter how good your spelling, punctuation, grammar and ideas are, it will all be lost in a block of text if you don't paragraph your work. It becomes strenuous on the readers eyes and they may well give up trying to decipher the story. On the other hand, placing paragraphs half way through a sentence is similarly irritating. Like the over-use of punctuation, paragraphs in the wrong places prevents the story from being smooth and flowing.

5) Make sure that the background you are using isn't distracting from the text. So many authors use a heavily patterned background which makes the content unreadable. If you are really keen on using a patterned background, insert a text background so that the story itself is backed onto a plain colour.

6) Finally, try not to use a thesaurus to find alternate words. Although this can enhance your general vocabulary, you are more than likely to end up using a word which doesn't mean what you think, and confuses the reader.

Thank you for reading this, I hope it helps x