Common Problems That Every Writer FaceCommon Problems That Every Writer Face

Every writer has to start somewhere, and it is never an easy thing. There are many reasons why writing takes up such a big part in people’s lives; there are some who get pleasure from their hobbies, while others want to make a living out of it. Either way, this list will cover all the common problems that every author faces at least once in his or her lifetime.

Writer’s block

We all know what this problem entails, but there are various ways of approaching it. The dreaded writer’s block can strike even the most experienced writers, but they were able to finish their articles and creations because they somehow overcame the challenge. Do you experience that feeling of trying to write something but nothing comes out, or all of your ideas not going together? That feeling you get when you try to write something but nothing comes out, or all of your ideas don’t go together? The block is what causes this, although both writer’s block and the feeling’s that because it has many different names. For instance, some writers call it “creative paralysis”, “the pit”, and even just plain old “being stuck”. When this happens, try using the novel factory. 

Writer’s block can be really difficult to deal with, especially if you are just getting into writing, but writers who moved on from it have left useful tips. Perhaps the easiest is to take a break from the project you are working on so that your mind can refresh itself. Keeping a journal or record of all of your good ideas is another way that can help you get out of the pit.  If you’re stuck on one project but have other stories rattling around in your head, take some time to work on those instead so that you get used to working on more than just one project at a time. You can also write down all of the things that you know have happened in your story so far and try coming up with some good ways to connect them.

Plot inconsistencies

You’ve written the entire book of your novel, but somewhere along the way, you messed up with your plot. You can hardly keep track of what’s happening to whom and where. Fixing it would require changes that may compromise the whole book. So now what do you do? The solution is time management. Keep a schedule or calendar where you can write down all your tasks for each day of writing, so when the time comes to revise, you will be prepared to address these problems with ease. If there are no inconsistencies in places you have already placed on paper, then try revising earlier parts before moving forward with it further into the story until they are resolved one by one.

Dull scenes

Every scene in a novel is a world of its own. It has to be completely different from the others and should have a purpose for existing. If not, then it will end up as a dull scene where nothing happens except some dialogue exchanged between characters. In this case, you can either cut down on those useless scenes or make them shorter than they originally were. You may even decide to leave only certain parts from those scenes to show what led up to it if it is really important for the story development.

Missing information 

A scene starts but just fades out after that, leaving you clueless about what happened. This is most commonly found in dream sequences, and near the time of characters’ death, where everything is blurred out. These can be hard to write, so you may need more practice on improving your skills for these types of scenes before putting them on paper. Alternatively, you can try adding some details from real life or making a flowchart to help with getting ideas and using them as the foundation for your novel instead of writing it down spontaneously and then editing later once all is said and done.

Stereotypes

Many writers have stereotypes when portraying certain characters, such as villains who are always dark-haired, wealthy, and mysterious; leading ladies who are always beautiful, smart, and feisty; or the usual “fat best friend” who’s there for comic relief. Try to avoid those stereotypes as much as you can because they have been done numerous times by other authors already, so it would be hard to set yourself apart from them. It’s a good idea to ask others about which characters are not up-to-date with what society is now, so you can know which ones should be eliminated in your own novel.

The inconsistent flow of POV

The story starts out fine, but then something happens that makes you wonder what the character is thinking or if he/she even saw it at all, when in fact he/she did. This often occurs in books where each chapter is told from a different character’s perspective. Sometimes it works best to have each character have their own point of view rather than alternating between them, depending on the situation at hand. Conflict is often caused when characters get mixed signals from one another, so you may want to avoid using this method if any sort of suspicion or misunderstandings are involved in your plot development.

Line repetitions

This is another problem faced by people who are not used to writing longer pieces of work. Always remember this – do not repeat yourself, it’s boring. Readers will surely skip over the repeated lines if they find them too tedious.

Improper dialogue attribution

There are two ways to format dialogue – either it is written in the form of quotations [“Hello”, “Good day”] or it can be written without any punctuation [“Hello”, “good day”]. You have to keep in mind that attribution should always go outside the quotations, so this means that your usual dialogue format would look like this:

“Hi,” he said timidly.

“Why are you talking to me?” she asked irritably.

Oh no! I’ve been robbed! All my money has disappeared!” he cried.

Flawed logic or plot holes

This kind of problem is encountered by every writer at least once, but there are some who make mistakes continuously because they do not revise their draft enough times before submitting it for publication. Sometimes all the necessary information is either not provided or it’s been skipped completely. This can cause serious problems for readers, who may become confused with the direction of the story and leave their feedback in a negative manner on various forums.

There are plenty more mistakes that every writer or author might make at least once throughout their creative journey.  Some may be easy to fix, while others can be challenging. It’s important to acknowledge these mistakes because they are the best way for us to improve as writers.