Transcript:

On my classroom wall, I have a sign that reads “the expert in anything was once a beginner” to remind my students that we all have to start somewhere. And being new to anything, it’s inevitable that you will make mistakes —a lot of them.

While many people who have surpassed the beginner stages would have you believe that things just came naturally to them, that they didn’t make any of those mistakes those other silly new writers make, that’s not the truth. Either they are lying to you, or they haven’t spent much time, if any, self-reflecting on their own writing journey to see how far they’ve come.

I am not one of those writers. My writing journey is riddled with mistakes, ones I know to never do again and others I’m still working through. In fact, I will be doing a whole series of YouTube shorts about my process to fix my mistakes. But this video today isn’t about me, it’s about all of us and the biggest mistakes we all make when first starting out as writers.

Hi, I’m C. Sloan Lewis and Welcome to My Channel

Before we get into the nitty gritty of this video, I wanted to take a moment to ask you to like this video at the end if you enjoyed it and got something out of it. If you want to see more writing videos like this one, please subscribe to my channel where I post new videos every Saturday. You can also follow me on Instagram and check out my website at authorcsloanlewis.com where I will be updating the progress of both my new book and the rewrite of my first one, so stay tuned for that. Anyway, with that said, let’s get into this week’s video.

While this isn’t an exhausted list of mistakes new writers make, it’s a strong list of red flags for people who start to read your work. These aren’t going to be in any particular order of severity because it ultimately depends on the writer and what direction their brain tends to focus toward.

[Mistake #1: Info Dumping]

Having said that, the first one on our list is Info Dumping, which I see the most with new writers:

Info dumping, or an overexplanation of ideas, particularly backstory of characters and worldbuilding, is really easy to slip into, even for experienced writers. The reason for this, I think, is because it’s our natural way of storytelling and one we see as acceptable in classical literature. So, while it’s something that needs to be addressed and fixed with modern writers, it makes complete sense why they do this and why our brain naturally gravitates toward info dumping.

If it’s our natural inclination toward story writing, then why is it a mistake?

When readers pick up a story, they want to be brought in and uncover the story, its character, and the world it’s set in naturally through discovery. Additionally, info dumping, particularly when it comes to the history of the world or the lore of its characters, can often read like a textbook. Not only can it bore the reader, but it doesn’t give them anything to uncover, and it creates distance between them and the story.

Fortunately, info dumping is a big issue that’s easy to fix with enough time and practice. Taking the information that’s crucial for your readers to know, you can weave it organically into the story through dialogue, action, and character thoughts.

[Mistake #2: White-Room Syndrome]

A big issue new writers struggle with is seeing a setting so clearly in their mind but being unable to get it across to their readers, leading to what writers call “White-Room Syndrome.”

Sometimes, the writer even believes they did a good job with it because it makes sense when they read it back. The rude awakening later comes when a beta reader or critique partner says they have no idea what’s going on in the scene or what it looks like, which kept them from really engaging in the story.

This issue is all about how well you describe the environment around your character as the scene unfolds. If you’re writing a sci-fi story and your protagonist enters a cyborg repair shop on a distant planet, but you only focus on their conversation with the shopkeeper, you’re missing a golden opportunity to immerse readers in your world.

It’s important to know that the reader can experience all five senses when they read a story (some studies have even shown brain activity being virtually identical between reading an experience and actually living it), but they can only experience the five senses of our worlds if we write them down.

Describing the setting around a character will not only connect your readers more to the story and allow them to be more engaged, but it also can help solve the problem of info dumping and another common mistake: telling instead of showing

[Mistake #3 Telling Instead of Showing]

A few weeks ago, I did a whole video about the topic Show, Don’t Tell (which you can check out in the link above and below), but I didn’t want to leave this off the list because it’s such a huge issue for new writers, much in the same way info dumping is.

When we tell a story to people through spoken word, it would actually be weird for us to show someone’s emotions. Instead, we say, “OMG he was so mad.” Because going up to your friends and describing the physical sensations of someone being upset would be super weird.

So when we sit down to write, we have to make a shift in our brains. Just like with the white-room syndrome, the five senses really become our friends here, and by utilizing them we further engage our readers.

Another shift we have to make is how a conversation sounds in real life versus how we write it as dialogue.

[Mistake #4: Weak or Unrealistic Dialogue]

Now, don’t get me wrong, listening to conversations and how different people express different things is super helpful, but there are things we say in conversations that have no place in written dialogue.

For instance, have you ever noticed that characters in movies hang up without saying goodbye? It’s not because all characters in movies are rude, it’s because we don’t need them to say goodbye.

The same goes for greetings, small talk before the main point is addressed, and the use of time-filler words like um, uh, and hmmm that we use while thinking of what we’re going to say next.

It’s this delicate balance we need to strike because we also want to make our dialogue sound like it’s being said by actual people. If you want to learn more about the nitty gritty details of writing dialogue, you can check out my video about it above and below this video.

One big issue about dialogue that I want to address here, though, because it’s an instant immersion breaker and amateur red flag, is making your dialogue overly expository.

What does this mean? Well, let me read you an example. It might sound silly, but it’s not far off from what I’ve seen in new writers’ dialogue:

“As you know, Emily, our father, the king, has been ruling this kingdom for 30 years, ever since he took the throne after the war with the Eastern Empire,” James said. “And now that he’s sick, it’s up to us, his only children, to prepare for the inevitable transition of power.”

“Yes, James,” Emily replied. “And since I am the eldest daughter at 25 years old and you are my younger brother at 22, the kingdom expects me to take the throne—even though some still believe only a man should rule.”

Doesn’t that just sound odd? It’s not how people talk to each other in real life. In fact, to me this reads like two people disguised as the children of the king who are trying to prove they know what’s going on.

Understanding your characters’ personalities and what they know, reading your dialogue out loud to hear how it sounds, and getting others to read your work are all great ways to work around this issue. Then, it falls into the advice of info dumping, taking the information you want your reader to know by weaving it into your story.

[Mistake #5: Passive Protagonists]

So, for the last half of this video, we’re going to be talking about more challenging issues, ones that don’t have easy fixes like the first four do. For instance, if you have a story completely written only to discover that you have a passive protagonist, that’s going to take a lot of work to overcome in the revision stage and might even cause major changes in your story overall.

But what is a passive protagonist and why is it bad to have one?

A passive protagonist is a character who reacts to events rather than taking action and driving the story forward. These types of characters have no goals, or at least ones that don’t pertain to the plot and themes, and only do something when pushed by circumstances or other characters. Think Bella Swan from Twilight or Forrest Gump from Forrest Gump.

A clear way to identify whether or not your character is passive, is to ask yourself “what is this character’s goal and are they actively trying to pursue it?”

If you answered no, then why the heck are we reading about this character?! If you’re protagonist lacks agency, then readers are going to get frustrated by them. “Just do something!” they’re going to be yelling into the pages of your book. This is even more frustrating if you have a character who is constantly whining about their life and how things are turning out. Well, Sarah, if you’d just get up out of your chair and go do SOMETHING…

Takes deep breath Sorry, got a little worked up there.

So how do we fix this? Well, first things first is to ask yourself “what is this character’s goal and are they actively trying to pursue it?” in every scene of your story. Then, if you answer no, even for just a few of them, you need to go back in and figure out how to give your character agency, which is going to be different for whatever story you’re writing.

If you haven’t yet written your first draft, then you need to start every scene ensuring your protagonist makes key decisions that shape the plot. The plot needs to be driven by your character.

But you may be asking yourself, what about Forrest Gump? We love that character and his story. First, it’s important to know that there are always exceptions to the rules, but secondly, the entire movie was about him getting blown around from plot point to plot point. That feather we see at the beginning and end of the movie? HE’S THE FEATHER.

Characters can also start out as passive, like Bilbo or Luke Skywalker, and then have something push them into being proactive, like getting lost in a dark, enchanted forest or having your aunt and uncle horribly murdered. If Luke stayed passive throughout the story, though, the rebel forces would have been destroyed by the death star, for sure.

ANYWAY

[Mistake #6: Lack of Logical Progression]

When new writers get an idea, they can get so excited that they just write a bunch of disjointed scenes that don’t flow together. This is fine in the drafting stage while you’re still figuring out your story, but all well-written books need a logical progression, an “if this, then that” or cause and effect based plot.

Not only does this help with the continuity of your story, characters, and world-building, but it keeps readers from getting utterly lost in the story.

Now, this is not to say that you need to write the story chronologically. But if you’re writing a disjointed timeline or one that has multiple timelines overlapping at different points, everything is going to need to come together in the end. We should be able to lay everything out chronologically and still have the logical progression of events.

Connecting this idea to the last mistake about passive protagonists, the progression of cause and effect also has to make sense to who the character is. Rather than just forcing your characters into a situation, you need to determine whether they would get themselves into something like that and if they’re even ready for it.

While I would suggest not worrying about it too much on the initial draft as you go through your first read through and enter the revision stage, ask yourself whether every scene leads logically into the next and if it’s driven by your character’s choice.

[Mistake #7: Lack of Conflict or Stakes]

Usually, if I see the logical progression lacking and/or a passive protagonist, I also see a lack of conflict or stakes.

A conflict is going to be the overall obstacle the protagonist is going to have to overcome, almost always relating to the main theme of the story, and stakes are the urgencies, important moments, and dangers surrounding the conflict.

While your conflict is typically established around 10% into your story, the stakes need to be raised gradually throughout the story. You can even have a false hope dip in stakes near the middle that you then ramp up for some extra thrills.

If you’re lacking on either or both of these, then nothing in your story is going to feel urgent or important, causing the reader to lose interest because they have no real reason to care.

You need to make the consequences clear as both your internal and external conflicts ramp up. For instance, we know how deadly Voldemort is from the very first chapter of Harry Potter because his parents are dead. In Percy Jackson, we know how dangerous it is to be a demi-god soon after Percy learns about being one because Zeus’ daughter had to be turned into a tree to not die a horrible death right after Percy is almost killed by a minotaur.

For both of these characters, we know the dangers and how much they are going to have to grow as individuals to overcome said dangers. And all the while we are rooting for them and invested in their story.

While this is certainly not a complete list, I want to leave you all with that for today.

Just remember: writing is a craft, and like any craft, it takes time, practice, and a willingness to learn from our mistakes. Every great writer started as a beginner, making these same missteps, so don’t be discouraged if you recognize some of them in your own work. It just means you’re growing.

If you found this video helpful, don’t forget to give it a like, and if you want more content on improving your writing, make sure to subscribe. I post new videos every Saturday to help you on your writing journey. You can also follow me on Instagram and check out my website at authorcsloanlewis.com for updates on my books and writing process.