Bad Writing Habits
Wednesday Writing Weekly No #72
When writing, there are sometimes two camps of people. Have you heard of the “pansters” and “plotters?” These are terms I heard about years ago and promptly forgot until I started exploring the social media world of writing. I love hearing all the different ways people write from planning and outlining as a “plotter” or rocketing off a good idea and writing whatever comes to mind as a “panster.”
No matter which one you are, here are some bad habits you can avoid to strengthen your writing!
Wandering Ideas
Wandering topics and tangents may be common for pansters who are following their gut, but this can happen to any writer. When you are reading a book, you want the story to stay on topic and follow the natural flow of events, right? But imagine if you read a book where the character suddenly goes on a 20-page tangent that is not related to the story? It can be distracting, confusing, or plain old boring if it is getting in the way of the story.
In early drafts, tangents are okay! They are common! But as you edit, it’s important to make sure everything has a point and is building up into the story’s progression and development. If you keep wandering and losing the plot, your reader might just close the book and wander off to another story instead.
Over Planning
When I hear people explain why they don’t like outlining, I sometimes hear answers like this:
“I don’t want to plan out every word.”
“I don’t want to get stuck in one plan.”
“What if I want to change halfway through?”
Outlines can be as simple or as complicated as you want them to be. What matters is they are written in a way that works for you. I personally plan out scenes by 500 words or more, but I’m not going to break them down so small that I write an outline dictating, “20 words for the character description, 100 words for establishing the setting, etc.” That’s overkill and I think you should just start writing at that point.
Scrapping an Idea
Whether you are a pantser or a plotter, we all have had the feeling that our work is terrible, and we want to throw it out. If you hit a wall or find a problem in an early draft (or even in the middle of your manuscript editing) don’t burn it all down! Take a break and come back when you are calmer.
All drafts are messy. All editing rounds are painful. Does it ever really feel done? Not really, but in comparison, edits are key to polishing and making your work better. No one writes a best seller on the first draft.
Editing is hard work, and I don’t think many writers enjoy the process. But if you throw away everything you ever start to work on, do you know what’s left? Nothing.
In the end, it’s okay! You are doing fine! Creating an editing plan, making a routine, and taking breaks to give you energy for the next step is key to tackling a story edit.
Conclusion
If you have done any of these things—that’s alright! We’ve all been there. The important thing is that you are constantly learning and improving. Take what advice works for you, try it out with your work, and see how it changes your process!
What are some bad habits you have?