Style Bad Writing Habits

Discussion in 'General Writing' started by Glen Barrington, Aug 23, 2019.

  1. aModernHeathen

    aModernHeathen Banned

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    Too far. You didn't have to hurt my feelings.
     
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  2. Baeraad

    Baeraad Senior Member

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    Run-on sentences. I just keep wanting to express more complicated concepts all in one go than a single sentence of the English language is equipped to handle. :p

    I may also over-use italics, and I suspect that I have an overly small number of body language expressions that my characters just keep using over and over (smiling, shrugging, tilting your head, etc, etc). It probably doesn't help that I'm autistic, so, well... I myself have an overly small number of body language expressions that I use over and over. :oops: But the run-on sentences is the one that people keep pointing out to me, so that one I'm sure of.

    Oh, and I also keep mixing up "is" and "are," especially when the sentence structure gets confusing - I'm prone to writing "the rooms in the house is" and "the coat with all the pockets are" because my brain apparently loses track of which noun is the actual subject.
     
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  3. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    Oh my gosh, so many of these bad habits are mine as well.

    I was particularly caught by the OP's mention of the all-caps thing. I do this all the time. Not so much in my fiction writing, but when I'm just writing to communicate—letters, articles, even posts on a writing forum. It is so (SO) irritating! I try to go through everything I write and remove these emphasis caps before pushing 'send' or 'reply,' but I still write like that, first time.

    I'm also bad at wanting to use ellipses all the time. In the right place, they're an invaluable tool, just like the dash—which I also over-use— :) but filling every damn pause with an ellipsis is a very bad habit.

    As far as commas go, I tend to under-use them when I'm writing a first draft, and usually need to include them during an edit. I often use a comma to end a clause, but I forget to start the clause with one, so the effect is lopsided.

    One thing I do is controversial, rather than wrong. My husband, who was a news subs here in Scotland, showed me that it's okay to leave the period off abbreviations, if they are common ones that everybody knows. It's a thing that got started to avoid using extra space in cramped newspaper stories, but I've adopted it. I will not call my character Dr. Ramsay. I'll call him Dr Ramsay. His wife isn't Mrs. Ramsay, she is Mrs Ramsay. I do like that approach, although I accept that some people don't.
     
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2019
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  4. Gary Wed

    Gary Wed Active Member

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    I know a lot of people who don't seem to know what em-dashes mean, so I feel ya. Few people realize that they are in the parenthesis family, only with the added necessity that the information is also conflicting. People seem to have learned that you use them for every Tom, Dick and Harry application, tossing them over into the pause family of punctuation. The pause family needs an added guest like a hole in the head. Once we do that, they cease to mean what they were intended to mean, and thus they are diluted when we use them properly.

    The semicolon is also interesting, insofar as lots of writers learn they are very cute for lists of lists or for stacking two independent clauses (basically sentences) up against one another, in order to show closeness. This gets out of control because when we string sentences together well we realize that most of them have a closeness. The next thing we know, we've articulated that via 10 semicolons per page. I got that plague pretty bad. I recall doing a semicolon purge on one of my novels, killing off eighty percent of the buggers. They can be a serious problem, insofar as generally speaking we hope to avoid long sentences. Semicolons prolong sentences, often showing how little regard we are giving to the pace of the lines. Pace is far more important than adding a semicolon simply because it fits. I consider that observation to be an epiphany for me. "Oh my God! What am I doing?"
     
  5. Gary Wed

    Gary Wed Active Member

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    The bad habit I see most often from writers who might otherwise be good at the craft is this:
    Almost everyone breaks to a new paragraph when someone else speaks. If we have dialogue, actor A gets one paragraph and actor B gets the next. If a writer isn't doing that, everyone will notice instantly, and comment.
    But, this guideline isn't about dialogue. The guideline is about characters. It isn't that actor A spoke, PARAGRAPH, actor B spoke. It's actor A, PARAGRAPH, actor B. Speaking has nothing to do with it. Just the simple fact that actor B hits the stage and is demanding that the audience turns its collective head her way is why we need the paragraph. It might be action, thought, or words.
    Writers get this wrong a ton. I mean to say, a solid 70% of them seem to have never given it thought, even though they are probably using lots of things that would suggest they ought to.
    For example, unspoken dialogue:

    “Seems obvious enough that she was seconds from pouncing upon the baron’s game."

    The scout grabbed a rope that he’d looped across his saddle horn.

    Emma took a step to the side.

    “Now don’t make us chase—”

    Emma dove toward the woods

    One does not have to open one's mouth to communicate. As well, we often omit dialogue tags, and substitute actions in their place. If we are not using paragraphing as a clue, this is off the table.

    “Seems obvious enough that she was seconds from pouncing upon the baron’s game. Why should we doddle?” The noble nodded toward his companion.

    The scout grabbed a rope that he’d looped across his saddle horn.

    We know that the noble spoke because he acted in HIS paragraph. Even if we leave that action out, we know via paragraph that it wasn't the scout who spoke because we broke to paragraph before we saw him in action:​

    Seems obvious enough that she was seconds from pouncing upon the baron’s game. Why should we doddle?”

    The scout grabbed a rope that he’d looped across his saddle horn.

    But, imagine this:

    The noble nodded toward his companion. “Seems obvious enough that she was seconds from pouncing upon the baron’s game. Why should we doddle?” The scout grabbed a rope that he’d looped across his saddle horn.

    There we have two actors acting, one prior to and one post the dialogue. Who spoke? I have no idea. And, just reading that takes twice as much work, making the prose thick and uninviting.
    Or this:

    “Seems obvious enough that she was seconds from pouncing upon the baron’s game. Why should we doddle?”

    The noble nodded toward his companion.

    The scout grabbed a rope that he’d looped across his saddle horn.

    Did the noble speak? Hell if I know? I would assume not. I would assume that someone other than the noble spoke, because we broke to paragraph, either for a reason or for no reason whatsoever. Readers assume that writers are not in the habit of doing things for no reason whatsoever. And, once you do that, now you are literally forced to tag everything:

    “Seems obvious enough that she was seconds from pouncing upon the baron’s game. Why should we doddle?” the noble said.

    The noble nodded toward his companion.

    The scout grabbed a rope that he’d looped across his saddle horn.

    That's just wordy and much less appealing work.​
     
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2019
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  6. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    Commas seems to be a common problem.

    I have to go through my writing and remove about half of them after the first draft.
     
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  7. Than_urb

    Than_urb Member

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    I had the same problem while spending time on poker forums (as a teenager, more than 10 years ago).
    One day, a guy stepped in the conversation writing: "Stop your caps, this is F****** OFFENSIVE"
    I felt like he was yelling at me, never did it again.

    Maybe it can help you too...
     
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  8. Aaron Smith

    Aaron Smith Banned Contributor

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    I flesh out gory scenes a bit too much.

    I tend to write as if I'd want to read what I write. That doesn't always go over well.
     
  9. Dogberry's Watch

    Dogberry's Watch Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Contest Winner 2022

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    I overuse words a lot because I forget the other ones exist. Looked, glanced, searched, examined, blah blah blah... Everyone's very good at it in my stories.

    Also, I think I use "sigh" too much as well.
     
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  10. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    My characters do sigh and nod or shake their heads a lot.
     
  11. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    Yeah, we've all got our go-to words. I'd say don't worry about them when you're in the 'zone,' and writing madly away. But do check for the known ones when you're doing an edit. The Find/Replace facility on my wordprocessor (Apple's Pages programme) is a wonderful thing to have.
     
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  12. Dogberry's Watch

    Dogberry's Watch Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Contest Winner 2022

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    The app I use, yWriter, has a list of your most commonly used words, and when I see how many times I've used one of my main ones, I cringe a lot.
     
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  13. Cilogical

    Cilogical Banned

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    I thought I was alright with grammar until I came here. Turns out I need to refresh my knowledge.
     
  14. Glen Barrington

    Glen Barrington Senior Member

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    Smart Edit Writer, software 'Similar, but different' than Scrivener, will actually count those phrases and words to let you know if you might be getting tiresome. SEW is only for Windows but is free.

    You can also buy SmartEdit proper for MS Word. As far as I know, SEW contains the complete SmartEdit no cripple-ware.
     
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  15. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Sweet Jesus, all the head-nodding. Nodding in assent, nodding in comprehension, nodding in agreement. It's endless...

    Dialogue that begins with "So,..." or "Well,...."

    I learn a new Writing Thing™ and for weeks, it's all I see. The entire universe is made of it. My writing, me, my dog... everything!
     
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  16. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    *nods*
     
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  17. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    You might have the same problem I do, which is a sort of dyslexia. I mean not real dyslexia, but personally I'm a 2-finger pecker (wow, did not realize how bad that was going to sound!) and often one finger finds its key a little faster than the other one does, so the letters get reversed. It's my most common issue by far. That could be what causes a problem like Quiet for Quite. Maybe not, since the E and T are accessed by the same hand (if you're also a 2 finger pecker).

    I realized this because I used to do the same thing with numbers. When I was a night manager at a restaurant the GM used to check my paperwork the next morning when i first started, and she told me this is a very common problem. What's the word for number dyslexia? Dysnumerica or something? It's not really that, or I don't think it is, just sometimes you reverse 2 numbers. As soon as she told me that I discovered it was by far my most common math problem, and later saw it affected my typing as well. I wish writing apps had a function where you can highlight 2 adjacent letters and click to reverse them.

    After that my next worst one is fumblefingering so I end uop hiotting adjacent keys along with the ones I want to hit. I left those errors deliberately as a demonstratiohn— I always have to edit my posts and everything I write for these problems or they're almost unreadable.
     
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  18. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    Yeah I slip up on that too, or if I am not paying
    attention to my hand placement, then it all comes
    out gibberish. :p
     
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  19. Kalisto

    Kalisto Senior Member

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    Adverbs. I use the dreaded adverbs.
     
  20. Richach

    Richach Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    Commas, but, I am getting over it, or am I? :fight:
     
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  21. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    Oh yes, I know that one well!!
     
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  22. marshipan

    marshipan Contributor Contributor

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    Over emphasis on eye movements. "He looked at me, his eyes narrowed... Then his eyes scanned away... " Half-lidded, wide, squinted, knowing where they are pointed at all times. I need to stop.
     
  23. J.T. Woody

    J.T. Woody Book Witch Contributor

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    Apostrophes.
    I know where they go. I know where I should have them. But I just don't use them. I've gotten so use to auto correct changing my "shouldnt" to "shouldn't" and "dont" to "don't" that I don't even try to add them anymore. Which is annoying because Google Docs doesn't correct for that. I have to manually change a setting.... But once I close my doc, the setting reverts back to default and doesn't catch the "doesnts" and "didnts" and "its'"
     
  24. MontyNorwood

    MontyNorwood New Member

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    God I love the em-dash
     
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  25. TheOtherPromise

    TheOtherPromise Senior Member

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    While I definitely have the same problems already listed. Too many commas, too many filler words like that and still (you might not think still is a filler word, but I assure you, I use it as such).

    But one problem that might really be hampering my ability to write well, is my distaste for metaphors and similes. More of a preference than a habit, but still, it's a problem. It fits into my issue with description in general, as in, I don't tend to do it. But when I do, it tends to be very mechanical. Writing such, that if I were to include even one metaphor, suddenly it would be purple prose. I'm pretty sure that's not the case, but it can be hard to convince myself of that.
     
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