Style Bad Writing Habits

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

  1. Wild Knight

    Wild Knight Senior Member

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    Oh boy. I have my go to words. Eyes widen all the time, and someone chuckles when they lock eyes with the wide-eyed person.
    Also, I have this nasty tendency to slowly leak in horror moments, no matter what I'm writing. They even show up in light-hearted works of mine, which is admittedly rarer for me than the other works.
    I don't know WHY I do that, when I don't think that I can write an effective horror, because a lot of what scares me doesn't bother anyone else. (Like being stared at in public by strangers; would rather run into Jason's machete than be watched by strangers in a store).
     
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  2. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    Whatever it is that scares you, as a writer you should explore what exactly scares you about that thing/event/person/situation. Your job, writer, if you choose to accept it, is to make your readers feel the same fear. In fact, it might be even more effective if you can get them to think twice about something that never bothered them before.

    I remember swimming in Lake Huron all my growing-up life, and never worrying about anything IN the lake ...only cognizant of what the water itself could do to me if I got out of my depth, etc. And then, as a young adult, I saw Jaws! Okay, at the moment and certainly back then, there are no sharks in Lake Huron. But I remember thinking about it, next time I swam ...and getting the creeps. That movie made me afraid of something I never thought about before. Being in 'wild' water.

    Let us in on why the strangers staring at you scares you. What are you afraid of? Make US afraid of it now, as well.

    Think of all the people who are now scared of clowns. When I was a kid, nobody in their right mind was scared of a clown. Clowns were there to make you laugh—and no, they were not 'evil.' The opposite, actually. Why do you think McDonald's chose a clown as its symbol? To chase away customers, shrieking in fright (instead of muttering about paying good money to eat hockey pucks?) Nope. A 'writer' made people afraid of clowns. You can do the same thing. Don't get discouraged because people don't share your phobia. MAKE them share your phobia!
     
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  3. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    OMG. That was one of my worst habits. I say 'was' because I've made a conscious effort to quash it. The good news is, I was able to pare back a LOT of my over-writing, once I realised what I was doing. I forget who said it, but the motto to keep in mind is: Say it once, say it well ...then move on! :)

    That being said ...sometimes you do need to emphasize a point. So occasionally re-saying something can be an asset.

    This writing game, eh? Rules, what rules?
     
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  4. ISalem

    ISalem Member

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    Getting new ideas of what to write about when I am busy and don’t have enough time to write. Then, trying to keep the ideas in my mind or just writing down a quick outline. However, as soon as I have time to write I find myself lost the interest that I have when I first got the ideas which ends up with not writing.
     
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  5. r.ross

    r.ross Member

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    I use the word 'just' a lot...
     
  6. r.ross

    r.ross Member

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    Not really a bad habit, but I can't leave my book on an odd word count. Always has to be even. Weird, but hey, that's just who I am.
     
  7. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    Too many commas. I tend to stick them in when I'd take a breath, and not strictly where they're called for grammatically.

    Like that. ^^^

    Expand that sentence, and it would be, "I tend to stick them in when I'd take a breath. I tend to stick them in not strictly where they're called for grammatically." Same subject, "I." Same basic simple sentence, "I tend to stick them in." No need for a comma before the second adverbial phrase. But there it is.

    I'll try to be more conscious of unneeded commas and edit them out. Even when it makes my gut curl up to do it.
     
    Last edited: Nov 24, 2020
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