https://blottheskrip.wordpress.com/2014/09/27/top-ten-writing-mistakes/

Things to work on, writing notes:

1. Starting too slowly.

hook em. one good scene, nice sentence. start from the middle.

2. Unplanned characters and obvious self portraits.

Use imagination and detail. know biographies. ask: what would he she do?

create credible, well-researched and meticulously planned life. write excess and cut out what you don’t need.

3. Bad dialogue and too much of it.

Good dialogue talks to you. Bad dialogue all sound the same. cut superficial stuff. describe cadence, idiolect and individual  strangeness of voice. do not replicate these features phonetically.

4. Minimal scene setting or purple prose.

overuse of dialogue. practice describing essence of people, places and things. be aware of genre. avoid cliche hackneyed expressions. easy on ajectives. Vivid don’t over do. be practical and think is this necessary.

5. Failure to understand dramatic pacing.

two gears. mimetic narration is slow telling. “real time”.

diegetic narration is rapid, panoramic, summary and communication. no illusion of reality.

Prose. narratives use both modes of telling. Aim for balance ebb and flow.

6. Too long or too short.

chronological non-linear and selective.. do not go over 100,000 words publishing.

no atmosphere or suspense, underdeveloped characters and narrative confusion.

7. Deja Vu.

watch for plagiarism. quote!

8. Delusions of literature

avoid big words or devices that confuse the reader. don’t be pompous, pretentious and dull.

9. Bad sex.

Avoid at all cost.

10. Lack of editorial revision.

rewrite everything! build the house and decorate.