What are some of your 'habits' in writing?

[Naruzeldamaster]

Anything from mixing up sense and Since like I do or over-using certain idioms ( "X said as they tilted their head" to denote the character being confused/intrigued T-T) or maybe you've got an addiction to ellipsis for brief pauses. I wanna know what your 'shit I did it again' writing stuffs are :3

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Oh dear, there's a lot. Eye colors. I know everyone's and now so do you. Eyebrows. Our first book has so many eyebrows dancing around they should be in a chorus line. The past couple of weeks it's been grinning. I have no idea why. I am also an ellipsis and em-dash addict - I have the em-dash keybound - but in my defense it's a rhythm and flow thing. Sometimes you just need to stretch out a moment so the reader can really feel it.

Forgot to have a straight, white, abled, cis, male in our first book. I know how it happened, and it was an 11th hour whoops, but the funniest part is no one notices until I mention it.

Now, this is what I do. I drink coffee, I write, and I know things, and one of the things I know is how to fix all of this. There are several brilliant writing guides available that can suggest alternatives to habitual elements and freshen up the narrative. I like the Emotion Thesaurus series. They're brilliant. And I also like a trilogy that starts with 1000 Character Reactions from Head to Toe.

I've been doing this for a very long time, and I like to read about craft to help improve my own. I have a little over 200 writing guides, which should tell you that there are a lot of writers with these issues, too. And you are in a great place to start exploring and learning. We are always happy to discuss writing here on Scribes. Good luck and godspeed!

 

[Finchbearer]

I’m currently using a lot of the same words - and so I need to probably branch out a bit, but I also see the merit when I have read books that also re-use familiar often descriptive words.

And eyes, as above, seem to be something I like to describe as a note of importance, and wether someone smiles or not, basically silent body language cues. But I need to improve this skill.

 

[Mad Swede]

Using the same phrases, focussing on the same parts of characters (usually their eyes) when I describe them. I used to worry about it, but my editor pointed out that this is part of my writing style. As she says, her job is to help me keep this in check so that the prose flows in a balanced way whilst still being written in my style.

 

[skip.knox]

>I like the Emotion Thesaurus series. They're brilliant.
Another vote for these books. Immensely helpful during revision.

 

[pmmg]

Well... I think I did more of this in my earlier writing. Certainly had a lot of crutch words, but I've pretty much trained myself not to use them.

In my current (last) story, It seems the word 'only' is a word I use a lot. But in reading it, it seems appropriate, so I am not sure. I also seem to like to start a scene with 'So-and-so stood' as a way of starting the scene. I found myself typing and removing it alot. Not sure how much there is in the current one. Another is 'It was well past <some time reference> (since I never give exact times. I've seen that phrase a few times.

For me, the most vexing is omitted words. Like I know my brain thought them, but somehow they did not get typed. I've come to learn I cannot trust anything I write to say what I actually thought I was writing. Its very aggravating.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

Well... I think I did more of this in my earlier writing. Certainly had a lot of crutch words, but I've pretty much trained myself not to use them.

In my current (last) story, It seems the word 'only' is a word I use a lot. But in reading it, it seems appropriate, so I am not sure. I also seem to like to start a scene with 'So-and-so stood' as a way of starting the scene. I found myself typing and removing it alot. Not sure how much there is in the current one. Another is 'It was well past <some time reference> (since I never give exact times. I've seen that phrase a few times.

For me, the most vexing is omitted words. Like I know my brain thought them, but somehow they did not get typed. I've come to learn I cannot trust anything I write to say what I actually thought I was writing. Its very aggravating.

The strange thing about my sense and since thing? I don't mix it up when I'm directly talking about it (as in, explaining the two getting mixed up) but if I'm typing either word outside of that context, about 40% of the time I'll mix them up. of course I catch them and fix them, it's still odd though. I know the difference between the two words but unless I'm actively thinking about it I mix em up.

I have a similar problem with spelling restaurant correctly. I pretty much always spell it the way it sounds when you say it out loud.

 

[pmmg]

Yes a lot of words are correctly spelled, but not really the right word. My newest aggravation is dropping the 'y' off of 'they'. Like I have 18000 instances of 'the'. I cant really search and replace those.

I have a long list of words to go and search for when it is complete. Though, through, and thought is one set of them, to make sure the wrong one is not in the wrong place.

I recently learned imminent and eminent are two different words :~( I wonder how many times I have used the wrong one thinking it was the other. Yikes. Sometimes you just get confronted with how much of doofus you really are.

Here is my quick list (minus some that would not make sense)--notes added.

King king --Check for capitalization. Same is true for all titles, like Queen, Baron...
Till-until --I tend to write Till cause its how I speak.
Cause - because --Same here. I never actually speak with because.
Site-sight
Peer pier
… --Fix elipses. I want three dots, not the word stand in. Same for M-dash.
“”’’ -- Get rid of curly quotes.
*** --I usually stick start next to stuff I need to change.
It is = it’s --cause word cant figure this out.
Form from
?” said --capitaliztion
Passed past
Bare bear--Not to be confused with a member of this site.
Into in to
Up on upon
Leapt leaped
Then than

I have other lists, but these are from my current one.

 

[Gurkhal]

Procastrination...

 

[Snowpoint]

Early Sanderson: Take a shot every time he says "Towered" to describe a tall person.

Later Sanderson: Take a shot every time he says "Lurch" Or, actually don't. Too dangerous.

 

[skip.knox]

Or, every time someone barks, in Dune.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

Procastrination...

That's less of a habit and more of a terminal illness, one we all have spells of eventually.
Joking aside, yes I'm terrible with procrastination.
Playing like 5 ish games at once while a few of them have 'dailies' is not healthy for my writing habits lol

 

[pmmg]

Dump em all and claim your freedom back.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

That's less of a habit and more of a terminal illness, one we all have spells of eventually.
Joking aside, yes I'm terrible with procrastination.
Playing like 5 ish games at once while a few of them have 'dailies' is not healthy for my writing habits lol

Get out while you can. I was a progression raider for years. Want to know how much writing I got done? I had to choose between playing and writing, and I stepped away to focus on the books. I still have my friends - that's the whole point, right? - so I don't miss playing in someone else's sandbox. I've got my own.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Yes a lot of words are correctly spelled, but not really the right word. My newest aggravation is dropping the 'y' off of 'they'. Like I have 18000 instances of 'the'. I cant really search and replace those.


I have other lists, but these are from my current one.

I had a beta drunk-dial me to tell me I'd used the wrong form of "shear" and it had slipped past my other two authors, our alpha, and all the rest of our betas.

She told me this a year and a half after the book released.

Yeah.

 

[Ozonequeen]

Well, I think I get too wordy and descriptive in my writing sometimes. Years ago, I worked in television and read a book called "Shorter, sharper, stronger". The idea being try to be as direct as possible. I worry I use 'and' too much and as pmmg pointed out to me, I was using the wrong punctuation in my dialogue. I haven't had many people read my work so far, I guess I have to wait and see. Another one I knock myself for is telling instead of showing the emotion but then I feel sometimes like the phrases sound too campy. I don't know. I don't give up though, I don't feel like I can. the story must go on, lol

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Well, I think I get too wordy and descriptive in my writing sometimes. Years ago, I worked in television and read a book called "Shorter, sharper, stronger". The idea being try to be as direct as possible. I worry I use 'and' too much and as pmmg pointed out to me, I was using the wrong punctuation in my dialogue. I haven't had many people read my work so far, I guess I have to wait and see. Another one I knock myself for is telling instead of showing the emotion but then I feel sometimes like the phrases sound too campy. I don't know. I don't give up though, I don't feel like I can. the story must go on, lol

Grammar, punctuation, style, you can learn all of these things. Don't sweat it for now. Now is for getting the stories out of your head and onto the page where you can work with them. Be campy. Be flowery. You do you. What you bring to writing is your unique voice, your unique style, and your unique vision. How you find those things is by writing your heart out. One million words to mastery, or so they say.

When you're ready to start learning the craft from other writers, there are thousands of writing guides out there, some better than others, your mileage may vary. Some are must-haves.

This will help with questions of punctuation and whatnot.
The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition: Jr., William Strunk, White, E. B.: 9798848365924: Amazon.com: Books

And Characters and Viewpoint. If you can find a newer edition or catch a good sale, it's really the go-to source for learning the basics of character creation and development.
Elements of Fiction Writing - Characters & Viewpoint: Scott Card, Orson: 9780898799279: Amazon.com: Books

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

Get out while you can. I was a progression raider for years. Want to know how much writing I got done? I had to choose between playing and writing, and I stepped away to focus on the books. I still have my friends - that's the whole point, right? - so I don't miss playing in someone else's sandbox. I've got my own.

I do most of my writing at the end of the day, but I probably should dial back on the number of games I'm playing lol

 

[pmmg]

I gave up video a long time ago. When I get to the end of my writing journey, I may go back and play some. I dont know.

I turned against video games because I noticed they made everyone fuss at each other in the house, and I got tired of it. I got tired and getting snapped at cause there was no save point, or telling the kids to hold on while I did something. I think they are life stealers, and make people grumpy.

Well, I think I get too wordy and descriptive in my writing sometimes. Years ago, I worked in television and read a book called "Shorter, sharper, stronger". The idea being try to be as direct as possible. I worry I use 'and' too much and as pmmg pointed out to me, I was using the wrong punctuation in my dialogue. I haven't had many people read my work so far, I guess I have to wait and see. Another one I knock myself for is telling instead of showing the emotion but then I feel sometimes like the phrases sound too campy. I don't know. I don't give up though, I don't feel like I can. the story must go on, lol

Well, its been a week or two, but I thought your writing was engaging. The attributions looked like you edited them out, but left the comma's. Now you know. Fix and move on

I am finding a phrase in my current one, I need to axe. Since I dont give specific times, I tent to write things like 'it was well into the early morning", or "well past sunrise." They are grating on me. I am going to have to go rephrase most of these, I think.

I am currently working on the dialect of one character. I had it right in part 4, but cant seem to repeat it in parts 2 and 3. We'll get it.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Or, every time someone barks, in Dune.

I used the word "bark" in my chapter today just for you.