7 Cringeworthy MISTAKES Beginner Writers Make ❌ (avoid these pitfalls!)

are you a beginner novelist who is struggling to make your writing shine and you're worried that because you don't have 20 years of experience under your belt your writing will come across sounding cringy or amateurish if you're nodding yes right now I feel your pain writing is supposed to be a fun adventurous creative explorative experience it should to be a stress Fest of putting out literary fires everywhere as you try to finesse every line of your manuscript into Perfection because let's be real it's impossible to get everything right as a beginner you just can't do

it and you don't have to but there are a few vital things that you can get right if you know what they are and that's what this video is all about the seven cringiest beginner writer mistakes and how to avoid these pitfalls so that you can make your writing sound seasoned and Polished even if you have little too no previous writing experience seriously get ready to take some notes why does your story matter good question what if I told you that there's a science behind every great story I don't just teach you how to write

I teach you how to change the world with your story and make your author dreams come true before we get into the seven deadly mistakes that beginner writers make I first want to ask you to take a quick second to hit the Subscribe button below this video it'll only take a sec and I would love to have you here in the community because I post writing videos every single Wednesday and I would love to have you here mistake number one relying too much on external conflict and not enough on internal conflict here's the thing all

compelling stories are character-driven yes all of them literally all of them even the ones that you don't think are character-driven are character-driven am I saying that you don't need a good plot for your story absolutely not you need a good plot external conflict the plot is all about what happens but internal conflict the story is about why it matters which is why we need to introduce the internal conflict first because without it the entire story is just a bunch of stuff happening to your protagonist there's no point of reference to make it meaningful this is

such a vital part of the storytelling process I am honestly shocked by how many writers get this wrong even writers who aren't beginners even seasoned authors get this wrong they write a bunch of exciting crazy perilous adventurous stuff happening to their characters right out of the gate without ever giving us a yard stick to measure the importance of this buy and that yard stick is your protagonist's internal conflict without that we don't know why these events matter to the characters on a deeper level So to avoid this mistake prioritize internal conflict over external conflict and

you'll be surprised by how once you develop your internal conflict for your characters the external conflict the plot almost writes itself through the characters making fear-based and goal-based decisions beginner mistake number two failing to define the protagonist's Fatal flaw a fatal flaw is a misbelief that your protagonist has about themselves and or about the world and this misbelief constantly gets in their way of achieving true happiness that's all a fatal fly has to be something that the character thinks is true but is actually a lie and this lie is based upon their past experiences and

traumas and things that they have gone through that have shaped who they are as a person today many writers fail to do this they will set up a plot and maybe a goal for the main character but they fail to develop a motive and meaning behind the goal which makes the story just fall flat and that's what makes you lose interest and put the book down halfway through and then you don't even care How It Ends because it's like why does this even matter to this person and I don't know why it matters to me

I don't know about you but I want my stories to be meaningful and leave a lasting impact on my readers I want them to spark discussions and ideas and to me that can only begin when you start with a character who has a fatal flaw that they need to overcome so give your character a misbelief figure figure out where that misbelief came from and how it's shaped to them into the person they are today if you need help with any of that check out this video that I made on my super simple guide to finding

your character's misbelief or fatal flaw mistake number three giving your side characters roles to play instead of goals to pursue Your Side characters should not be here in the story because the story needs them to be they should be here because they need to be difference there a lot of writers fail to write strong Side characters because they are just focusing on filling roles instead of writing characters with goals right we need a best friend we need a love interest we need a mentor we need a spiteful ex and these characters can come off feeling

really cliche and flat and two-dimensional because they're not here for their own reasons they're here because the plot needs them to be but your side characters just like your protagonist should be here with intention they have an agenda of their own they have misbeliefs and internal conflict of their own and they have a goal that they are trying to pursue as well so you can avoid this nasty Mistake by asking yourself these four simple questions first who is this character what is their internal conflict and their reasons for appearing in the story when they do

what is this character's role in the story how are they connected to the main character what is this character's agenda what is the goal they're actively pursuing throughout the story and how is the character going to impact the protagonist story will their actions have a direct impact on the main conflict mistake number four no story structure a lot of writers hate story structure because they feel trapped by it they feel like their plot is closing in on them from all sides and they are unable to creatively color outside the lines and I've been there okay

I know what this feels like because when I first started writing I was a pancer I did not outline anything I just kind of let the story take me where it wanted to go and my writing suffered from it that was when I started to realize I'm looking at story structure all wrong here's the truth your structure should not limit you it should serve you it should free you to be more creative and see more possibilities with this story because you're able to see it from this thousand foot View using a story structure before you

start actually writing the first draft is going to help you tremendously not just to make your characters more complex and realistic and make your plot stronger and make your theme stronger but it's also going to help you tremendously in the editing process and the revisions process because you'll never have to do a big overhaul rewrite of a second draft because you already figured out the problems in the first draft before you even wrote the first draft because you took the time to structure your story properly now I know that plotting and outlining and using a

story structure can feel very overwhelming especially if you're used to being more of a discovery writer or a pancer so don't worry I've got you covered check out this video which goes into my bullet point outlining process for using story structure for pancers okay it is pancer friendly so if you've never plotted before or never used a story structure before that video is for you okay before we move on to mistake number five I quickly want to interrupt myself here to tell you about a special live training that I'm hosting this weekend because it is

preptober so if you are participating in nanor rimo this year maybe it's your first year you doing it maybe you've never written a novel before but you want to challenge yourself this coming month to write your first novel and turn your story ideas into a masterpiece I'm calling it nanoro success blueprint write your novel in a month even if you were an absolute beginner in this training we're going to explore my simple three-step recipe to Kickstart the process of writing a story that matters crafting layered compelling and conflicted characters that your reader will instantly sympathize

with creating a brilliant plot outline using my character-based threea story structure effortlessly weaving meaningful themes into your story and making it matter to you and your readers and finally organizing your lifestyle to make time for prioritizing your writing this November we're going to dive into all of this and more in the training this weekend so if you're about to embark on nanel rhy or you're just right now in the midst of writing your first novel this training is for you you don't want to miss it it's happening this Sunday October 6th at 1:00 p.m. Eastern

Standard Time and if you can't make it to the live training don't worry you will still have access to watch the replay as many times as you want so you can click the link below this video to save your spot space is limited so make sure you click that link soon also when you save your spot at this live training you also unlock my entire live training archive vault which is over 30 hours of in-depth teachings on subjects like writing editing character development plotting publishing and so much more so much value in the vault I

think you will love it there so click the link below to get access now and I hope to see you this Sunday mistake number five inconsistent pacing this usually happens as a result of an unstructured story like we were just saying but it can also happen at the scene level huge portions of the book might be weighed down with slow paced descriptions and scenes that seem to drag on forever and filler chapters that really don't contribute anything to the story and then we might happen upon a portion of the book that is really fast-paced like

action scene after action scene after action scene this inconsistency can make you feel like you are on a very unpleasant roller coaster ride without a clear sense of balance in the emotion and the tone and the progress that your characters are supposed to be making throughout this story and you can fix this inconsistent pacing by looking at your story from that thot view that I was talking about the story structure where is this going can we see the beginning and the end and the middle and how all of this comes together and when you do

see that you're able to paste your story properly because you know where this is going and and you know how your characters are going to get from point A to point B pacing is also one of those things that you can ask your beta readers about or your critique Partners so if you have somebody in your life who is a trusted friend who will give you honest feedback on your writing ask them when did you feel like this story was dragging or slowing down when did you find yourself maybe skimming to get to the next

page or get to the end of this scene or this conversation there's an indication that your p ing maybe needs to be sped up try to look at your writing objectively try to look at it not just as a extension of your heart and soul which I know it is I know it is but it's a thing you made and if you can look at it separate from yourself and not identify too closely with it that is powerful that is like your superpower as a writer being able to objectively observe your own writing and be

able to edit it and make it even better mistake number six is telling instead of showing now the golden rule of show don't tell is this telling explains what we're looking at showing allows us to interpret what we're looking at and engage with the story on an emotional level so don't tell me she's afraid of criticism and being rejected show me her stress sweating and ripping up Little Bits of Paper while she sits there waiting for a job interview okay there here's a quick example but for more examples of this check out this video that

I made on this topic specifically I know a lot of people make a big deal out of showing not telling like this is a make or break situation and you know your writing is going to sound terrible if you do this if you make this mistake but this is something that comes with practice over time just notice it when you can fix it in any instance that you can and don't sweat it too much because this is something that can be fixed in the editing process the most important thing is that you bring the heart

and soul into your characters the meaning why your story matters and finally number seven the absolute worst mistake that any writer can make no transformative moment that brings your protagonist's character Arc full circle this is also known as the aha moment and it is the biggest most pivotal moment of your story why because it's the moment when your character's Arc comes full circle and they have their moment of transformation their moment of Awakening their moment when they realize their misbelief their fatal flaw has been wrong this whole time and it has been keeping them from

true happiness only after your protagonist has their aha moment can they continue to the climax without this Revelation they won't have the courage to face their biggest challenge yet but with this Revelation the protagonists can finally Crush their misbelief overcome their greatest fear and continue to the climate of the book proving their transformation showing the reader how much they've changed since the beginning of the story remember if you don't have a character Arc you don't have a story you just have a random assortment of stuff happening to A random assortment of people your character's Arc

or journey of Change Is What Makes Your Story satisfying and memorable so ask yourself why does the aha moment matter to you why is this character's fatal flaw or misbelief personal to you why did you want to write a character who's struggling with this internal conflict and if you could interact with and speak to a person who's just like your character okay if they could sit in front of you and you could have a conversation with them and you could tell them a truth that would stay with them for the rest of their lives what

would it be really think about the answer to that question because that is the big idea that you want to weave into that moment in your book that pivotal transformative moment where your character overcomes their misbelief and finally becomes who they were always destined to be bring your personal experiences and your passion into this moment and that is going to have an incredible lasting impact on your audience okay boom that's it the seven deadly mistakes that beginner writers make and how to avoid these pitfalls what to do instead hopefully you took lots of notes but

if you want to take that next step and you want to write the novel of your dreams and finally stop putting it off but actually sit down and do it turn your ideas into a masterpiece then I invite you to click the link below this video and save your spot at my upcoming live training that's happening this Sunday even if you're not participating in nanor rimo even if it's not even November when you're watching this you can still watch the replay of the live training if you are a beginner writer or maybe you've written one

or two novels and you want to just improve your style and improve your skills that much more definitely I invite you to join this training because you're going to learn a lot it's happening Sunday October 6th at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Standard time but like I said you can watch the replay anytime you want and you can watch everything else in the live training archive which is over 30 hours of content diving deep into editing publishing writing character development and so much more so I hope to see you over there save your spot at the link

below this video and while you're down there smash the like button hit the Subscribe button make sure you are a part of the community cuz I would love to have you here and what would you tell your novice writer self if you could give yourself one piece of advice what would it be drop it in the comments below and we will make like a wealth of information in the comment section that will just help so many writers out there until next week my friend Rock on [Music]