Have you ever experienced one of those moments when you’re
completely lost because someone used the wrong word and took their message in the
entire other direction? I have, and it sucks for both people. It’s never fun to
be told your story doesn't make sense, and I personally hate to break it to
people. There is a solution however! Simply: don’t be that person. There are a number of simple ways to avoid being looked at
negatively as a writer.
First off, don’t use words that you don’t know the
definition of. I can’t stress this enough, for obvious reasons. It’s a clear
sign that the writer wasn't even willing to consult a dictionary, which brings
to question whether any of their writing is reliable. This goes for words you've only heard too. Perhaps you know the definition of a word, but you've only ever
heard it, and never spelled it. In this case, make sure to look up the
spelling. Trust me, it sucks to mix up ‘content’ with ‘contempt.’
Another key thing to avoid is laziness in every way.
Laziness with plot can make for a boring read, and that’s never any fun.
Laziness with proofreading is the real killer though. Sure, a spell checker can
point out words you spelled wrong, but that doesn't mean it’ll spell it right
for you. Perhaps a word is commonly misspelled, or there are multiple spellings
of the same word, each with different meanings (meet, meat, there, their, and
they’re). A spell check will do its best to give you the right spelling, but
make sure it’s still the word you want.
If you still don't think that proofreading is important, check out this video. You'll see just how ridiculous you can sound. Though it's rather extreme, I have had the misfortune of reading something almost as poorly written as this script. People that write like this do exist. Don't be that person.
Speaking of laziness, don’t just accept your first draft. It
IS still a draft after all, and if you’re going to accept that as your final, I wouldn't get your hopes up for being successful. Chances are, throughout your time
writing, you've changed your mind multiple times. Perhaps you set up some
foreshadowing early on, that never actually happened in the future because of
your indecisiveness. Always check your plot for holes, and edit, edit, edit!
Get someone else to do it for you too, preferably not one of those friends that
will just say everything looks good. Those people suck.
If you’re interested in reading more about this, I suggest that
you check out this website, which has many useful tips for growing writers!
Write on, friends. Write on.
Great video choice, funny but it still gets the point across very, very clearly.
ReplyDeleteAhh, I am one of these people who has such a problem with spelling. It's true, spell check helps a little but sometimes you can let it correct a word, and that word is a completely different one than the one you wanted. It's really embarrassing. I like to hope I'm getting better at it but proofreading is key.
To help, read your work aloud. On the screen your eyes and brain tend to skip over what you've mixed up but reading it out loud helps abate that problem.
I had fun reading this blog. Also, I was glad that you brought your own experiences into it; this gave it a personal aspect, as well as helped to allow others to relate it to their own lives. You did a good job of stressing the point that these errors are so simple to make, so the importance of editing is essential. The video was also a good addition for some comic relief.
ReplyDelete