How Not to Write a Novel: 200 Classic Mistakes and How to Avoid Them—A Misstep-by-Misstep Guide

by Howard Mittelmark

The central dilemma of a novel should be important enough to change someone’s life forever.

Any scene can be killed by description of every meaningless component of whatever action the character undertakes.

NEVER use two scenes to establish the same thing. We do not, under any circumstances, want a series of scenes in which the hero goes to job interviews but fails to get the job, or has a series of unsuccessful dates to illustrate bad luck in love. This works in the movies, where three scenes can pass in thirty seconds, but not in a novel. Unless a new character or plot element is introduced, once is enough. Related problems:

The well-chosen detail is always more effective than the exhaustive inventory.

Likewise, it is no good arguing that blood does leap out of a cut throat exactly the way juice squirts out of a juice box when a toddler falls on it; though the description may be physically accurate, it distracts from the drama you are attempting to convey.