5 Common Writing Mistakes by Teen Writers

#TeenWriters: To avoid weak writing, check your book for these common mistakes #writingtips@tessaemilyhall Share on X

Teen writers: You’re entering an industry filled with experienced writers—people who have been on this journey for decades.

If you want to avoid coming across as an amateur, check your manuscript for these 5 common mistakes made by teen writers:

      1. Not enough sensory details

When I write a first draft, I focus on the dialogue and action, recording the “movie” as it plays in my mind. Thus, my first draft is really my book’s skeleton.

As a beginning teen writer, I neglected to breathe life into my scenes by incorporating the five senses. During my rewrites of Purple Moon, I printed out the entire manuscript, then highlighted the areas that could use sensory details.

Sensory details are important because . . .

– They keep readers grounded in a scene

– They allow readers to experience the journey along with the protagonist

– They “fool” the reader into believing the story is real

– They add color to the black-and-white pages of a manuscript

      2. “Telling” instead of “showing”

Readers don’t want to be told a story; they want to live a story. Authors should convince the reader they are the main character. (Sounds schizophrenic, doesn’t it?)

For instance:

Rachel was embarrassed because a group of girls starred at her.

Can you feel Rachel’s embarrassment, see the group of girls, or understand why she was embarrassed? Not at all.

Rewrite it in a way that brings the reader into the scene:

Heat flooded Rachel’s cheeks. A group of girls huddled next to the lockers, whispering and snickering, their eyes burning holes through Rachel. What was she thinking? Rachel knew she shouldn’t have worn the Christmas sweater Grandmother bought her. 

Notice I didn’t name the emotion in that version, yet it’s obvious Rachel is embarrassed, and we know why she is, too.

When it comes to showing vs. telling, ask yourself . . .

– Why does my character feel this emotion?

– What does she see? Hear? Taste? Smell? Feel?

– What is her physical response or body language?

– What is her thought process?

Don’t tell the reader what happens; let them experience it.

      3. Overuse of exclamation marks

She couldn’t believe her eyes!

What do I do!

Overuse of exclamation marks scream amateur! That’s because they drain power of what is being emphasized. It’s as if the author is trying to tell the reader, this is how she’s thinking it! Or, this is how extreme the action is!

In other words: They tell rather than show.

Plus, they are awfully distracting. It reminds the reader that the story isn’t real.

Instead, show the emphasis through body language, action, emotions, etc. Allow the reader to catch onto the exclamation without having to be told what is being exclaimed.

      4. Lacking story-structure

Since my stories are character-focused, I used to write scenes that weren’t related to the story’s plot. Sure, these scenes could have actually occurred in my main character’s day-to-day life, but they didn’t push the story forward or deepen characterization.   

Every book needs to have story-structure, and every scene needs to directly relate with that structure.

Think of your book like a movie. Then, go back and cut any scene that slows down the pace.

Ask yourself: What is the purpose of this scene? Does it push the story forward?

      5. Overuse of adverbs and adjectives

In elementary school, I was taught to incorporate as many adjectives and adverbs into my stories as possible.

My writing sounded like this:

The big, fat, yellow sun shined brightly against the light blue sky.

Colorful, isn’t it? And yet, sometimes those colors are the very things that distract the reader from the story. My agent puts it this way: “…too much description makes the colors all bleed together.”

Nowadays, adjectives and adverbs are lazy. They tell the action, emotion, scenery, etc. instead of allowing the reader to experience it.

But didn’t books use adverbs and adjectives in the old days?

Yes. But we’re not still making black and white movies anymore, are we? We’ve improved our technology and have discovered new—better—ways of capturing film.

Same with books. We’ve discovered ways to write that invite the reader to delve deeper into the story.

Just like exclamation points, overusing adverbs and adjectives are a form of telling rather than showing.

Replace them with strong verbs and nouns. This will help the reader picture the scene for themselves rather than be told how to picture it.

For instance:

She quickly ran up the stairs.

This tells us how she ran up the steps. Replace it with a strong verb, such as:

She hurried up the stairs.

She rushed up the stairs.

The adverb isn’t necessary in those sentences. Plus, the verbs convey a much stronger sense of action, don’t you think?

Which of these mistakes are hardest for you to overcome? Any you’d like to add to this list?

5 Common Writing Mistakes by #TeenWriters @tessaemilyhall #writingtips #amwriting Share on X