The 38 Most common Fiction Writing Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them) By Jack M. Bickham

One of my all time favorite authors had this book listed as recommended reading for aspiring writers, so I was delighted to find a copy at the library. For such a small book (just over 100 pages), I have found it to be extremely helpful and informative. Bickham's approach is very straightforward, concise, and no nonsense, which I actually really enjoyed. He covers a great deal of information in this book.

He talks about using exaggeration when creating characters to make them seem more real. It never occurred to me to do that, but I see his point. Some of my favorite and most memorable characters in books I have read have been extreme. He also warns against being a literary snob -- looking down on other genre's than your own, or thinking you are smarter than your reader. He states that it will come across and alienate your reader. He says to always keep the story moving, which seems very simple and obvious, but I can remember reading books that seemed to meander a little aimlessly with very little forward momentum, and I found them boring and frustrating to read. On a similar vein, he says that there should be a reason and a point for everything that happens in the story. That can also be frustrating for a reader who may become distracted by pointless details, trying to figure out how they fit, when the author never intended it to be an important detail.

That is just a small sample of the useful tips included in this book, and I look forward to going over it again, taking notes, and putting his tips into practice with my own writing.