Jack M Bickham - 38 most common fiction writing mistakes

THE 38 MOST COMMON FICTION WRITING MISTAKES (And How To Avoid Them) by Jack M. Bickham 1 Forward The preliminary section of a book is often labeled a “foreword. “ But in a book involving fiction technique, the word ought to be "Forward. " Why?. . . To... More

THE 38 MOST COMMON FICTION WRITING MISTAKES (And How To Avoid Them) by Jack M. Bickham 1 Forward The preliminary section of a book is often labeled a “foreword. “ But in a book involving fiction technique, the word ought to be "Forward. " Why?. . . To emphasize two vital points: All good fiction moves forward; all good fiction writers look ahead. In more than twenty years of teaching courses in professional writing at the University of Oklahoma, I think I ve encountered almost every difficulty an aspiring writer might face. (Once, I had a young male student who was both deaf and blind. He required a companion in the classroom to tap her fingers against his hand during my lectures to spell out my words. ) But by far the most common-and crippling-problem for students over the years was the tendency to write static copy that didn t have forward movement. And the second most common problem was the habit of looking backwards -at past mistakes and disappointments, or at worries about Less