Writers love their words too much when...

The one thing all good writers and poets seek out before they publish is feedback on their work. They know it catches mistakes, identifies misconceptions or confusion, offers better word choices, improves clarity, or cuts needless words. Also, when written well, critique offers confirmation.

  Writers know they can't please everyone, yet should want to reach as many readers as possible. But readability, regardless of subject matter, is in the mind's eye of the reader. At times we can forget that.

  Writers always, always, can accept or reject criticism. But sometimes we writers can be so invested in our work that we cannot acknowledge our own mistakes or what needs improvement.

  Based on my experience in over 3,000 writing and poetry critique sessions and working closely with authors, I've come up with the following stumbling blocks or traps some writers fall into:

Writers love their words too much when…

 

They ignore suggestions to switch POV or tense

They like excessive dialogue tags with adverbs

They use adverbs instead of verbs to show action

They skip necessary punctuation or have too much

They insert too many exclamation points

They insist on twenty-five cent words no one understands

They fall back on tired old cliches

They tell what happens instead of showing it

They pooh-pooh the idea of changing words or phrasings

They think their writing is perfectly understandable

They explain and defend what they’ve written

They know their book will sell well when published

They think they’ve told a brand-new story

They can’t see why their writing is boring

They refuse to cut out vague or extraneous words

They use the same pronoun to start every sentence

They care little about metaphors and similes or use too many

They don’t appreciate that criticisms are meant to help them

They think beta readers are overrated

They won’t spend money on a good editor

They believe the book will sell itself

 And the number one reason writers love their words too much is because…

  They are in love with themselves and not the reader

Know your target audience. Be in love with those readers.