Elements of Craft

Seven Deadly Sins of Writing

I've often said that writing is a spiritual endeavor. If this is true, then it only makes sense
that Good Prose must also have its nemesis. And surely, the Devil of Rejection temps
every writer with the Seven Deadly Sins of Writing. They seem innocent enough-a
misplaced comma here, an adverb there-but soon the writer finds himself sinking into the
dreaded darkness of the Rejection Pile. Sadly, often the writer doesn't even know he's
been deceived. So let's reveal the Seven Deadly Sins of Writing for what they are: Death
to your manuscript.
I. Poor Grammar and Spelling. Surely, nothing screams "amateur" as loudly as poor
grammar and misspelled words. If your grammar is poor, take a class at your local
community college. These are usually low-cost (and there is almost always financial aid
or grants available to cover all expenses) and will refresh your grammar skills. If your
grammar is decent, invest in a good grammar reference book and use it whenever you are
uncertain. See the Grammar Tips and Comma Usage Tip Sheets for help on this one.
II. Telling, not Showing. We must act out our scenes, through action and dialogue, in such
a way that our reader feels that he is experiencing the drama as it is happening. See the
Show, Don't Tell Tip Sheet for details.
III. Passive Voice. Using passive verbs, adverbs, intensifiers, -ing verbs and unnecessary
words suck the very life out of our prose. For examples of how to make your prose as
active as possible, see the Keep it Active Tip Sheet.
IV. Purple Prose. Overusing adverbs and adjectives, using cliches and euphemisms, and
getting carried away with description in inappropriate places is called "Purple Prose." It's
a lot of fluff with little substance. Instead of using an adverb to make a weak verb
stronger or an adjective to make a weak noun stronger, omit the adverb/adjective and
choose a stronger verb/noun. Instead of reusing phrases that you've heard before, find
fresh ways of saying things. Instead of using euphemisms (attention: romance and lovescene writers!) for parts of the body, use real words. Too much fluff is just like too much
dessert-it leaves us heaving. See the Tip Sheet on Creative Dialogue Tags for another
example of this disease and check out the Controlling Character Emotion Tip Sheet for
help in reducing the melodrama.
V. Repetitiveness. Not trusting our words to do their job or not trusting our reader to be
smart enough to understand our words leads us to repeating ourselves. We change our
wording, but still present the same idea in a slightly different way. This redundancy kills
our prose. Say it Once, Say it Right!
VI. Point of View Breaches. Switching our viewpoint character without warning,
"seeing" or "hearing" things our viewpoint character is not privy to, or switching from
one type of point of view to another disrupts the flow of our prose and jolts our reader.

Sometimes the reader isn't even able to state what the exact problem is, just that
"something isn't right." Always be aware of whose viewpoint you are in and why. For
more help on this subject, see the Tip Sheet Point of View and Other Devices.
VII. Lack of Persistence. Surely, giving up is the deadliest of all the deadly sins. Writers
who decide they "aren't good enough" or "don't have time" to write will never be
published. Writers who fail to take advice and further their understanding of the writing
craft will never be published. And writers who accept rejection as defeat will never be
published. To quote my favorite uncle, "You aren't defeated until you give up."
So, don't let any of the Seven Deadly Sins of Writing kill your chances of being
published. Read. Write. Study. Persist. No one ever said it would be easy, but if you have
that passion in your soul, nothing will stop you from succeeding. Go for it.
Want more great tips and techniques? Our Inspiration for Writers Tips and Techniques
Workbook is now available for immediate download. Expanded tips, more topics,
reproducible worksheets, exercises to practice what you learn and much more--check it
out!
(c) copyright 2001 by Sandy Tritt. All rights reserved, except for those listed here. These
pages may be reproduced for educational purposes (such as for writer's workshops), as
long as this copyright notice and the url: http://tritt.wirefire.com are distributed with the
pages. For use in conferences or other uses not mentioned here, please contact Sandy Tritt
at tritt@wvadventures.net for permission and additional resources at no or limited charge.