Being a Better Writer: Checklisting · 9:29pm Oct 14th, 2019
Hey readers! Welcome back to another installment of Being a Better Writer. Not only that, but it’s a normal installment! That’s right, the Summer of Cliche Writing Advice is over and done!
It was a huge hit too, especially with some of the more common sayings. However, just because it’s over doesn’t mean that if you missed it all is lost. Just check out the tag ‘Summer of writing advice” to locate the whole set once more if you’re looking for them.
So, we’re back to regular Being a Better Writer posts, which means we’re back to discussing the topic of writing and all the various aspects of it we can improve at. So, for today? I’ve got an interesting topic for all you readers and writers out there. Readers, I’m sure, have noticed it, as I myself have found it on display in more than one book. And writers? Well, let’s just say this is a common error that anyone can slip into. Even with Jungle I’ve found this issue cropping up more than once and had to make some edits. Today’s trap is something all writers, novice and experienced, can fall into.
Today, I’m talking about checklisting.
The Church of Our Holy Bookworm Sparkle finds you guilty of Blasphemy for having the sheer, foul audacity of refuting that most holy of sanctified activities!
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But seriously, I’ve never fallen into this trap. Didn’t even realize it existed until now. When I first started out writing, I viewed narrative as the author speaking to the reader, quite literally, and nobody speaks in the form of a checklist, except under specific circumstances to prove a point. A checklist doesn’t have the natural flow of conversation, so it never even occurred to me.
Yet now that you've written a blog about it I realize that a story I read for review just this morning was doing it. Which makes sense, as it was easily among the most amateurish attempts at writing I’d ever seen (and as you can imagine, I’ve seen a lot).