The Faults of Writers

JoeMilford Level 1

August 29, 2017, 5:44 pm

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The Faults of Writers

What is the biggest mistake that writers can make when it comes to appealing to or reaching out to their audience?

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galegatling

galegatling

Depends really. Some may even fail to reach out to their audience and would end up regretting it in the long run. A writer without an audience is still a writer but if no one can appreciate his or her writings, then it will probably go to waste if he only keeps it to himself.

7 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

I came to terms with the fact, many years ago, that the words on my laptop, notebooks, journals, and PC were not going to have an audience unless I aggressively pursued one. Now, I have my second collection of poetry coming out, and all of the hard work I did is paying off. You can't keep it to yourself. You have to find your audience and then grow in your work. It takes years and years, but if you stick it out, it is so worth it.

7 years ago

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galegatling

galegatling

That is very nice to hear! Congratulations! It sure is worth it if you really pursue and persevere. I believe those are also what other aspiring writers are lacking, or even facing - being laid back and not have the motivation to publish their works.

7 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

Thanks for saying this. You have to be aggressive, and be very able to handle rejection. I have a shoebox full of rejection slips. I read once that William Faulkner saved all of his rejection slips to Story magazine, and then, once he go recognition, they actually asked him for a story, and instead of sending a story, he sent them back their rejection slips. I would never do that, but I do think it is a funny tale. In any case, you just have to believe in yourself and stick it out. Your congratulations are very welcomed...if you want more info about the book, you can email me here: jmilford2005@hotmail,com. In any case, I just want to reiterate that we just can;t give up when it comes to our work.

7 years ago

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iamawriter

iamawriter

Unlike in the good old days publishing now is not that impossible. There are many outlets that can help writers publish their works. Ordinary writers are known to have published books with great sales.
As regards blogs I think a daily update could perhaps help.

7 years ago

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Soulwatcher

Soulwatcher

I think the biggest problem that I writer has it not putting out content fast enough. Whether be it a book, blog, or ebook. If you wait too long to put out content you're going to lose your audience because they are going to move to someone who is putting out content at a speed that they require.

P.S. I think that if you have a popular blog you need to be cranking out content at least every 3 days and if you're putting out a book series you should put out a new book once a year.

7 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Kakashi2020

Expecting too much from your audience is one thing most writers just fail to understand. Most writers expect their readers for praises that's why whenever they get bad reviews or negative comments they become shocked, unable to respond and confused.

6 years ago

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Pixie06

Pixie06

I agree with your opinion. My friend started a Travel blog 2 years back where she was sharing some really good travel experiences but unfortunately, the traffic to her blog remained static. She tried many ways to promote her blog but couldn't achieve the desired results. She eventually gave up and decided to write on another popular topic.

7 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Kakashi2020

I do agree that you can only be a good writer if you let people see your work. Appreciation is the key to a writers success. If a lot of people appreciate your work then you'll be able to gauge your success and skill.

6 years ago

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jeffreyjose48

jeffreyjose48

I believe writers need to just make best write ups. Its the readers job to review it. Good feedback will be proclaimed soon through word of mouth recommendations.

6 years ago

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wiseagent

wiseagent

One of the mistakes that often bother me a lot is the fact that some writers think they can write about everything always with the same quality. Is it so difficult for them to realize that no one in this world can master all kinds of skills?

Focus on what you can do best and work to always go improving what you already know how to do. Of course this doesn't stop you from trying new ways to write, but you - naturally - will always have your favorite niche, a place where you'll always be better.

7 years ago

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mariecel

mariecel

I think some writers copy from what they have read, but of course we base our writings on what we have research but copying is not good for me. I read some articles and most of them are almost the same in wording, as a writer you should have the quality and unique style of writing an article, because a good writer has a wide imagination and thinking. You should have passion and focus in everything you will write mostly the phrases and always remember readers should understand and able to relate on what you are trying to say in your article. Better use simple words that everyone can understand than using scientific words but nobody can relate.

7 years ago

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wiseagent

wiseagent

Yeah! To be a good writer you need to gather a lot of good qualities and all the ones that you mentioned are part of the complete package.

Some of them are natural qualities, others you develop with time and practice... But it's always good to be aware that becoming a writer without an identity of your own won't do much good.

It will be a lost job (at least from my point of view).

7 years ago

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iamawriter

iamawriter

None of us come with knowledge. It has to come from somewhere and what better way than research the Net which is not copying nor is it called plagiarism. When I was writing for iwriter requesters in fact encouraged me to do it.

7 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

I think that half of good writing IS based on good research. There is definitely an art to researching things, and we should all be well-informed about our topics and our subject matter. No one wants to read un-informed writing, and I would say that that kind of writing is boring, and you can not learn anything from it.

7 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

wiseagent,
Your quote is all too true, and I must confess that I have been guilty of this myself from time to time. That old adage, "Write what you know", still rings true for most of us, I think. When you do write :naturally", as you say, the audience can pick up on the fluidity and confidence of your voice, your own unique and original voice speaking from a place of knowledge about a favorite subject.

7 years ago

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wiseagent

wiseagent

JoeMilford,

Becoming a writer with your own identity must to be exactly what you said because when you write leaving your fingerprints all over the text, the readers will make a direct association with what you are writing and with each new work read, the association becomes more and more natural to the point where the readers will always "know" you easily.

It's not easy to reach that stage of the process, but it's a quest worth fighting for.

7 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

I completely agree with you wholeheartedly. It's called "developing a voice", I guess. When your voice is so strong that I could pick it out of a list of other passages, then I guess you have really accomplished that individual tone, nuance, style, and execution that people consider your own unique use of language. I strive for this as well as a writer, and, frankly, unless you are some sort of prodigy, I think that it takes years and years to accomplish. Still, it sounds like you love working on it, so you will get there, and hopefully I will too.

7 years ago

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wiseagent

wiseagent

I think your placement on "developing a voice" is also very well placed.

It really takes a long time to build a good reputation / career (and unfortunately, just a single bad job or wrong attitude to do away with all that has been achieved).

Trying to always do our best is our obligation. I always try to do this and I know that you also try to do the same.

Good luck for us.

7 years ago

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DenisP

DenisP

I agree with this 100%. The difference between your writing being okay and great is very much so decided by how much effort and attention you put into a certain subject. As the saying goes, "Jack of all trades, master of none."

The only way to appear like you really know what you're talking about, is by actually knowing. Focusing on a niche and mastering that field is really impressive to most people, because it makes you seem confident and secure in your knowledge.

If you spread yourself too thin, everything will most likely sound like you're not all that sure about what you know, and that isn't all that attractive.

7 years ago

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Painterly

Painterly

It depends on the medium. If we're talking a business proposition, like an ad, then I'd say the biggest mistake authors make is in not understanding their clientele. You simply cannot properly market anything if you do not own your readers. An ad must be properly formatted from start to finish for it to have maximum impact, and that formatting is designed specifically to pique the interests of specific demographics who your product may appeal to.

If we're talking more along the lines of recreational writing then I would argue there are few mistakes. Your readership has to find you as much as you must find them. There's no objectively wrong way to express yourself in that context, although that's not to say that anything goes. The more on-point you are with your technique, the more appeal it will have. How you format that sort of thing is a matter of debate that's been spoken on at length by far better writers than I will ever be.

7 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

Good point here, Painterly. Every medium or genre comes with its own set of possible problems, concerns, styles, and possible pitfalls. I like what you are saying here. If you are writing fiction, for example, you need to make sure your characters are three dimensional enough to be believable and to feel real to the audience. If you are writing poetry, for example, you should probably avoid the overly flowery language and utilize the best metaphors and symbols possible for the subject at hand. Technical writing definitely comes with a stringent set of rules, and most professional writing, such as reports, presentations, and emails, also come with an understood set of guidelines and protocol.

7 years ago

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DarthHazard

DarthHazard

I think the biggest problem that you can make as a writer is not writing what your readers are interested in or looking at reading. If you are not able to capture your reader and if they do not browse your blog to read more content then that is a big problem. Your content should be interested and should be good enough for readers to be interested in reading.

7 years ago

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DenisP

DenisP

I think when running a blog or personal website, this is probably the most difficult issue to address. And this doesn't apply to just writers, but any form of content creation where your aim is to entertain and capture the attention of the public.

It isn't something that you have to stress so much about as a freelancer. You get the order from a client, you write it, get paid, and whether it works for the client or not isn't your problem.

On the other hand, while running a blog, whether you fail or succeed depends entirely on this factor. People always just want to write about content that they're personally interested in. But the fact is that sometimes you're going to have to make sacrifices and write about things you might not particularly care about, if you notice that it is something your audience may want to read.

7 years ago

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Authord

Authord

Well, i think most mistakes writers make or should i say the the biggest mistake, i have seen from most writers, is not interacting with your audience, both in your writing and in the platform at which you write on. some neglect comments, not knowing that communication matters in writing and the manner at which you approach those that gets you triggered in cause of your writings,

7 years ago

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DarthHazard

DarthHazard

The point that you made about neglecting comments is important. It separates the writer and the readers which becomes a bit of a problem. It's important that writers interact with their readers so that they know their comments are being read. If you don't reply to comments or acknowledge them, people may stop leaving comments.

7 years ago

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Authord

Authord

Exactly, making contents interactive is one thing bloggers needs to improve on, but most of them neglect that fact. When your contents are interactive, it builds a bond between the reader and the content, and in that process a bridge is built, that bridge will be linking the reader to your blog . Talking from experience. And most of them ignore comments, especially none tutorial niches and it's very bad.

7 years ago

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treecko142

treecko142

Yeah, your audience is essentially your biggest source of criticism, income, and ideas and not listening to them won't help you improve and in turn reach your potential and earn more from your writing (if it's a source of income for you).

7 years ago

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LeJayJ

LeJayJ

What I have noticed recently, what with the proliferation of amateur bloggers and forum owners, is an abundance of posts that are cookie cutter matches of each other. It seems that some bloggers and forum writers think that as long as they are putting out a post every couple of days, readership will flourish. However, while this might work to attract new views, it isn't going to retain anyone that is looking for an interesting and informative read. I've encountered a good many forums in which after reading the first two posts I can pretty much sum up the third, fourth and fifth by simply picking out the subject and never ever reading another word. Variety is the spice of life and writing.

7 years ago

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treecko142

treecko142

Yeah, most fall into the trap of just posting something on a regular schedule based on what others are also posting. if you don't differentiate yourself from others, then people won't be interested in you and would rather choose someone who already is more popular. people will eventually get tired of the same types of posts every day if you don't add variety or something special to your entries.

6 years ago

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rj02jogoy

rj02jogoy

Never annoy your readers.

Sometimes I read books in which the author withholds key information from readers, presumably in an effort to create suspense. But failing to give readers what they want doesn’t create suspense, it causes dissatisfaction.

For example, don’t leave a point-of-view character in the middle of an action sequence. If, in the final sentence of a chase scene, you write that your protagonist “careened around the bend and crashed into the cement pylon jutting up from the side of the road,” readers will turn to the next chapter wanting to find out if she is
conscious, dead, etc.

But if that next chapter instead begins with another point-of-view character, one in a less stressful situation, readers will be impatient. They don’t want to wait to come back to the woman in the car (or maybe she’s in the hospital by then) a chapter later.

If readers are tempted to skip over part of your story to get to a part they want to read, you need to fix that section. As you write, constantly ask yourself what the readers want at this moment of the story.

Then, give it to them—or surprise them with something even better.

7 years ago

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iamawriter

iamawriter

I have bits and pieces scattered all over be they articles or poems. I must earnestly spend some time to put them all together and share them with the various sites where I have a registration. I know I will have an audience when I start doing that.

7 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

I am also like you in that I have stuff scattered all over the place, and I really need to get motivated to organize my work. A very important reason why I need to have a better system is to keep a record of which poems I have sent where; if you double-submit to journals, for instance, the editors can get pretty angry and annoyed, and they can blacklist and never consider publishing your work. For that reason alone I need to organize and categorize all of my writing.

7 years ago

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radiowaves

radiowaves

Being uninteresting; the number one trial of a writer is to be able to keep the audience reading all the way to the end. You might have a great story in your head or be writing a text with great content, but it's pointless if you don't manage to make people read it. You need a great eye-catching title and a first punchy paragraph to spark the interest of the reader. People these days have access to way too much content so they will just jump to the a different site if what you write only gets good halfway through.

7 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

I really appreciate this content. I have a writer friend who gave me some great advice recently. I was describing the characters in such detail instead of letting the story define them slowly as it progressed. In other words, the audience can lose interest if you give them way too much up front. Developing your characters and ideas slowly across the chapters keeps the audience intrigued with the unfolding tale you are weaving. It's little things like this which are essential to keeping your readers from getting bored or tired of your work. It's tough--good writing is so hard.

7 years ago

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Baburra

Baburra

I think one of the biggest mistakes they can do is to write as if they were still just talking to themselves in their own head. I see lots of writers just write from topic to topic within one post and they fail to keep a clean structure in keeping the common goal of making the point of the title. A good article should be able to take you on a journey and back again to the goal, so jumping from topic to topic isn't completely what's wrong, but it should be done for a reason and should always serve the main goal of answering the question in the title. If the jumps are too big, or drag on too long, people will just get bored and move onto something else.

7 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

Wow, no kidding--great comment here. This reminds me of all of the essays I have had to grade over the years. It is a MUST to have a strong and original title at the onset of one's essay, and without a thesis statement in the intro paragraph which sets up the main idea for the audience, the whole essay fails. The main topic of the piece of writing must be fully developed, and if you jump from topic to topic, and these topic choices are not supporting the thesis, then you are on a tangent, and the audience can most definitely get discouraged or lost. I apply some of these concepts to my blogging to keep myself on point as much as possible.

7 years ago

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Krisleen

Krisleen

For me, one fault of a writer is being subjective, meaning writing for mere propaganda and self-interest. This paves way for the spread of false information which can destroy the person being attacked. It is wrong to provoke and spread hate and attacks just to earn money. A writer is supposed to educate people with his articles, not enrage people and start arguments. A writer should make articles that give entertainment while promoting learning. Personally, subjective hate and attacks are the topics I hate most and I don't really bother reading such articles. I try to remember its writer and avoid reading his write ups. same is true with a good writer. I remember him and read I more of his write ups.

7 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

This is so true. There is nothing that I can't stand online such as a troll, and I really can't stand it when people rely to much on emotions, personal politics, and over-wrought pathos in their, as you called it, highly subjective writing. I agree with you as well--once you see that a person is writing consistently in a negative and possible dishonest way, it is probably a good idea to just avoid him or her. Life is too short.

7 years ago

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Judas2018

Judas2018

Biggest mistake imo is making up a story or lie to enhance a great article. For example, if a writer wants to write about a serious subject that affects many people? Then he or she suddenly decides to add a little emotion to the article, so they'll lie about themselves, or someone in their family dealing with a similar issue. Only it's not really true, and instead is an attempt to garner sympathy and also further promote their article or piece. That kind of dishonesty is a fatal literary mistake.

7 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

Mark Twain once said, "I never have to remember anything because I never tell a lie". I think that is a great quote right there. Lying will always catch up with you, no matter what you do, and it is just easier to provide the truth with our writing. Also, if you are caught or exposed somehow as a writer, you could definitely lose your audience and potential readers or customers for what you are doing online with your work. Writing fiction is one thing--your audience understands that fiction is a genre. However, if you are presenting your personal details as true and they are fraudulent, then I think that is definitely wrong.

7 years ago

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mildredtabitha

mildredtabitha

I agree with your point. This is definitely the biggest mistake a writer could make. I have read few such blogs and could not finish. The comments could clearly show that readers were offended. I think most writers have some truth in subjective matters but they do not know how to put it out there. So they end up being against one side and this leads to conflicts among readers.

7 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Kakashi2020

I do think that writing long boring articles is a fault that a lot of writers make. Readers can easily identify if the article was constructed properly or not. if it is a long winding story just to point out a single uneventful ending, then readers would shun away from it and it's writer. Writing something without the right amount of essence is not good.

6 years ago

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peachpurple

peachpurple

Some blogs that I read where the author himself does not reply to readers comments. That is the biggest failure. No matter how good is your article, you need to communicate with your audience, do not ignore them.

7 years ago

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wiseagent

wiseagent

I don't think this is necessarily a mistake because some comments don't require direct interaction. However, I think that the act of interacting doesn't have to be stimulated, it has to be something natural of each person.

Maintaining a closeness to readers is always the easiest way to get to know them better and to keep them close to every new published work.

7 years ago

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Baburra

Baburra

I disagree. The work should be able to speak for itself and replying should only be a bonus. If the article is well made enough then it should be complete and clear so no further discussion really is necessary in terms of the content. Opposing views can be stated by the audience but if the author has done their job correctly then whatever rebuttal is necessary would have already been stated within the piece.

7 years ago

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mar06

mar06

We all know about writers. If you are really a great writer you know about things that you need to do. You are able to know about what you are going to do. And it depends also on a certain writer whether he or she can make her or his work successful. They know the best than us.

7 years ago

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Corzhens

Corzhens

An opposing view doesn't necessarily mean a rebuttal of your contents. Sometimes the contrasting comment is constructive and in effect can help the content since the information is either corrected or enhanced. But I understand that there are damaging comments that can irritate you. In those cases, my take is to respect all the comments regardless of the slant, whether positive or negative. At least there is a reaction and that's consolation enough.

7 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

I completely agree. I have learned a lot from some of the constructive criticism which I have received in forums, and most of the time, people are pretty polite and helpful when it comes to pointing out your mistakes or giving advice. Also, everyone is allowed their own opinion, and as long as they respect the opinions of others and the rules of the forum, then everyone seems to get along just fine. As a writer, one needs to develop a thick skin anyway and be prepared for rejections of all kinds--it's just a part of the overall process and the overall learning experience.

7 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Kakashi2020

I do agree with this on a certain degree. I think that a writer should always reply to valid comments but if the comment is not in good taste then it should be simply be ignored.

6 years ago

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