When writing your novel, be wary of these common mistakes made by authors which could put people off your book. It could also mean you’re not being thorough in the delivery of your work. Therefore, in order not to send the wrong message to your teeming audience, ensure you look out for the following in your work.

1. Misspelling. Typical mistakes include confusion between ‘write’ and ‘right’, ‘maize’ and ‘maze’, and ‘blue’ and ‘blew’ amongst others. On no account should you rely on spell checkers to confirm a spelling that may be used in the wrong context. Always do a painstaking review of your work before going to the press so as not to lose confidence in your readers.


2. Missing determiners. Determiners help to carry your readers along through your story. Omitting them may mean they could get lost along the ‘journey’ of the story. Examples include: ‘the’, ‘a’, and ‘an’.


3. Misuse of commas. Commas generally indicate a pause in the course of a sentence. Sometimes, we over use it while at other times, it is underutilized therefore defeating its purpose. A good suggestion will be to read aloud your writing adhering to all the punctuation marks. That way, you will be able to tell if you have under or over used it.


4. Incorrect capitalization. Initial capitals are generally used for nouns which are names of persons, places or things. We should avoid writing words in all capitals as it will amount to literally ‘shouting’ at your audience.


5. Wordiness. Unnecessary extra words or phrases may make your work look tardy. It has a way of affecting the structure and composition of your work, thereby reducing its quality. Therefore, as much as you can, keep your writing succinct and apt for clarity.

Credit: Grammarly