Wednesday, August 2, 2017

IWSG & Pet Peeves


The Insecure Writer's Support Group is the brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh. He, his clones, minions, friends, and fellow authors make it an amazing event every month.




Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

And we’re revving up IWSG Day to make it more fun and interactive! Every month, we'll announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.


 IWSG Day Question: What are your pet peeves when reading/writing/editing?

Fun Question!

Reading Pet Peeve 

  • when I come across authors who use "that" instead of "who". When people who earn their living with words make this mistake, it's like nails on the chalkboard!!!

Writing Pet Peeve 

  • Titles! These are so hard. I tend to come up with super cheesy ones first and then they're so hard to get out of my head!

Editing Pet Peeve

  • redundancies!!! My first drafts are littered with them! I'm pretty good at catching them when editing, but I need to learn to eliminate them when writing in the first place!

How about you? Any pet peeves you'd like to share? Do you sprinkle redundancies everywhere as well?


35 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I hate coming up with titles as well! In fact, I didn't even create the titles to two of my books. A title is so important and creating one makes my brain freeze.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

I'll still find myself writing that for who sometimes and have to go back to fix it.

Michael Di Gesu said...

Had to laugh at you peeves....I think we can all relate to these.

Natalie Aguirre said...

Titles are hard. The manuscript I'm working on is called New Story right now.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

I often ask my publisher for help with titles because I can't think of one that I like.

The Cynical Sailor said...

I'm really going to have to work on that who vs that rule. I'm often guilty of that one. Titles are incredibly hard to come up with. It's such a make or break decision. Cheers - Ellen

Chrys Fey said...

I shake my head when "that" is used for a person, too. "That" is for an inanimate object.

cleemckenzie said...

I'm with you on those redundancies. I suppose they come because we are so intent on making the point that we keep putting it down. Oh, well. That's why rewriting was invented. :-)

Crystal Collier said...

Titles... I sometimes wonder how some published books end up with such generic titles. Apparently that's an issue that plagues a ton of people. =)

Jemi Fraser said...

Me too! Brainstorming with others helps! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

LOL - I'm sure I've done it too. When we're drafting our brains are too busy flying :)

Jemi Fraser said...

The life of a writer! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

LOL - love it!! I tend to go with MC's name :)

Jemi Fraser said...

That's a good plan!

Jemi Fraser said...

It is! We can catch the who/that in editing - but titles are forever!!!

mshatch said...

I love coming up with titles. I don't like finding certain words I've used way too much. When reading, I'm always let down when the author takes the predictable course.

Jemi Fraser said...

So true! I can spend an entire revision round searching them out!! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Yep! Trying to find something that fits the feel, genre, and hasn't been used can be tough!

Jemi Fraser said...

Ack! Really??? I may be calling on your title brain one day! :)
Wordle searches can break my heart when I find how often I've used some words :)

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Coming up with titles is the worst! I share some of your pet peeves. :)

JeffO said...

I've actually come up with (what I thought were) some decent titles, though I really don't like coming up with them. My drafts are full of repeated scenes. I'll have essentially the same scene in three different places sometimes (sometimes, I'm aware when drafting that I'm doing this; sometimes, I'm not). Harder to get rid of is when you have two very different scenes that do the same thing, and I have those, too, so I feel your pain!

Jemi Fraser said...

I need an internal title generator! :)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Ha! I used the that/who as one of my pet peeves. And I had to laugh at the titles issue. I have the same problem.

Denise Covey said...

You know my pet peeves, jemi, having visited my post. Yeah that 'that' and 'who'. I ask is you main character an animal?

DEZMOND said...

titles are sometimes soooo stupid, especially when you can translate them into one's own language :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Ack! That would be so hard - I'm still learning to identify WHAT the scenes are doing from an analytical standpoint. Definitely not my strength!

Jemi Fraser said...

I laughed when I saw your post as well! Great minds and all that :)

Jemi Fraser said...

LOL - exactly!!! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Yes - translating is tough! The nuances are often difficult to get with a literal translation

Chemist Ken said...

Hey, redundancies are just our writer mind's way of making sure we haven't forgotten anything.

I just use placeholder names for my title, figuring I'll eventually come up with a good idea before I finish writing the story.

Jemi Fraser said...

LOL on the redundancies - I really REALLY make sure I don't forget anything! :)
I label all mine by character names for now

Michelle Wallace said...

I wonder if titles are difficult because the self-pub revolution means that thousands of new titles flood the market every month/year, making it more difficult to come up with fresh and original titles?

DMS said...

Titles are hard to come up with- I agree! I also am redundant with my writing, but I am getting better and better with it all the time. I can spot it more now (thank goodness). :)
~Jess

Jemi Fraser said...

I bet that's part of it. They're so hard. Cheesy ones I'm great at tho if anyone needs one... :)

Jemi Fraser said...

I agree! It's such a relief to spot some of my own before I send drafts off to CPs! :)