Even for prolific writers, writing fiction can pose a few (if not many) challenges. When you know what to watch out for, you will be better at avoiding these mistakes and creating a story that readers will love. Here are a few mistakes to avoid as you write your novel.

Lack of Originality

Many authors forget to give their stories unique twists that will keep the reader reading their book. Often, they fall for the usual descriptions of characters or places. Unfortunately, the lack of originality affects the reader’s interest since they begin to feel as if they have read the story before. While you can use a few clichés, too many in your book will only make your story less captivating.

Unrealistic Characters

Readers see through unrealistic parts in a story. When a character is overly heroic such that nothing can stand against them, when they have the perfect physique and portray no personal flaws, the characters quickly become unrealistic and the reader is unable to connect with them. Create characters who, if they existed, could be similar to normal people. Readers are ordinary people seeking to find themselves in your book, hence unrealistic characters will only work against your story. Still, ordinary people can be heroic; they can have feelings of fear yet act with bravery, they can have some level of self-doubt when pushed to the limit. Their heroism emerges in such moments.

An Unsatisfactory Ending

While many readers love a good ending, some may not always. I do not mind bad endings, especially if well crafted. A bad, realistic ending is better in many ways than a good, forced, unrealistic ending.

I recently read a book where the main characters are overcome by the antagonist. It was a science-fiction novel and the antagonists are powerful monsters that have invaded and filled the earth and no one stands a chance of survival. Things get so bad that even surviving the ferociousness of the monsters is a painful option since the main characters will have to keep running as defeating them is not possible. The ending included the deaths of the heroes in the work. While such an ending can be disappointing to some, since the option of survival in the book was equally worse, I felt that the ending was justified.

A satisfactory ending - whether good or bad - brings all the parts of the plot together. It has to be realistic and it should answer the main questions in the story and leave nothing hanging.

Dull Descriptions

The reader can only rely on your descriptions to follow the story. If they do not entice and entertain, the story becomes uninteresting. Make your descriptions clear and captivating. Describe the physical features of characters in the book, describe the setting adequately. Show the emotions of the characters. Are they calm, angry, sad? Let the reader feel the emotions of the characters in your work. The aim is to make your characters and story as close to real life as possible so that reading feels like an encounter or an experience.