Inside Ink and Insights: Top 3 Writing Mistakes I See In My Inbox and How to Avoid Them

Great advice from an Ink & Insights Top Judge.

Pages Unforgotten

After reading manyInk and Insights’ submissions in the last 3+ years, there are a few writing mistakes that constantly crop up. They can be easy to miss when you’re caught up in the moment of, ya know, getting your story down.

Avoiding these three writing mistakes can help in creating a more solid, active story, with improved flow. What are they? Let’s get into it:

1. Pacing Is Off

Pacing sets the tone for your story. You know exactly what I mean even if you think you don’t. For example, when you start a book, or a TV show, you already know if you’re going to keep going based on the pace. It’s something we don’t really think about, but this one thing determines our initial feelings about a story within the first few pages/minutes.

Knowing how you want your story structured, will aid with consistent pacing. Ever noticed…

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Ink & Insights blog series: “Why are my scores so different?”

“The transparency the contest provides in the feedback and scoring is by far its greatest strength, as well as its greatest challenge.” (Click above to read more.)

Inside Ink and Insights: What This Judge Wants

A new blog post from one of our TOP judges.

Pages Unforgotten

Fortune shone on me as my mum read to me nightly. I’m sure this is where my love of reading began and would one day lead me to reading and judging for the Ink and Insights writing competition. *Pause for effect.*

Okay, I made that much more dramatic than it is, but there is some truth to it. Reading a lot led to writing, editing, and content development. The competition is another branch of this progress ^_^.

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You’ve got the background, now here’s a little insider info – Ink and Insights’ judges are given a list of preference choices for genre, age category, etc. We’re then able to let the competition’s organisers know what we love/like, what we’re okay with but would rather not read, and what we definitely don’t want to read. This is a great system as it means each judge is paired with submissions best suited to…

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A Tale of Two Opinions

- By Ink & Insights judge: Nic Tatano   We all know that pretty much everything about writing talent is subjective. Everyone has picked up a bestseller and thought about tossing it through a window like Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook when he got fed up with Hemingway. And there’s the book that never…

Contemplating Contests and Critiques – By Ink & Insights Judge Pamela Taylor

Ink & Insights often gets feedback from contestants as soon as they receive their score sheets. Occasionally, Catherine will share a particularly enthusiastic thank-you note with the judges. In one recent instance, the contestant was just as effusive about the low scores as the high ones – and that prompted me to think about how…

I Have My Scores. What Now?

- By Ink & Insights judge: Jessica de Bruyn   For all of the participants of this year’s contest, first I want to congratulate you on what you have accomplished so far. We as readers, editors and writers ourselves know that it is not easy to put pen to paper (or fingers to keys) and…

Ink & Insights blog series: “Why are my scores so different?” — Kevin’s thoughts

I think the discrepancies help demonstrate you’ve really made people think about your voice as a writer more than your technical craft, and that’s an important factor to me, and I hope, many other readers.

Ink & Insights blog series: “Why are my scores so different?” — Linda’s thoughts

I look at judging as a coaching job. If I like the concept and the direction the story is going, but the writing is too loose, I try to encourage that writer to stay with it and work on the execution. (Click above to read more.)

Ink & Insights blog series: “Why are my scores so different?” — Aaron’s thoughts

What has been most helpful to me is thinking about judging in the same way that I do grading English literature essays.
(Click above to read more.)

Ink & Insights blog series: “Why are my scores so different?” — Jessica’s thoughts

One of the things that I love most about publishing and one of the things that frustrates me is that there is no magic formula for creating a best-selling book.  What will have one person riveted will have another putting the book down after chapter one and never picking it up again.  This is one…