Five Freelance Writing Mistakes That Make You Look Like A Noob

Freelancers new to the game often make critical mistakes in their writing. These mistakes expose them as noobs. As in newbie. As in, inexperienced and in need of coaching.

Here’s a secret–they’re the same mistakes that seasoned pros sometimes make. The problem? No matter WHO does it, it comes off as amateurish and makes an editor wring her hands in frustration.

Here’s a list of things to check your copy for to insure you get a fair shake–whether you ARE a newcomer or a long-time player:

5. Word repetition. What’s wrong with this sentence? “The Air Force paid $60 billion for six deliveries of the new high-powered tactical aircraft. According to Pentagon news releases, the aircraft was designed to be capable of winning multiple dogfights against similar aircraft regardless of weather or visibility conditions.”

4. Mangled subject-object relationships. As in, “Once Terry started chopping away at the telephone pole, he noticed the brick wall only a few feet away. He realized it would fall down in the wrong place, causing expensive damage he couldn’t afford to fix.”

3. Bad use of common words. “There” refers to a place. “Their” is possessive. “They’re” is a contaction for the phrase “they are”. It is quite easy to mangle these when you’re in a hurry. The editor sees this and assumes you were in too much of a hurry and didn’t correct. Not good.

2. Improper use of non-conversational words. Big words are a freelancer no-no in many cases–why write “discombobulated” when “flustered” will do? There are times when a larger vocabulary is required, but when you DO use that five dollar word, be sure you know what it means. Are “incisors” the same as “canines”? Do you know for sure? What about the difference between vehicular manslaughter and vehicular homicide? There IS a difference. If you’re not sure, a quick look at Google or a dictionary will save you much grief later.

1. Run-on sentences and choppy copy. Here’s an example of a run-on sentence that just won’t quit no matter how hard you try to stop writing and move along to another subject so you can get to the point faster and make your editor happy.

Choppy copy is often caused by punctuation problems. Here’s an example:

Choppy. Copy is a problem. Often created by people. In a hurry. It looks ignorant and untrained. But choppy copy often plagues first drafts. It should get caught in a second draft. But if you don’t take the time, you won’t catch it.

You can catch choppy copy by asking yourself if you need a comma instead of a period, or by reading the text out loud and reading each sentence to the period as a stand-alone sentence. Does it still make sense? How does it sound when you read it back to back with all the other sentences in the paragraph?

Cut out these mistakes from your copy and you’ll go a lot farther with a new editor—especially in the query process.