Pitfalls of Writing Sci-fi/Fantasy

For some reason, this link refuses to link up directly to this article, but if you scroll down towards the bottom of the page, you’ll see “Pitfalls of Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy.”

http://www.sff.net/people/Vonda/

Here are twelve big issues that can cripple any author or any story. We start off with the Expository Lump, or the “As you know” paragraph:

“As you know, the evil king has kept us imprisoned for hundreds of years and we really don’t like him, kay?”

Then we get introduced to weasel words such as “almost,” “seems,” “somehow,” and more.

This article is one I like to refer to when in edit or revision mode, as it keeps these sneaky flaws fresh in my mind, so, hopefully, I’m able to spot them sooner when they show up in one of my stories.

Some of these issues can be across the board for any genre, but some do apply specifically to works of speculative fiction, such as:

“Calling a rabbit a smeerp,” in which you create a fantasy world by going to the zoo and making up silly names for animals that already exist.

or…

Making up names or titles that are incredibly difficult to pronounce unless you have five tongues and a second mouth. Plus, it might be a warning sign if you have two characters born in the same town, one named Bob the Blacksmith, and the other X’lgarl“smagermelt.

So, read, be forewarned, or hindwarned, or wherever you are in the writing process. Make sure none of this pitfalls lame your story, or at the very least, give yourself a rope to climb back out again.

I see that smile.

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