There are times when an article just doesn’t seem to come together. Most of the time a writer will struggle through it, turning it over and over in their mind, getting advice and sticking with it as long as they can until they can get it to gel. There are other times, however, when a writer will have heavy fault in killing an article, bludgeoning it actions known to be fatal to articles.
5. Procrastinating. It’s a killer! Last minute work can strangle the fun, substance and life out of a piece.
4. Poor sources. Sources that don’t contribute anything worthwhile to the article, quotes that are generic and information any 10 year-old can get from Google is like beating the article with a lead pipe in the dining room.
3. Poor transitions. Congratulations, you’ve just strapped your audience in for a ride off of several cliff hangers and while speeding head-long into several abrupt endings and jarring turns.
2. Lazy editing. You let the misused homophones and dangling participles slide because the editor’s going to catch them right? Right. And the air bag is going to catch you after you forgo the seatbelt.
1. Missed deadline. The readers may never know you missed a deadline, but they also may never know you had an article set to appear in the publication. Missing a deadline is like the warnings at the end of prescription drug commercial. “May cause editor queasiness, rushed work, dropped article and missed copy issues because of tardiness, also may cause article death. Not to be used in by anyone writing, editing or thinking about writing or editing.”
Got anymore article killers? Share below!
