Mistakes Outdoor Writers Make
When I moved to a new school for the 5th grade, it seemed to me that all of my classmates were able to diagram sentences. For those of you not raised in the dark ages and/or an English boarding school, when you diagram a sentence, you draw a bunch of lines to separate out the composite parts – it’s supposed to give you a deeper understanding of the English language. All it gave me was anxiety. Forty-plus years later I still don’t quite understand how to do it, or why you’d want to do it.
Nevertheless, I’ve soldiered on into multiple careers that require me to write extensively.
I’m still not an expert grammarian and as I’ve noted before I have no training in journalism. Semi-regularly one or more of my editors (particularly the ones at B.A.S.S. who previously worked for newspapers) will gnash their teeth over my failure to adhere to AP Style. I’m sure that I make other mistakes, too. I don’t necessarily believe in the concept of “fake it until you make it” – the better option is always to get your shit together in whatever you’re doing before you take it public – but I strongly believe in avoiding the avoidable mistakes. Here are a few that I regularly see in fishing magazines, websites and blogs that make me think the writer is either unschooled, uncaring or an idiot:
Using big words incorrectly – I’m repeatedly guilty of this one. Sometimes there is a perfect word for the object or sentiment that you’re trying to describe. Often it is a relatively simple one. Unfortunately, my tendency is to choose one that’s complicated. That’s ok if it’s accurate, but if you use a three or four syllable word incorrectly and the reader catches you it’ll immediately undermine your credibility.
Passive voice – You should use active verbs. “Kevin VanDam won the tournament,” not “The tournament was won by Kevin VanDam.” This is a simplistic example, but passive voice is often less clear and less concise as thoughts get more complicated. Variations of “to be” are typically not your strongest verbs. Editors will notice this and frown upon it. If you use passive voice in a query, they’ll be less likely to accept your pitch.
Random Punctuation – This is another one of my weaknesses. I’m not particularly good with colons or semicolons and – you may have noticed – I use em dashes excessively. I’m trying to get better at all of that. Still, I mostly get away with it, but you won’t survive by using random ellipses or other mix n’ match solutions. Furthermore, you only get a limited number of exclamation points per year. In most cases, they should be unnecessary. Your words alone should express the emphasis.
“Interesting” – A super-strict high school English teacher made me swear to use this word little or not at all. There’s almost always a better word. If something is truly interesting, that word will tell us why. For the same reason, don’t tell us “It’s a funny story…” or something similar. The reader will be the judge of that.
“Very unique” – This one runs rampant in the fishing industry, both in articles and on the tournament stage. “Unique” means one of a kind, so it either is or it’s not.
“Center around” – One of my college history professors, a MacArthur Grant awardee, made it very clear that my use of this phrase was meaningless. Either it “centers on” or “revolves around,” but the two don’t meet. Now when I see it, I cringe.
Again, I’ve made most if not all of these mistakes. I’m writing this because I’d love to see a lot of talented and dedicated writers flood the outdoors space and produce a renaissance of writing about fishing and related sports. I doubt it will happen, but we can still collectively raise the overall level of our product.
As a side note, if you ever see something objectionable in my writing, let me know (gently, please). I don’t ever want to look as lost as I was in the 5th grade.
I somehow passed 5th grade without learning to diagram sentences. Perhaps the teacher took pity on me, but I was in for a new rude awakening the next year. My 6th grade teacher, a friendly-but-old-school octogenarian, made us write with fountain pens. I was and still am a left-handed slob. Every day I came home with black or blue ink all over my hand. Still, it was better than the year before. All of this gets easier with time.
