You've likely heard of the seven deadly sins—Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Pride, Sloth, and Wrath—but did you know these same sins can be committed in writing, as well? Here they are listed in order, with suggestions on how to avoid them in your writing practice.
Envy
As a writer, you'll likely find yourself at some point or another envious of another's work or success. Perhaps you are wandering around the bookstore and suddenly see that book idea you've been batting around in your mind—already published? Or maybe you're tired of that one student in class who consistently gets an A on his papers while the professor seems unable to give you anything above a C?
One of the worst examples of the product of envy in your writing is the temptation to plagiarize another's work. When you claim another person's writing as your own, you are demonstrating envy of the worst kind, especially if you are planning to publish. Not only can plagiarism destroy your reputation as a writer—it can land you in serious legal trouble!
Envy in writing is indeed a problem, particularly if you allow that envy to keep you from developing your skills. Instead of focusing on the success of other writers, follow these steps to get rid of the sin of envy for good.
- Ask for constructive feedback for your writing. If you find that a particular professor is consistently giving you a low grade on your writing assignments, request a meeting with him or her to go over things you're doing incorrectly when you write. Be polite, be thankful for the feedback, and above all, consider the criticism to be important and useful in building your strengths as a writer.
- Read more to develop your writing skills. The more you read, the better writer you'll become. Think of it as professional development, even if writing isn't your profession.
Gluttony
The sin of gluttony in writing makes itself known through bloated, wordy content. Stephen King best described gluttony in writing like this:
I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops. To put it another way, they're like dandelions. If you have one on your lawn, it looks pretty and unique. If you fail to root it out, however, you find five the next day... fifty the day after that... and then, my brothers and sisters, your lawn is totally, completely, and profligately covered with dandelions. By then you see them for the weeds they really are, but by then it's—GASP!!—too late.
If adverbs are like dandelions, as King suggests, then there is certainly a lot of them around. We've all seen it—particularly while surfing the Web, where wordiness and bloated writing is seen a lot in copy. It's writing that is obviously trying to reach a particular word count but that fails to stay focused on its intent. In other words, it wastes the reader's time.
Keep in mind that there can be several different intentions for writing. Some of these include:
- Writing intended to inform
- Writing intended to persuade
- Writing intended to entertain
- Writing intended to narrate or tell a story
Your writing can even be a mix of some of these intentions, but whatever the purpose, keep that in mind and avoid getting off track with bloated, wordy copy.
Greed or Avarice
Bloggers often have to battle this particular sin, especially when it comes to sharing their content on social media and the stream of likes and retweets that result. The greed that comes along with attaining even more likes and retweets can make even the best writers put out content that is shallow—or worse—simple clickbait.
If you find yourself in this pattern, keep in mind all the amazing, successful writers who found their success before social media was even popular. These writers didn't need constant shares, likes, or retweets to gain their reputation—instead, they focused on writing meaningful stories, poetry, essays, or commentary that drew an audience to them. The words you write should earn your audience on their own, not because of social media algorithms that might show you have a lot of "followers" or "friends," but don't really prove anything beyond that. You could have thousands of followers but if none of those followers actually read what you've written, what's the point of having them?
In the same sense, just because you've come up with a catchy title that encourages a lot of likes and shares doesn't mean that your writing is memorable. If your audience is not getting something out of reading what you've written—whether that's to be informed or entertained—then no amount of social media shares in the world will change the fact that you've been greedy with your publishing habits.
So how do you avoid the sin of greed in your writing and publishing? Simple. Instead of quantity, think…..QUALITY!
Lust
While we're on the topic of writing clickbait headlines for the sake of social media likes and shares, let's also discuss another of the seven deadly sins of writing that is similar—lust.
Lust in your writing takes the form of gathering an audience, whether on social media or blog followers, who don't really love your writing. There's no depth to your relationship with them, the relationship that happens between a writer and his or her audience. Rather, they are followers because you asked them to be on social media, or someone shared one of your posts that they thought was enjoyable. Your connection is not deep and is based on your lust for a larger audience.
Building an audience that appreciates your work and loves your writing takes time. It's not something that will happen overnight, even if you do manage to grow your social media following in that time frame. So, learn to be patient—the right audience, the one that finds inspiration and truth in your words, will find you. Don't force it to be the other way around.
Pride
This deadly sin has been the Achilles heel of many artists and creatives, including writers. It especially rears its ugly head when we get back rejection slips from publishers or receive constructive feedback that was unsolicited or unwanted.
The biggest problem with pride is believing that you already know everything there is to know about your craft. Bill Gates, noted leader, philanthropist and inventor, said, "Once you embrace unpleasant news not as negative but as evidence of a need for change, you aren't defeated by it. You're learning from it." In other words, even the best leaders understand that they have much to learn, and see negative feedback or failure as something that will help them grow.
Sloth
Sloth in writing comes in the form of laziness with important details, like grammar, spelling, punctuation, and word choice. The best writing happens after a first draft has been carefully edited and the repetition or wordiness has been removed. Skipping the editing and revising part is not just a writer being lazy—it's a recipe for bad writing.
With every piece of writing you do, you should edit it carefully or ask someone else to do it for you. This is especially true if you are publishing in a for-print publication, like a magazine or newspaper. After the article goes to print, there's nothing you can do to fix it if it is full of errors. This can end up being embarrassing for you and ruin your reputation as a writer.
Wrath
Wrath in writing takes the form of using your writing as a weapon to spread false information or hurt others. This deadly sin is certain to make you lose readers—or worse, gain readers who you would never want to chat with in person. In fact, in an age of political and global upheaval, writers who use their skills and talent for malicious purposes run the risk of everything from libel to threats to their personal safety. Avoid the deadly sin of wrath at all costs in your writing and publishing.
Saving you from the seven deadly sins
Sometimes, all it takes is asking someone else to look over your work to help you avoid these seven deadly sins of writing. Whether through copyediting your writing or offering you constructive feedback, letting a second pair of eyes peruse your writing will keep you on the right track and help you avoid embarrassing mistakes.