Can You Killy My Interest Any Faster?

I hate sitting down reading a book, and realizing the author has told me the same thing twice. This can be a subtle mistake, but it comes back to a cornerstone in writing; don't bore people.

It's easy to stumble into it, however.

"Todd was strong. He ripped a door off its hinges."

Do I need to mention Todd's strong? After hearing he's ripped the door off its hinges, I think anyone can figure out he's strong.

Another thing that's easy to mess up is laying out the future of the plot through the characters' planning. Warrant, every now and then the characters need to come together and have some kind of focus for the plot.

But once I wrote a rescue scene. Instead of having a scene where the characters discuss their complex scheme, I simply had them do it. I think it brought more tension to the story, and I didn't' have to write what they were going to do and then show them doing it. Who wants to read that?


I need to start listening to the radio when it's on at work. I'm usually so focused on the job at hand that I don't hear anything around me. My boss walked up to me and said, "You do know this song is about a cannibalistic serial killer, don't you?"

"What!"