1. Letting your audience dictate you

It’s okay and even helpful to take suggestions from your audience. Taking all of their advice and trying to fit them in your work is a different story. At that point, it is your audience that becomes the writer of your story. It is important to listen to your readers as to what they want to read, but be careful not to sacrifice your ideas, more importantly, your writing style.

2. Being closed to criticism

This is the exact opposite of the first one. Not allowing your work to receive criticism prevents your growth as a writer and hinders work improvement. Take note that two minds are better than one. Your readers may offer a different way of looking at your work, and may even notice inconsistencies in grammar and plotlines.

3. Not Writing Things Down

One of our very human flaws is our pride. We always think, “I’ll remember this,” but more often than not, what you remember will not be as great as the first one. Write ideas down wherever you can, then organize and rewrite them later. It doesn’t matter if the idea seems fleeting or small, the best thing is that you take note of it so that you can improve it later on.

4. Dismissing Ideas

No idea is too silly or too irrelevant to be thrown away. Writers are often in the pursuit of originality, but at this point, original ideas are reinventions or modernizations of ancient concepts. Do not let anyone else say that your idea has been done before. Every writer has their own style and who knows? Your writing style may improve a classic tale.

5. Overthinking

Overthinking kills. It kills ideas and motivations. It brings us to the end of the line, when in fact there’s still the rest of an idea maze to explore. It’s okay to not have everything figured out immediately. Start by writing ideas down no matter how disconnected they may seem. Once you have a general scope of what you want to happen, start to fill the gaps.

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