Intro

I think, therefore I write. Also accurate: Cogito ergo legerus. I think, therefore I read.

Because I do both. The purpose of this little rant isn't to hurt the many fine authors on this site. In fact, if I mention you by name, it is because I read you a lot. Multus leger, ipso facto, placet- I read a lot because I like it. That's not to say that you can't use improvement- I know I certainly can use a lot of it, including using one of the several people who offer to edit my stories, instead of being too impatient to see how my readers like it, and posting it in a rough state because of that.

And part of it is certainly my OCD nature that results in me insisting in reading your entire canon, rather than reading various peoples works. Doing so makes some of your constant errors or odd fetishes stick out like a sore thumb, even if it would not otherwise be obvious.

For example, if you watched the 60's-70's TV show Mission Impossible one episode a week, with breaks for the season rests, you would probably find the casting very good. If you watch them one after the other such that you watch the whole 7-season series within the course of a few weeks, you'll notice things. Like the fact that they use the same sets and background photos over and over again. Like the fact that every season they use a rotating cast of important guest stars over and over again- for instance, Anthony Zerbe (probably best known- at least in my head- for playing Milton Krest in Licence To Kill) plays a villain in five of the seven seasons, Albert Paulson did the same, and Arthur Batanides stared a few times and played extras in at least 30 different episodes.

What follows is a bunch of things that drive me up a wall- and some ways to improve your own writing. If any of you would like to present me with similar criticism- well, its well welcomed.