E. E. Knight has a great list of common writing blunders to avoid. Some of these are targeted specifically at science fiction and fantasy, but most are relevant to all genres.
I believe in paying it forward, so sometimes I take a look at amateur manuscripts. I imagine I’ll keep doing it until some ballsack Balzac sues me for having a character named Tom when they also had a character named Tom.
It’s amazing how many of the same mistakes you see over and over again. Different authors, same flaws.
Anyway, here’s a list of errors I (and some editors I know) see over, and over, and over again, ad desperandum. Plus a few that maybe just bug me. Feel free to add your own in comments…
Link (via BoingBoing)