Consistency is key to eliminating confusion in your readers. There's nothing worse than reading along and then the character's name suddenly changes. Or it switches mid sentence from third person to first person. Or the character's gender changes. Or worse, through no trauma or make-over, their physical description changes drastically.
Once or twice is ok. But I read stories where this happened every other chapter or multiple times in the same chapter. He becomes a she and it's no longer in third person point of view but first person. There's nothing wrong with writing on the fly but try to go back over your previous work to eliminate errors like this. Keeping notes on characters helps too.
I usually keep a legal pad by my desk with my characters age/height/weight/job/hair and eye color. It helps especially when their description isn't brought up on a regular basis. I learned this myself after posting my character's eyes were sea-foam green at the beginning of the story then twenty chapters later, he became icy blue eyed. Again, once or twice is ok. The entire story, you just aren't trying.
YOU ARE READING
How to Irk a Reader as a Writer
HumorJust random thoughts about things that writers do that irk me as a reader. Fueled by caffeine, lack of sleep, or reaction to something I've read. Take none of this serious! Be offended at your own risk.
