Make Your Writing Ring True

You can generally spot someone who is being insincere with you a mile off.  It's a subtle con trick that makes you feel uncomfortable. In art as in life - authorial insincerity can leave the same bad taste in the mouth.  It can often take the shape of overblown, overwritten prose and is usually a cover for something: a weakness in the plot, inadequate characterisation, some insecurity on the part of the writer. If your writing strikes a hollow note, rework it and then rework it again until it rings true, otherwise you'll be short-changing your reader and compromising your own integrity.  Truth and clarity are what matter most - everything else is just an accessory.