On the subject of evil writing gremlins, beware of the word ‘that’. Now, sometimes, this word is needed in a sentence, most of the time, it is not.
But this sneaky little gremlin isn’t happy only being used where its needed. So, it tries to insinuate itself into your writing, sneaking in when you aren’t looking and wedging itself where it isn’t welcome. When you go back over your work, there it is, laughing at you.
Of course, as you write and learn more, ‘that’ has a harder time getting past your carefully built writing defenses. Keep writing, keep learning, keep improving your craft and eventually (not sure when, I’m not there yet), this little gremlin will be forced to behave and only appear in your manuscript when you want it to.
