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| Never a wrong word. |
Are We Rushing To Publish?
Last week we talked about being our own worst critics. When that misconception grabs us, we hold on to our work and never let anyone read it.
At the other end of the pendulum swing is where we imagine our story and it so enthralls us that we can’t see that it didn’t transfer to the written word very well.
The ability to self-publish has seen the market offer a lot of books that are subpar in punctuation, character development, plot, and … you get the idea.
Let’s not be that guy
How do we know our work is ready for the market? One person I heard of uses her retired English teacher to proofread her work. When the teacher gushes over the story, it’s rushed to print. Let the marketing begin.
We need English teachers. We need to learn all we can from them. We also need Creative Writing teachers if we’re going to write something to hold someone else’s attention.
The difference is between learning how to spell success and how to achieve it.
But more than that
Let’s say that we’ve typed “The End.” Now what?
Here is a post from Brian Klems Writer’s Digest blog hosting Steven Gillis about rewriting.
Yes, it’s necessary and here’s how you find out.
Critique groups. Listen with an open mind and be prepared to find out that there is only one Shakespeare.
Critiques work both ways, give one, get one. This is good. It’s another part of our learning experience.
Beta readers. They will read the whole manuscript at once and give an overall report, or we can ask for specific feedback such as how well the dialog flows.
Professional editing. The best, most effective, and most expensive solution to polishing a story.
There are different levels of editing that we won’t go into here. This is an area for a whole post.
There are many sites regarding the types of editing services available, search for them. But approach with caution.
Anyone can hang out a shingle and say that they’re an editor so be sure and check out their credentials.
Then publish your story
And rest assured that you gave your baby the best start in life you could.
What did you do to get ready for publication? Let’s talk about it. Leave a comment.
Writing Fiction is published on Wednesdays.
Thank a veteran
Writing Fiction 