How to Revise your Manuscript: First Draft to Final Draft – by Lisa Poisso… — Chris The Story Reading Ape’s Blog

Writing a novel is such a minuscule part of writing a novel. People who’ve never written anything longer than a school paper have a hard time imagining that pouring all those words onto the page isn’t the major part of the battle. Experienced authors know better. Writing the manuscript is just a fraction of the […]

via How to Revise your Manuscript: First Draft to Final Draft – by Lisa Poisso… — Chris The Story Reading Ape’s Blog

Great reminder on what not to worry about

The second half of that quote is “It’s all small stuff.”

Jean's Writing

In other words…

I need to use this as my screen saver. A constant reminder that my first draft doesn’t have to be perfect.

I’ve rewritten the same chapter at least five times. Tweaking a comma here, a comma there, putting commas everywhere only to go back rewrite the sentence and throw out all the commas.

That’s just one example of how I worry over small stuff that should wait until the damn book is finished.

Thanks go out to Janice Hardy over at Fiction University for a great reminder in this terrific post on writing first and fixing last.

Things I want to remember about writing…

• The novel doesn’t have to be planned and structured to the last detail before I start writing.
• Complete the thought and don’t worry about crossing every t and dotting every eye. Time for that later.
• Don’t worry about too many characters in a draft…

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Awaiting a Verdict

While this is an older post, I believe it to be most relavent. I do enjoy digging around in old posts. Thanks Frank!

Frank Parker's author site

Neither of my previous books has been subjected to independent, professional editing.

Everything I’ve ever read about how to succeed as a writer tells me this is a mistake.

My aversion to the use of a professional editing service is more than just a reluctance to spend money when there is no certainty of recovering the investment via increased sales. I hate the thought that, once the work has been “interfered with” by a third party it is no longer truly mine. This is almost certainly irrational because the final decision as to whether or not to include the changes suggested by an editor is mine and mine alone. Still, there remains the lingering doubt that, once I accept that a suggested change represents an improvement, that aspect of the work cannot be regarded as uniquely mine.

Glaring errors

In recent times I have read traditionally published books, supposedly subjected…

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To Serve And Correct!

Originally posted on Book Editing: 1. ACTIVE VOICE Active voice is a type of sentence or clause in which the subject performs or causes the action expressed by the verb. Contrast with Passive Voice below. Example: “A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice…

via The top 25 grammatical terms you should know — Chris The Story Reading Ape’s Blog