Diary of a New Writer 6 – 90,000 words later…

~ Meg

(From The Shining- 1980; Film by Stanley Kubrick, book by Stephen King) 

(For previous diary entries: One, two, three, four and five)

It took me just under a year, but I finished it!  Three Empty Frames came to an end.  The next task was to go back, re-read and polish it up.  At this stage, most successful authors hand the manuscript off to their trusted editors.  I, on the other hand, am a nobody, fumbling along on my own!  What do I do now?  Try and self edit?  Shell out the cash to have a pro take a look?  Decisions, decisions.

I picked option number one.  Why?  Because as a first time, unpublished author, I didn’t feel I had the luxury of going with a pro.  Professional editing can get expensive.  Depending on the length of your document and the level of editing you choose, it can cost several hundred to several thousand dollars.  I did however, have a couple of cards up my sleeve.

One: I knew a guy.  My friend Kevin used to work for a big publishing house and was able to give some needed advice.  He read the book for me and without actually editing, gave me some valuable pointers on polishing it up.  Two:  I knew another guy.  (Yeah, I have a lot of guy friends!)  My friend Brett is an English teacher.  He gave it a once over and pointed out some of the grammatical errors I was making.

Lastly, after I had read, re-read, re-written, and corrected my errors, I handed the finished manuscript off to some beta readers.  What is a beta reader?  The term simply refers to a non-professional reader who will read your manuscript with an eye to finding plot holes, disruptions in continuity, grammar and spelling mistakes agrandpa-23878_1280nd possibly highlighting aspects of the story that might be unbelievable.  The thing with choosing beta readers is this:  make sure they aren’t just going to tell you what you want to hear because they don’t want to hurt your feelings.  You NEED constructive criticism.  So your mom and dad, husband or wife might not be the best choice for beta readers.

Are you in a book club?  Ask your group to beta read for you.  How about an online writer’s group?  Some folks there might help you out.  Ask your blogging buddies here on WordPress to read for you.  Just be sure to choose people who will give you an honest opinion and some thoughtful feedback.  And attach a copyright warning to anything you send out, too.

Finally, when you’ve made changes based on the feedback you’ve received, put the manuscript down.  Walk away.  Take a break and read something else.  Then, after some time has gone by, pick it up and read it through one last time.  There is a point at which, you just need to stop screwing with it and put it out there!  So what next?  Find an agent or self publish?  That’s for next time!

*Disclaimer: This is not an exhaustive how-to for novel writing, just a few things I learned along the way. Also, for those of you who are worried that I’m going to prattle on indefinitely, don’t panic. This series will come to a conclusion after a few more episodes.

Published by Meg

Easily amused, never bored and constantly distracted. My creative pursuits include writing, drawing, painting and photography.

23 thoughts on “Diary of a New Writer 6 – 90,000 words later…”

    1. I think you write very well, my dear! I’ve read some of your experiences in the Mid East on your blog! For more writing tips, check the link I posted for JS Malpas’ site. He has nicely organized a list of step by step writing tips. Also, follow the tag ‘writing’ in your reader, it’ll open up a whole new world of blogs!

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  5. Thank you for the very important advice, every time I read this, it makes me more and more confident of what I am doing! You have no idea how much your posts help me, Meg! 🙂
    P.S: Will you be my beta reader when I finish my novel? I don’t know when, but I was thinking of putting the NaNo one out first, I could send that to you for some serious constructive criticism? Oh, please do not feel compelled, you can let me know if you are too busy…! 🙂

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  7. Thank you for posting this. I am in no position to pay for expensive editing services. I have thought about paying some of my daughter’s college English majors, but I am concerned how serious they will take it. So, I have done my own editing as well. After reviewing my book Paradox dozens of times, I did one final edit earlier this year and found one error in four hundred pages. But I did find several lines that I improved with a little tweaking. And after one blog post, I went back and added an additional line. Good post.

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