Next, the nuts and bolts.
Editing. *shiver*
Bottom line, you do not have the necessary eye to judge your
MS. You’ve lived the world you’ve created, every word burned into your
consciousness. The path is too familiar.
Editing comes down to this:
Reading the words is different than Seeing the words.
You don’t notice the echoes or adverbs. You are blind to the
use of your favorite words. Over-written? Phttttttttt.
Help is available, on this blog and other websites.
Creative writing
software will catch some of the mistakes, highlighting overused words, dialogue
attribution, and adverbs misuse.
Go to www.ravensheadservices.com for a free download of Write It Now.
Whether it helps you or not depends on where you are in this
career; just learning the definition of ‘dialogue tag’ or agented and looking
for a publisher.
Creative writing software is available. Go to www.dailywritingtips.com for a comparison. This website has priceless nuggets of writing advice.
Need help with facial expressions? Nearly every writer is
aware of The Bookshelf Muse. This blog gives physical examples of anger, worry,
confusion, and passion. The website’s authors also published a self-help guide,
easy to thumb and find just the right open mouth, squinting eyes, sigh, and
flipped fingers. The Emotion Thesaurus
by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi is available through Amazon or as an Ebook on their website.
Other books are available to parse the phrase and edit the
annoying dangling participle. Books such as Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Brown and Dave King. Stephen King’s
On Writing is a winner also.
And last Critique Groups like Unicorn Bell, Betas and
Critique Partners. The road to Published must include these fueling stations.
Remember, you are not alone. We are traveling the same
highway, learning, exploring, and aiding. Keep on Truckin’, folks.
