Saturday, May 30, 2015

A to Z: Revisions Repeating

EVISIONS REPEATING


Revisions and edits are an inevitable part of creating a book. The cycle may seem endless at times, but it's necessary and if done well, the results are amazing. 

Many people with no real experience in writing believe that the first draft needs to be perfect. That The first draft is the only draft. That if your first draft isn't great, then you're a horrible writer.

None of these are true. 

Even seasoned professionals, best selling authors, journalists, etc. go through an editor. And quite often, (perhaps not so much in journalism, I don't know) the writer tries again and sends it back to the editor. 

Some people are under the impression that they can slap something down in writing, without any care to punctuation, spelling, grammar, or proper English, and pass it along to the editor because... well, isn't that what editors are for? I happen to be "comma happy." I over use and improperly use them quite often. LOL. I add them where they shouldn't be and forget them where they should!

Granted an editor edits, but you shouldn't expect them to have to rewrite your entire manuscript for you. If you can't put the time and effort into producing the best product you possibly can and learn how to improve every chance you get.... then why are you even writing?

I believe everyone has a story. Realistically, not everyone has the current talent to sculpt their story into the written word in such a way that others want to read it. This doesn't mean that you should give up. Quite the opposite. Work harder. Revisions are a tool that we need to use and keep using.

Writing isn't just about slapping words down. It's a craft that, to do well, takes time and effort. It's well worth everything you put into it too.

Asking for help takes a fair amount of courage for many. Make sure that when you ask and it's given that you listen to what's said and take into consideration the abilities of the person giving you advise. I'm not the greatest writer... yet, but I'm not the worst. I write what I know. I enjoy what I write. I learn as I go. These are extremely important things to me. If you don't enjoy what you do, if you close your minds to growth, if you try to represent something you have no clue about/can't connect with, then what are you doing? 

I'm not saying that you have to have seen a dragon to write about dragons. I'm saying that you have to be able to connect with sadness to write sadness. If you've never struggled with bullies, depression, abuse, poverty... can you relate to the feelings? Can you express those feelings? If not, do MASSIVE amounts of research or just write something else. 

Once you get your words in writing, read it over and over agian yourself. If you can't read your own writing repeatedly, how do you expect others to do so? It's amazing how many things we realize we missed the last 20 times we read it. 

If you have any helpful tips you'd like to share, please do! I'd love to hear from my readers. :D






Today's blog selections are:


  1. Helping Writers Become Authors - Great site with amazing resources! 
  2. Live, Write, Thrive - Another amazing resource with excellent tips.
  3. Writer Unboxed - I love the look of this site. It's a community of writers helping writers. 




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