Did you write yesterday? Did you follow my advice and keep your audience in mind? Maybe you plan to sit down at your computer and do some serious writing this weekend and apply this concept to your writing project. Be sure to let me know how it goes.
A common habit I see in writing is the author doesn’t bring the reader along on the journey. She leaves him out in the cold while she moves to the next page of her story. In other words, she might drive home and fix herself a sandwich without allowing the reader to follow along through the process. You might not want to go into how the character pulls up to the curb, steps on the break, puts the car in park, removes the key, etc. We don’t need all of the mundane details unless they are relevant to the story, such as in establishing the character’s mood or demeanor:
“Marge felt a sharp pain in her knee as she stepped on the brake and a more piercing pain drove through her gut as she recalled Jay’s attempt to cripple her that night…”
Or
“Mike opened the kitchen cupboard and stared blankly at its contents. Peanut butter—that’s what I want, he thought, peanut butter. Where’s the damn peanut butter? The jar wasn’t sitting on the shelf where he was used to seeing it. He slammed the door shut so hard that it bounced back and slapped him in the head. That’s when he noticed them—cookies. Peanut butter cookies. My favorite, he thought.”
Some writers tell the story as they write. Others sketch a skeleton of the story (or outline) first and fill in the particulars later. However you choose to produce your masterpieces, make sure that it makes sense to your readers and that your readers are not left behind—wondering what happened.
If you need someone to double/triple check your manuscript before you send it off to a pay-to-publish company or publisher, contact me for a free evaluation. I will look over your first few chapters (20 pages or so) and let you know what I think you need—most often it is an editor. I will explain what I would do to improve your manuscript, how long it would take me and how much it would cost. (Expect a cost of anywhere from $250 to $2,500).
It is a wise author who budgets this fee for editing services. Hire a BOOK editor—someone who is accustomed to editing books using the Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition) and who knows something about the publishing industry.
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