When you write a story—whether fiction or nonfiction—do you always connect the dots? In other words, do you make sure to carry your readers along with the story or do you drop them somewhere and make them have to work to catch up?
Do you sometimes get so tired of writing that you leave things out? Does your story move along so fast in your head that you miss writing down important steps? And what about segues? Do you sometimes forget to build bridges from one activity or action to another?
These are some of the mistakes that can be caught during your thorough editing process. But, it is difficult for the author, who is so close to the story, to always catch these blatant errors. These mishaps of fatigue or mistakes due to familiarity can sure ruin a good book.
For example, don’t have your character drive up to his house, turn off the car and then climb into bed. Of course, there are methods you can use to pull this off. You can have the character deep in thought as he pulls up to the house. Once you have the character express some of those thoughts and emotions, you can, perhaps, devise a clever segue having him shut down his overactive mind, go upstairs and turn in for the night.
Read and re-read your manuscript from various points of view, not just the same old stale position. I’ve said this before—get into your readers’ heads. View the story as if you are seeing it for the first time. You’ll definitely pick up on holes in your descriptions, unnecessarily repeated words and terms, misspelled names/words (usually because you changed someone’s name along the way) and areas where the dots need to be connected in order to make the story flow.
Once you have completed your thorough editing work, be sure to turn your manuscript over to an editor. He/she WILL see things that have escaped your keen examination.
This might be a good weekend to sit down with your manuscript using several new sets of eyes. Read it as if you are someone from Mars. Review it from the standpoint of an eager reader. Study it from an editor’s point of view (repeated words, spelling errors, inconsistencies, etc.)
You might find the “self-editing” section in my book, “The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book,” of use in this process. Order your copy now at http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html
Keep this book close at hand as you will refer to it often as you consider publishing options (I provide pros and cons to help you decide the best option for your project), pursue distributors and wholesalers, present your first book signing, attend a book festival, send press releases announcing your book, seek out conferences where you can sign up as an expert presenter on behalf of your book, wonder about getting book reviews (I tell you how to get LOTS of them), develop your marketing plan and so very much more.