Welcome back for another Round Robin Blog Fest!
I'm so happy to have copies of my two newest books now in hand!
It's been a long month for me after having arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus in my knee at the end of February. After two and a half weeks off work, I'm back on my feet and returned to work this week. Tired and recovering from a cold, I'm ready for a good weekend off. But first....
The question posed for this month's Round Robin Blog Fest is: How do you self-edit your books before submitting or publishing?
The past few years, I've learned a great deal from my agent, my publishers, and my writing group when it comes to editing. I've learned to more or less edit as I go, but usually don't do a solid edit of my own work until I finish at least half a rough draft. From that point, I print a hard copy, edit the first half, then move on to write or fill in the missing pieces of the second half and keep the flow going along smoothly.
Over all, I tend to write in chunks when I get the time and weave those chunks together later. One of the things I have to watch out for is changing tenses. Where some books I write in Third Person, the one I'm currently working on is in First Person.My biggest quirks I need to watch out for when I edit, aside from the tenses, is to keep my writing active rather than passive, and not to repeat words.
Once I get the whole book together, I give it one last edit and run spellcheck to catch those silly things I may have missed. Then it's off to my agent and/or publisher. Generally, I'll get more edits back from them to tweak the things I missed. Usually, they involve commas because it seems no two editors can agree where the commas should go! Some use the Oxford commas, some despise them.
Hi Diane. I have to watch out for repeated words, too. I think we all do. Now I have a list of my most often over-used words to check each manuscript's usage. Our methods are very similar.
ReplyDeletePassive tense is one of my failings, too. Fortunately for me, my critique partner is relentless about pointing them out.
ReplyDeleteI used to worry about repetition, but don't any more. I just get the first draft done as quickly as I can and weed out repeated words in the editing process. I haven't tried printing out my work, I just edit on my computer. I might have to try that.
ReplyDeleteRepeated words, and my characters drinking too much coffee, are my 'must' watch items. I, too, can only edit from a printed copy.
ReplyDeleteHi Diane, Hope your progress continues and the knee is healing. Repeated words are so hard to avoid. Curiously, it's often not the same word on a Wednesday as it was on Sunday.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that so many of us have similar issues, active rather than passive, and not to repeat words. Those are my big ones too.
ReplyDeleteAdd me to the list of passive writers or should I say passive writing? I'm fortunate to have a sharp writers group with every member checking for their "pet peeves". I do try to iron out my submissions, but someone will catch something.
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