Wandering Thoughts of a Writer: #draft

Showing posts with label #draft. Show all posts

As some of you know, I've finished the first rough draft of Legends of Deceit book 2. I still don’t have a title for it, but I will soon.

I was going to write a post on my writing process from start to finish but decided to save that for another time. Instead, I’ll tell you straight up what that one secret to my editing process is.

Are you ready?

It’s finding your repetitive words, descriptions, or sayings.

We all have them.

Say for example you wrote: my heart thudded hard against my chest. You noticed while you were doing your first read through that you had used those words more than once to describe what your character was feeling. So now what you want to do is discover how many times you wrote it in your story.

How do you do that?

Simple.

In Word, you want to go to the top right-hand corner and click on find. On the left-hand side of the screen, there will be a window that pops up. Beneath the word Navigation will be a search bar. Enter the word(s) you want to search for to see how many are in your story. I just typed in draft, and it came up twice.

How cool is that?

This secret trick of mine will help you tremendously in your editing process.

Cheers.

#amwriting, #author, #draft, #editing, #manuscript, #secret, #story, #writer, 0 Comments

What the heck is a beta reader?

Years ago, I asked that same question. I'd never heard of that term before, until I decided to turn my stories into novels.

A beta reader reads your manuscript before it's published and gives you valuable feedback on your story. They'll point out plot holes, inconsistencies, errors, and will tell you how they feel about the tale.

I love my beta readers. They're my helping angels, and I appreciate them.

Why do I even need a beta reader? I mean, I have an editor who would point all those things out to me and would tell me if my story sucked.

I'll tell ya why.

You need more eyes on your manuscript. I've learned this the hard way, and it makes a HUGE difference if you have a handful of people beta reading for you.

Trust me.

When do I give my manuscript to my beta readers?

This is what I do. After I've completed the first draft, I'll take a week off, then read my story. I'll edit and do rewrites. Once that part is completed, and I feel comfortable sharing my manuscript, I'll send it along to my beta readers. I'll do another round of rewrites, based on their suggestions. I also have a proof reader I'll send my story to, but I wait until my beta readers are finished first before I do that. After my proof reader's job is completed, I'll once again make the necessary changes, and then send off my manuscript to my editor.

See how the process works?

Beta readers play an important role in the literary world, and I think they rock.

Wow. This is brilliant, but how do I get a beta reader?

There are a lot of ways to obtain a beta reader. Ask a friend, family member, teacher, or another author. I found my first three beta readers on a writing forum called, Absolute Write. My beta readers now are fans of my books and part of my street team.

What's a street team?

We'll get to that later. ;)

In the meantime, good luck and best wishes to you!

Cheers!

F.Y.I. I have a new website I've been working on. I'd love for you to follow me there. I reblogged this post from that site. Here's the link: http://rebekkahford.com/