Sow Yoo Wunt Too Bee Uh Riter (Part I, cont’d)

Or Part I, part 2…

Part Ia?

Whatever. Parts is parts.

Your homework assignment from last night was to write your book. Done? Good.

Now fix it.

Edit. Revise. Rewrite where necessary. Lather, rinse, and repeat. Keep this up until it reaches a state that’s as close to polished and perfect as it’s going to get. Especially when you’re a first-time writer trying to make a sale, you are your own editor, your own proofreader, and, if you really want to critique your work honestly with the goal of making it better, your own worst nightmare. Spelling and grammar checkers are useful tools, but don’t rely too heavily on them. For my first round of serious editing, and sometimes one or two subsequent ones, I find it helpful to print out the whole manuscript and read through it, pen in hand, to scribble in corrections and modifications. I’ve found that having the text in hand in a different medium helps me to view it with more detachment than if I were to go through it on-screen.

Sometimes I’ll scribble out a sentence and fill the margin with a paragraph of replacement text to be added later; sometimes I’ll cross out a whole page and just leave myself a note that says “Fix this.” Occasionally I’ll yank out a whole chapter, or move it someplace else, or even write something like “Need new chapter here with more details on event XYZ”.

I generally share my work with my wife, who usually makes a few suggestions and finds a few problems that need to be fixed, but thus far I haven’t taken the step of showing it to anyone else at this stage in the process. Friends and family can be helpful, as can writers’ groups, etc., but the key phrase here is can be, which is quite different from one of its alternatives, are. Constructive criticism is good if it’s truly constructive, but bad advice is about the 4th most common substance in the universe, and the dangers of design by committee can be seen in the monstrosity that is the Pontiac Aztek. There is also, of course, the danger that once you’ve put a copy of your work into someone else’s hands, it will end up on the internet somewhere.

So by now your book should be written, edited, honed, polished, tweaked, and sprayed with a few layers of glossy clearcoat. You’ve spent weeks, months, or years in isolation, devoting heart and soul to a work of art that could very well be your masterpiece, its completion a moment of joy and pride whose memory you’ll treasure till your dieing day.

Congratulations – you’re off to a decent start.

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