I'm here to

Chatterbox: Inkwell

I'm here to

I'm here to ask for some advice.

So a while ago I was posting a story I was writing chapter-by-chapter. The thread died, but I had already finished writing the story. It's the first whole story I've ever written after years and years of toil and sweat and tears and a bunch of other struggles and labor, so yay! It wasn't very good of course since it was just a first draft, and so I started to work on editing it.

I wrote the whole manuscript of 222 pages and 59787 words in a month. It's been maybe five months since then, and so far I've edited the prologue and am working on the FIRST CHAPTER. So, going a LOT slower. I even took coaching from an amazing woman, J.L. Powers (published author, she's amazing and I'm really grateful) but I've just been going slowly. 

So I was wondering if any of you have any advice on editing, and how to move quickly but still make good improvements. My goal, by the way, is to have the whole thing at a good-quality level by August.  

If you have any advice guys, thank you so much! If not, thank you anyway for reading this!

-Esile 

submitted by Esile, age 12
(May 26, 2019 - 5:21 pm)

Ok, so I have absolutely no authority on this, but what helps me with editing is sorting out stuff. Like starting out with checking punctuation, then spelling, etc. But if that takes too long, I would say that maybe getting some other people to help you. Like maybe one person goes over a certain few chapters, and then someone else goes over a few other chapters. There might be some CBers who would help you with that. Wish I could help more, but that's all I got. 

submitted by Unknown, age 14, Somewhere in America
(May 26, 2019 - 9:34 pm)

Thanks Unknown! I'll keep that advice in mind! :) Do you (or anyone else actually) have any advice on how not just spelling mistakes, but like... plot hole mistakes? I'm pretty much rewriting the whole thing since honestly it wasn't really good. Thanks again!

I think my CAPTCHA is insulting me... it says 'nwbe'. Yes, I know, I'm a newbie. 

herz

Um, okay. 

-Esile 

submitted by Esile
(May 27, 2019 - 12:06 pm)

Well, if you need help with grammar and spell check and would like to post some chapters on here, I'm really good at spelling and grammar. Plus I have an app that could help me. 

Also, feel free to post the story once you're done! I'd love to read it.  

submitted by Twirlgirl, age 13, My Imaginary Damce Studio
(May 28, 2019 - 3:13 pm)

Thank you for offering to help go over some of my story, Twirlgirl! You have a skill that I very much lack. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to post the chapters here as soon as I start moving a little faster. You guys are all really great at giving advice and I can get a lot of opinions here!

submitted by Esile, age 12
(May 31, 2019 - 9:10 pm)

Something I like to do when I'm writing for sorting out plot holes is, I like to read it over and sort of take notes as I go, looking at it like someone else's book - would I actually want to read this book? - because something I've noticed is, after reading a book and enjoying it, the whole thing sinks in and I find several (if not more) problems.

So what I'm basically saying is: read the book, thinking of yourself as the reader rather than the author, and find the problems a reader would find. Then, as the author, go over and try to fix those problems on a different copy. You should always keep your old drafts (for whatever reason, you should - trying to fix problems could take you away from the book you origianally wanted to create, in which case I'd go back, honestly. Just keep your old drafts when you're editing.)

So that's my advice. Hope it helps! 

 

submitted by Coconut the dog, age I forgot, In the bed
(May 30, 2019 - 3:42 am)

That's really good advice, thank you! I'll try that out!

submitted by Esile, age 12
(May 31, 2019 - 9:15 pm)

It definitely helps if you have other people helping. A fresh pair of eyes is key when it comes to finding mistakes and seeing if everything makes sense - remember, your readers aren't you, so they don't know everything that's in your head. Also, reading things out loud can help you find places where the grammar is off.

Also, maybe this is just me, but I think it's easier if you don't feel compelled to find EVERY mistake the first go around. You can always read through it again. Plus, if you concentrate too much on finding mistakes, then you might mis a few that would seem obvious to readers. It's like looking at what you think is a cat's fur under a microscope when, if looking from afar, you would clearly see that it was actually a dog.

There's my tips! 

submitted by CignusMoon, age 158 moons, The Story World
(June 3, 2019 - 5:17 pm)

Thank you for the tips! Also, nice analogy. I have some of my friends helping me, but like I said before I'll probably post it here once I get going. Thank you again!

submitted by Esile, age 12
(June 3, 2019 - 6:32 pm)