Since starting on my writing journey, I have made mistakes. The first, and most crucial, was I thought I could edit my own writing . . . I was wrong.
I have beta read other author’s work. Can write an essay on how to improve their manuscript. I look at my own and do not notice a full stop missing, I filled in the blanks too many times. The truth is we are too close to our own writing to be aware of what needs to change.
My advice – always get your manuscript read by someone else. It doesn’t have to cost anything. There are plenty of Beta readers on Goodreads, who will swap theirs for yours.
I did this with my book, ‘It Won’t Happen Again’. Their help was invaluable. They noticed mistakes I never could of even thought of. Sometimes their opinion matched the editor I finally hired.
On that note, try and find a cost effective editor. Again, this doesn’t have to cost much. I was lucky with mine. Emily Randle transformed a mediocre book into what it is today. I thank her for my six star reviews.
She showed me there is more to writing than grammar. It’s important, but there are other things just as important. Pace, sentence structure, setting. A reason to empathise with your character – why they act the way they do. She asked me a question. Why does Martha stay with Thomas.? With her help the answer was clear – she wants to find the man she once married.
Writer Ravenclaw 