I recently started the revision process on my manuscript. One of many, but more importantly, the first after a year of leaving it on the shelf.
I think the one mistake I was making that surprised me the most, was echo words. I couldn’t believe it. I know better. I’ve been at this for six years. How in the world could something like that happen?
You would be surprised what you miss. I also missed commas, had commas that didn’t belong, and started some sentences in one tense and ended them in another. Unbelievable.
I don’t know, maybe I’m a bad writer, but I don’t think so. I use to see mistakes on other people’s blogs and think, I can’t believe they missed that. I’m sure I missed stuff too, because I’ve gone back to old blogs and corrected mistakes. I can’t believe I posted them 🙂
You have to step back and get another set of eyes on your work. You are too close to your story. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of having others review your work. I’m not talking about family and friends, I’m talking about people who will be honest and know what they are looking for.
Something to think about.
-Jan R
Writing your first novel-Things you should know 
Reblogged this on When Angels Fly.
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Thank you!
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Yes, you are so right. Setting aside a manuscript for a while does work wonders when we come back to it to revise. It’s amazing how much we can see with more objective eyes. After all, no matter how good a writer we are, we still miss things. I like to use beta readers for my major writing projects, though even this is no guarantee my manuscript will be perfect.
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Agree. I had a beta reader that I thought was very good, until I went back. She had never seen my work, so she was using a fresh set of eyes. Oh well 🙂
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Agree completely. The things readers noticed that I didn’t were so valuable in terms of making sure my story worked and made sense. Great advice x
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Thanks! And thanks for stopping by 🙂
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