The validity of appraisals, writing courses and good editing.
Hello everyone,
I was recently approached by a writer who took advantage of my current fee-free offer for manuscript appraisals.
Her story was excellent. But there was a lot of work to do. She felt that she had given me a final product but I felt as if I were reading a synopsis.
She was a gracious and willing listener and avidly soaked up the tips and ideas that I gave her.
When it was her turn to ask questions she hit the nail right on the head. ‘Should writers do a course to improve their skills or is talent enough?’
Good question! And my reply is always the same.
‘Yes! Take advantage of a good writing course.’
A writer is fraught with small pitfalls in their style, no matter how talented. This is where good editors, and I mean good ones, (not your friend who’s known you all your life and has a bias toward your brilliance,) are vital before we proffer our final products to the world.
Independent manuscript appraisals are also very important. For a realistic assessment of your work it should come from someone who doesn’t know you. This is especially important for the self-published writer!
Not everyone is born with a perfect gift… even the very talented, whether it is in music, art, drama, dance or any creative skill or other interest can only benefit from some guidance and training.
As writers, we fall into small comfort zones with our writing… unconscious glitches where we either favour a particular word, repeat ourselves, become trapped by the over use of description and sometimes writing ‘in our heads’ and excluding the reader….
There are dozens of ways that we can all benefit from more knowledge and a sharp eye telling us what works and what might not.
Maintaining a healthy attitude and a willingness to change is important if we’re to become the writers we aspire to be. Writers can only benefit from pointers given by those who understand how things such as sentence structure, word use and other writing skills will benefit us and keep readers captivated.
Also important are such things as layout which can show whether you verge on amateur or professional. We all want to be professional so if you’re winging it, find a course… it doesn’t have to be a university degree or even a long and expensive course... it can be something that the local book club is running or a recommended inexpensive online course.
In a nutshell, no matter how talented, like anything worth doing it involves a lot of work, and that’s how it should be. Otherwise anyone could write a story.
Best wishes,
Deby
I was recently approached by a writer who took advantage of my current fee-free offer for manuscript appraisals.
Her story was excellent. But there was a lot of work to do. She felt that she had given me a final product but I felt as if I were reading a synopsis.
She was a gracious and willing listener and avidly soaked up the tips and ideas that I gave her.
When it was her turn to ask questions she hit the nail right on the head. ‘Should writers do a course to improve their skills or is talent enough?’
Good question! And my reply is always the same.
‘Yes! Take advantage of a good writing course.’
A writer is fraught with small pitfalls in their style, no matter how talented. This is where good editors, and I mean good ones, (not your friend who’s known you all your life and has a bias toward your brilliance,) are vital before we proffer our final products to the world.
Independent manuscript appraisals are also very important. For a realistic assessment of your work it should come from someone who doesn’t know you. This is especially important for the self-published writer!
Not everyone is born with a perfect gift… even the very talented, whether it is in music, art, drama, dance or any creative skill or other interest can only benefit from some guidance and training.
As writers, we fall into small comfort zones with our writing… unconscious glitches where we either favour a particular word, repeat ourselves, become trapped by the over use of description and sometimes writing ‘in our heads’ and excluding the reader….
There are dozens of ways that we can all benefit from more knowledge and a sharp eye telling us what works and what might not.
Maintaining a healthy attitude and a willingness to change is important if we’re to become the writers we aspire to be. Writers can only benefit from pointers given by those who understand how things such as sentence structure, word use and other writing skills will benefit us and keep readers captivated.
Also important are such things as layout which can show whether you verge on amateur or professional. We all want to be professional so if you’re winging it, find a course… it doesn’t have to be a university degree or even a long and expensive course... it can be something that the local book club is running or a recommended inexpensive online course.
In a nutshell, no matter how talented, like anything worth doing it involves a lot of work, and that’s how it should be. Otherwise anyone could write a story.
Best wishes,
Deby
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I would like to share this. I was reluctant to get a manuscript appraisal for a book that I was hoping to publish. I wasn't sure what to expect and I wasn't sure if I needed to get that or just go ahead and let lots of friends read the book and then just get someone to edit the mistakes and then leap into self publishing.
Stalling was a waste of time. I should have bitten the bullet and had the appraisal long ago. I'll explain why. I had six friends and some family read the book. They all think I'm a genius and so I thought that since they're fairly avid readers that they'd have a clue what they were talking about. But I was wrong. When I did finally send the book to a good editor they sent it back and told me that the book was good but there were reams of notes saying how the book fell apart in some areas, how it could use polishing up etc.
That cost me quite a bit and I felt that I had to re-write the book, which I'm glad I did. I learned a lot, but in hindsight I feel that an appraisal from the same editing team or someone else qualified to do the job, would have been a better and most cost effective learning curve.(The appraisal was going to cost me nothing the first time I enquired and from another appraiser when I enquired the second it was much cheaper than an editor!)
For another book I'm writing, I've decided to get it right the first time.
Thanks for your great posts, I've loved your work right from the start.