Wendy Orr
Try not to get so carried away with the fun facts of research that you stick in fascinating trivia that doesn’t move the story along. Every word and incident in the book needs to do its job of advancing or deepening the story.
When you think your book is approaching the final draft, read it aloud. If you can’t read it to someone, record it as you read it and then play it back to yourself. You’ll pick up all sorts of unintended rhymes, repetitions, confusing sentence structure…
You can also, or also use the text to voice function. This has the advantage of not subconsciously editing out typing errors, though I find that the simple act of reading my own work aloud gives me more insights.
Remember that all writing advice is a guide only, and when you’ve learned how to write one book, you may need to write the next one in a completely different way. I have never completely managed to read a first or second draft with stopping to fiddle with ugly sentences.
When you think your book is approaching the final draft, read it aloud. If you can’t read it to someone, record it as you read it and then play it back to yourself. You’ll pick up all sorts of unintended rhymes, repetitions, confusing sentence structure…
You can also, or also use the text to voice function. This has the advantage of not subconsciously editing out typing errors, though I find that the simple act of reading my own work aloud gives me more insights.
Remember that all writing advice is a guide only, and when you’ve learned how to write one book, you may need to write the next one in a completely different way. I have never completely managed to read a first or second draft with stopping to fiddle with ugly sentences.
More Answered Questions
Julie Garner
asked
Wendy Orr:
Hi Wendy, I am writing to you in your role as Goodreads Librarian. I want to do a review of Mia Freedman's Work Strife Balance but the ISBN for the paperback has been entered incorrectly as Every Woman with no cover. I am pretty funny about marking as read and reviewing the correct book with the correct title. Is there a way that this can be fixed? Cheers Julie
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