aspiring authors discussion

Here you go 💓

There are two nooks. Glitchreads is definitely bad

Thank you! Hello everyone! My name is Emary, and I’m an aspiring author (obviously😊). I’m currently editing my first novel (which I hope to get published). I’ve also written numerous short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. For more info you can check out my profile.

I’ll be posting here with any writing advice or potential ideas I have. So feel free to ask any questions. I’d be happy to answer!

**Remember that all ideas shared through here are strictly mine. You do not have a right to anything unless I give you permission to use it. And this goes as basic as a name or title. Thank you**

With that said, hopefully we can help each other!

Hi, Emary!

Today (or if I don’t get time, some time this week) I will be submitting a short story to a few literary magazines! The story is about the Salem Witch Trials. Once it is submitted, I will tell you more about it🙂

Woah. You are leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of us. You deserve some congratulations.

Hahaha, not really, I just have finished my work and want to get it out in the world! Thanks though😅

Also, Aliyah, this nook name is great! Thanks for coming up with it! I actually have a typewriter...🤗 Not that it’s of very much use nowadays🤷🏼‍♀️

This is another random fun fact about me: I like to draw my characters and settings. If I figure out how to upload an image, I’ll share them here!

You can upload it on your profile, then copy the image address and use the goodreads coding and it'll show up!

Oh, thanks Brooke! Sorry, I’m just seeing this now. I’ll attempt because technology is not my greatest strength to handle!😅

Anyway, to get this nook really up and moving, do you guys have any questions for me? I’d really love to answer any except more info on what my novel is about. That will be stored privately until I feel comfortable sharing it with the world. Hopefully you can respect that.

So yep...Any writing advice I can provide, I will provide it! You just have to ask!

Can you explain what exactly is multiple drafts? Do you just keep rewriting? Do you focus on certain things each draft? What?

Okay, I’ll answer your questions to the best of my abilities.

Multiple drafts is, well, multiple drafts. It’s the same story with many edits. In school, you might hear them say “your sloppy copy” or “first draft.” This is simply writing your whole story, getting it onto paper. Then comes your later drafts. Then, finally, your final drafts. There really is no set number of drafts you need to complete your manuscript to make it publication ready, if that is your intent. Generally, people advise AT LEAST three drafts, and that’s really a bear minimum, I feel like. And it differs for everyone.

Getting into your second question, do I just keep writing? I think you mean like do I write the whole story and wait to edit until I’m done. Yes. Yes I do. I feel if I write a chapter and get too caught up in editing it, I lose heart in my story and I give up.

To answer your last question, I will make a new post with all of the stages of editing. It’s just a lot,so I want to outline it in depth for you.

Hopefully this answered all of your questions. If you have any more, feel free to ask!

Emary wrote: "Okay, I’ll answer your questions to the best of my abilities.

Multiple drafts is, well, multiple drafts. It’s the same story with many edits. In school, you might hear them say “your sloppy copy”..."

Thank you! And like you said I've heard many many times to never edit your first draft till your done or you'll never finish, and I found out the hard way that that's true.

Ugggh so sorry, Brooke. I’ve been meaning to make a post about editing (to answer that one question), but I’ve been so caught up in sports and school and editing! Ugh, I’ll get to it asap.

It's fine, school's always busiest, at least for me, when the year is almost over until the last few days when we have nothing to do.

Hahaha exactly! At least we can relate ;)

I’m currently working on creating a polytheistic religion for my book! That’s really random, but it’s really fun :D

Ugh, I was in the middle of writing the answer to your question, Brooke, but then my tab refreshed and I lost it all. I'm so frustrated. Okay. Take 2. I got this.

So I will be answering your question with the stages of self-edting.

You finished your novel! Omg congrats! That's a major accomplishment! Really, that's beyong awesome. You've spent all this time on it, and now it's finally done. It's ready to send out into the world.

Ha, think again. Sorry to break it to you, but you are FAR from done. All you have done is your first draft. Not that that's a bad thing. You have the major start to the process, and that really is a HUGE accomplishment! When I finished my first draft, I was going crazy. Feel free to do the same ;)

So you finished your first draft . . . now what?

You take a break!

Um. . . really? You're joking, right?

Well, it's true! You need to take a break in order to have fresh eyes when editing your novel. It is going to be super sloppy and probably just a jumble of ridiculous irrelevant words and gray characters and . . . You get the picture?

How much time do I need off?

This varies for everyone. For me I took about 1-2 months off. This helped me focus on schoolwork, athletics, and my social life more. Yes, get back to that thing we call interracting with society! Anyway, when my time was up, I went into editing! And I still am editing after like 6 months. Yes, you guys, editing should take just as long (if not, probably longer) than however long it took you to write the book.

How do I even start editing?

Okay, well there are three main types of editing: developmental, line, and copy. Then you have multiple arounds of each until you are satisfied with your work. It's a long process. Get used to it.

DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING:
This is the type of edit you tackle first. Developmental is just a fancy word for big-picture edit. This is where you take a look at all of your scenes and chapters and rearrange them and cut them until you feel your story flows better. (This is where I HIGHLY recommend purchasing the writing software Scrivener. Many authors use it as their preferred writing software. It is incredibly helpful in writing novels. I use it for all my work except flash fiction. There are many tutorials out there on how to use it. It takes some time getting used to, but after you do get used to it, you learn to love it. Unlike Word or Google Docs or whatever, it is strictly made for writing longer works.) After you do this, you can make bigger corrections to your scenes. I was taking an online story editing course through Reedsy (which I have recommended here on Goodreads many times), and they suggested you do your developmental editing with a spreadsheet. I downloaded their offered template, and it is helping me map out my entire book scene-by-scene so that I know which scenes are strong, lacking, and need to be cut. It gets into all the details necessary for POV, entrances/exits, conflict, backstory, scenery, and more. Although I have spent a long time filling it out, it has proven very helpful. I can't wait to apply it to my manuscript.

LINE EDITING:
This is where you take your developmental edits and rearrange the individual paragraphs. Move this paragraph here. Scratch that. Move this there. Cut this. Then you move into the sentence flow. Make sure your pacing is on point and it doesn't waver throughout the book.

COPY EDITING:
This is finally where you get into editing the grammatical errors. This is where you change words to find better words. This is where you learn new vocabulary. This is where you move a sentence here instead of here. This is where you remove that comma, put a period here. Cut this run-on sentence. (I highly recommend getting Grammarly if you do not already have it for this stage. Unless you want to pay a ton of money for a copy editor, this is a good option.)

Then you repeat. And repeat. And repeat again. 3? 4? 5? 10 times? It varies for everyone.

After this, after this VERY LONG TIME, you're probably exhausted. Just don't give up. You got this. You got this. Keep telling yourself that because you'll regret it if you don't in the end!

I haven't finished my first draft yet, but this was always something I never understood and really got in my way, so thank you!

Sorry I keep bothering you, but should my writing be double spaced or not?

Brooke wrote: "Sorry I keep bothering you, but should my writing be double spaced or not?"

I'm not Em but I think you can do the formatting after you finish with the editing.

Niharika wrote: "Brooke wrote: "Sorry I keep bothering you, but should my writing be double spaced or not?"

I'm not Em but I think you can do the formatting after you finish with the editing."

K, thanks!

Yes, you should be double spacing your work. And like Niharika said, you can do that when you’re done, but double spacing for me is easier to read for editing. Just a general rule is Times New Roman, 12 pt font, and double spaced.

Emary wrote: "Yes, you should be double spacing your work. And like Niharika said, you can do that when you’re done, but double spacing for me is easier to read for editing. Just a general rule is Times New Roma..."

K. I had mine at 11. And what is times new roman?

Brooke wrote: "Emary wrote: "Yes, you should be double spacing your work. And like Niharika said, you can do that when you’re done, but double spacing for me is easier to read for editing. Just a general rule is ..."

It's a font.

Brooke wrote: "Emary wrote: "Yes, you should be double spacing your work. And like Niharika said, you can do that when you’re done, but double spacing for me is easier to read for editing. Just a general rule is ..."

Wait it's a font isn't it

Brooke wrote: "Brooke wrote: "Emary wrote: "Yes, you should be double spacing your work. And like Niharika said, you can do that when you’re done, but double spacing for me is easier to read for editing. Just a g..."

yeah

Yes, Times New Roman is a font. It’s a standard writing one.

Emary wrote: "Yes, Times New Roman is a font. It’s a standard writing one."

I use... no idea. It's a set font which I'm not sure how to change.

Yeah, it doesn’t matter that much, but if you intend to publish, the standard format is what I put in a previous comment.

Niharika wrote: "Emary wrote: "Yes, Times New Roman is a font. It’s a standard writing one."

I use... no idea. It's a set font which I'm not sure how to change."

What do you write on?

I’m sure this is a question for Niharika, but I’ll just say that I use Scrivener. Although it’s not for free, it’s very much recommended by many authors! I highly recommend as well!

Brooke wrote: "Niharika wrote: "Emary wrote: "Yes, Times New Roman is a font. It’s a standard writing one."

I use... no idea. It's a set font which I'm not sure how to change."

What do you write on?"

manuskript

Emary wrote: "I’m sure this is a question for Niharika, but I’ll just say that I use Scrivener. Although it’s not for free, it’s very much recommended by many authors! I highly recommend as well!"

Wish I could use it but the downside is I don't have 3000 (right? I'm not sure) rupees. My mom will never get it for me.

Niharika wrote: "Brooke wrote: "Niharika wrote: "Emary wrote: "Yes, Times New Roman is a font. It’s a standard writing one."

I use... no idea. It's a set font which I'm not sure how to change."

What do you write ..."
I don't know then, I only use google docs

Brooke wrote: "Niharika wrote: "Brooke wrote: "Niharika wrote: "Emary wrote: "Yes, Times New Roman is a font. It’s a standard writing one."

I use... no idea. It's a set font which I'm not sure how to change."

W..."

yeah well. Most people start with docs (including me)

In the future I think I will be coming out with a poll for all my friends to vote on. Basically, you will put whether or not you’d like to Beta Read my book before I send it out to agents. I won’t be sending out the poll until I’m close to done editing, so that won’t be for a few months. The reason I’m commenting here is if you are not one of my friends but feel like you’ve interacted with me enough to become my friend, and if you’d like to Beta Read my YA SF/F, feel free to send me a friendvite. I will not be sending a poll out to anyone who isn’t my friend. Hopefully this will get you enough heads up before I send out the poll.

And let it be known that I WILL NOT BE CHOOSING ALL OF MY FRIENDS THAT ANSWER YES ON THE POLL. It’s an application, basically. From those who would like to Beta Read, I will have application forms sent out and will pick a select few. It’s nothing personal. I love all my friends. I will just be picking a couple that I know will give me good feedback.

I would have totally said yes if I read YA. I prefer middle grade.

I'll be saying yes! This is a really cool idea by the way!

deleted user wrote: "I would have totally said yes if I read YA. I prefer middle grade."

that was me.

ok thanks anyway

@Emary Hi, I’ve been reading this for a while and I had a question about Scrivener. I looked it up but I couldn’t find a straight answer. About how much doesScrivener cost, is it monthly or a one time payment, and would you recommend it for drafting a manuscript over Word?

Scrivener costs around $50, I believe, and it’s a one time payment. I would recommend it for all your drafting. It’s purposely made for novelists and short story writers. Word is just made for everyday stuff. Scrivener was made strictly to help you with all your author needs. Highly recommend.

I could get Scrivener at the end of the year. Maybe if I earn enough money.

Hey, Em, I thought you'd like to see this: https://abbiee.us12.list-manage.com/t...

Yep, you can personalize Scrivener! It’s very fun, but it does become a procrastination teaser if you’re not careful....

Emary wrote: "Yep, you can personalize Scrivener! It’s very fun, but it does become a procrastination teaser if you’re not careful...."

Sure, unless you know what you want it to look like!

I finished my polytheistic religion for my book! It was so fun!!😄

Good job!