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Writing Tip: So You Wanna Be An Author

Renee Stevens

Entry posted by Renee Stevens in Writing Tips

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For a while in the blog, we used to do "Blast from the Past" posts. All of these posts came from the old newsletter. I was struggling to figure out what to post for today, when I thought, why not check out the earlier posts of the revived blog. In looking back, I found the perfect post, and it happens to be the first "Writing Tip" that was posted when Lugh started the blog back up. I hope you find it informative.

 

 

 

 

 

 

by sat8997

 


Good for you! But take it from a veteran editor and reader, it takes more than the desire to put pen to paper. Or keys to screen. Trust me…it took me two days to write this article. And it’s not very long.

 

If I could give just one piece of advice to a new author, it would be to brush up on the basic rules of grammar. We’re not talking about anything fancy here, just good old spelling and dialog punctuation. If these are not your strong suit, find a good book or website to use for reference. There are plenty of them out there that present information in a fun and entertaining way. Find one, or like me, ten that works for you. Also, check the options on whatever word-processing program you use and set the spellchecker, grammar, and style functions to the highest level. Don’t take the suggested corrections at face value, though. Most spellcheckers won’t catch everything. But at least things that may need a second look are highlighted. Spend the time to understand what these tools are telling you. Correcting mistakes in spelling, grammar, and style will make your writing more enjoyable to read.

 

As a reader, these basic errors act as speed bumps for the eyes. They break a story’s ebb and flow. You may think your plot is wonderfully entertaining, your characters extremely well developed. And they very well may be. You could have the next Pulitzer winner for fiction all ready to flow off your fingertips. But if a reader has to stumble over the incorrect use of ‘there’, ‘their’, and ‘they’re’ too many times, you’ll lose them in the first chapter.

 

So you want to be an author? Then do it. Write. Write with passion, heart, and flair. But learn your craft first and give your future readers your best effort.

 

Copyright © 2011 sat8997; All Rights Reserved.

 


If you want to check out the past comments on the original post, you can go check out the old blog post.

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Valkyrie

Valkyrie 110,351

Posted

  • Site Administrator

Great advice! I'm always floored by people who don't care about spelling and grammar, especially if they want to be writers.  Writing is a craft, as well as art. One way to lose me as a reader is repeated spelling and grammatical mistakes.  I generally won't even start reading a story if the story description contains a lot of errors, especially if there's no editor. 

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Carlos Hazday

Carlos Hazday 115,803

Posted

Great advice! I'm always floored by people who don't care about spelling and grammar, especially if they want to be writers.  Writing is a craft, as well as art. One way to lose me as a reader is repeated spelling and grammatical mistakes.  I generally won't even start reading a story if the story description contains a lot of errors, especially if there's no editor. 

 

I'm with Val. I try to post as clean a story as possible all the time. Even after several rounds of reviewing, by myself AND an editor, mistakes slip through. I take pride on offering as clean a product as possible and in constantly improving. A story full of spelling and grammatical errors tells me the writer doesn't. What I think is the best advice anyone has given me is not to rush. Take the time to read over what you write, find someone to help you who knows what they're doing, and be willing to learn. There are many stories I have stopped reading after the first chapter, because the red pencil in my mind was being used so much, I failed to enjoy what I was looking at.

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Lisa

Lisa 6,487

Posted

I ditto Val and Mann. I'm not a writer, but as a reader, if I see errors in just the description of the story, I won't bother reading it.

 

This is just my opinion, but I feel if an author is going to put up a story that many, many people will read (hopefully!), then he/she better make sure it's as perfect as it can be. Don't just throw anything up there and say you'll "edit" it later. No -- edit it before you post it. Sharon put it the best when she wrote that errors act as speed bumps for the eyes; I couldn't have said it better. :) Readers don't want to stop to try and figure out spelling or grammatical errors. If you're not good with spelling or grammar, then find an editor.

 

I believe a posted story is a reflection on the author, and as Mann said, if the story has too many errors, it's obvious the author doesn't care about his/her work. So why should the readers?

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Mann Ramblings

Mann Ramblings 23,119

Posted

I ditto Val and Mann. I'm not a writer, but as a reader, if I see errors in just the description of the story, I won't bother reading it.

 

This is just my opinion, but I feel if an author is going to put up a story that many, many people will read (hopefully!), then he/she better make sure it's as perfect as it can be. Don't just throw anything up there and say you'll "edit" it later. No -- edit it before you post it. Sharon put it the best when she wrote that errors act as speed bumps for the eyes; I couldn't have said it better. :) Readers don't want to stop to try and figure out spelling or grammatical errors. If you're not good with spelling or grammar, then find an editor.

 

I believe a posted story is a reflection on the author, and as Mann said, if the story has too many errors, it's obvious the author doesn't care about his/her work. So why should the readers?

 

Sweet! I'm getting credit! :D

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Timothy M.

Timothy M. 50,252

Posted

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one being a spelling and grammar fanatic.

And you realize that headline Blast from the Past was especially funny on October 21st 2015, right ? :lol:

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Carlos Hazday

Carlos Hazday 115,803

Posted

Sweet! I'm getting credit! :D

:rofl:

 

Which one of us got slammed and which one got complimented?

 

 

Although you do get credit for the CJ series being better written. Word echoes, tags, and POVs have improved, I still need to work on the damn commas!

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Lisa

Lisa 6,487

Posted

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one being a spelling and grammar fanatic.

And you realize that headline Blast from the Past was especially funny on October 21st 2015, right ? :lol:

Hahah! I almost forgot it was Back to the Future day yesterday! :)

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