One Saturday afternoon, I sat in a packed conference room with about 150 other would be writers, listening to a conference instructor tell us the keys to self-editing our manuscripts. The number of people in the room spoke to how important it is to make sure your work is crisp, and as close to publishable as possible. Of course, the numbers also told me how many of us don't feel completely sure of our editing abilities.
The advice the instructor gave was nothing new, eliminate adverbs, redundancies, and clich?s. Use active verbs, vivid metaphors and strong verbs. Then she dropped the one that I stumble on every time, "read your manuscript out loud."
I have some mental block that prevents me from actually trying this editing method. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my husband already thinks I'm insane. If he hears me talking to myself in my office, he would have me committed. Then again, maybe it's my childhood fear of public speaking, even if the audience only consists of two cats and a dog. Whatever the reasons are I cannot bring myself to read aloud ? especially not my own words (shudder).
However, I have found an alternative to the embarrassment of hearing myself speak. Years ago, I invested in a speech recognition software (you talk - it types), which didn't work very well in my opinion. Even after hours of trying to "train" the software, it still didn't understand what I was saying. Despite its uselessness to me at the time, I kept the software on my computer, taking up precious hard drive space. Subconsciously a part of me must have known that I would need something that could read to me someday.
The morning after the conference, I printed a hard copy of my manuscript, fired up the speech recognition software, and followed along as my manuscript was read to me in the most unemotional way imaginable. Think a Speak And Spell? that knows all the dirty words.
The software could not interpret what it thought I meant to say. It just spoke every word as written.
If I forgot a comma, or some other needed punctuation, the computer kept reading at the same pace without pause. That helped me discover one long paragraph that turned out to be one long run-on sentence.
The software program also read the words exactly as typed ? typos and all. Did my hero whip or wipe the tears from the heroine's eyes? Typos like this can be funny when you run across them, but they make your manuscript look less than polished.
When you've read your manuscript to yourself, have you ever inserted words that weren't really on the page? You know you have, and you would insert missing words when reading your story aloud too, but the computer won't.
I did a quick internet search and found the particular speech recognition software I have for less than thirty dollars. Not a huge investment for a product that can help take some of the drudgery out of editing a manuscript, and make your final draft so polished your story will shine.
When Stacy Verdick Case (yes, that is her real name) learned that her dreams of being a comic book superhero would never pan out, she turned to writing instead. "In my writing world I can be anyone I want to be." She wrote her first "book" when she was in second grade, a jaunty little picture book entitled No Snow on Christmas, and hasn't quit writing yet.
Since 2000, when she began actively pursuing a career in full-length fiction, Stacy has penned five manuscripts. Her current manuscript, A Grand Murder, has received the following reviews from contest judges and published authors: "Wow! Great stuff!" "Intriguing, fast-paced, funny ? flawless." "Loved it!" "It's commercial, it's accessible and you describe your characters very well." "I like Catherine very much and was pulled into this story immediately." "Your snappy contemporary prose are refreshing."
A Grand Murder is the third place winner of the 2004 Daphne du Maurier award in the Unpublished Mainstream Mystery category.
Visit Stacy on the web at http://www.stacyverdickcase.com
Batchtown Chicago prom limo .. Lockport Chicago limo O’HareAre you ready to abandon your short stories? Before you... Read More
Q: How do I expand on an idea without getting... Read More
How do you choose a name? Do you put down... Read More
Without denigrating the work and contribution of Syd Field to... Read More
Plotting a book can seem an overwhelming task when you're... Read More
The following rules are essential if you want people to... Read More
You know, I really hate it when someone catches me... Read More
If you're targeting an educated, more affluent audience with your... Read More
Arrogance has a bad rap. We think of arrogant people... Read More
Some writers are just too kind.They hate to put their... Read More
Winning writing contests can provide several advantages to writers. For... Read More
Do you love someone very deeply? A spouse, son, daughter,... Read More
Taming the Book Proposal: The BasicsOh, that most maddening of... Read More
Do you consider yourself a storyteller? Do you consider yourself... Read More
What a lack of research could do to you.When creating... Read More
At first, I noticed that I could have written many... Read More
Obtaining the skills for writing good business correpondence is important;... Read More
Pictures they say are worth a thousand words, but many... Read More
To write books for readers at an elementary reading level... Read More
* Scanning and Skimming Practices *Whether you're writing e-mail messages... Read More
Style manuals are all well and good, and in fact,... Read More
The Benefits of Co-Publishing There are a number of publishers,... Read More
Think you can't write a book that will sell? You... Read More
It was reported that the great American author Sinclair Lewis... Read More
Do you suffer from writer's block? Is there a pending... Read More
shuttle from Midway Munster are ..Many writers stare at the blank page or clean computer... Read More
Here's something from my mailbag. "Dear Michael, do you need... Read More
Writers often get stuck because they make assumptions about writing,... Read More
Every writer eventually develops her own unique style of writing.... Read More
A good white paper is a paper that makes you... Read More
Beginner's Blues: How to Collect Samples, Testimonials, and References as... Read More
An island in the Mediterranean. A beach in Africa. The... Read More
Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born in Chipping Sodbury,England in 1965.... Read More
Recently, I was hunting for a book that would simply... Read More
When I first started tracking the information preferences of people... Read More
Have you ever wondered how you can adapt your screenplay... Read More
So you want to be a successful author? You want... Read More
Do you suffer from writer's block? Is there a pending... Read More
My dad was wrong. I just discovered that I am... Read More
Complaint letters aren't always fun, but sometimes they need to... Read More
Picture this scene.Your hero is sitting in a bar. He's... Read More
He ran up the steps and knocked on the door.... Read More
Back in my school days, if the teacher demanded a... Read More
I call it cheap therapy. That gushing, near-religious, poured-from-the-body stress... Read More
We've all been told that we need to use all... Read More
In the 7th grade I wanted to be an architect... Read More
IntroductionSince our early days of elementary education we have been... Read More
The works you've written are numerous, ranging from short stories... Read More
There are so many ways for writers to make good... Read More
Calling all publishers, editors, journalists and freelance writers. It's time... Read More
Writing |