Tag: publishing

November blog

Solo or Sociable

What sort of writer are you? And is there a right or wrong way?

This month I thought I’d address the topic of how do we write – completely alone, with someone, or in a group? What’s best and what might work for you?

We all have our own way of writing, and it might change depending on what we’re writing, our mood and our situation. On holiday, I like nothing better than to go to a beach, preferably where there’s no-one else about. If it’s warm, I’ll sit on the beach; if not, in the car. Staring out at the waves invariably puts me in a good mood and I have spent many hours writing happily in such a state.

At home, I’m fortunate to have a small office that looks out onto my garden. And although this is where I do a lot of writing, unless I’m really in the “zone”, I find there are too many distractions. You’ll probably recognise some!

  • that flower bed definitely needs weeding
  • I must put the bins out
  • a friend has phoned up for a chat
  • I’ll just Google that research point
  • just a quick peak at my e-mails!

Is writing alone the way to go?

If you read the opinions of famous writers, it would seem so!

Ernest Hemingway said: ” Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. You must be prepared to work always without applause.”
Gustave Flaubert: “Writing is a lonely life, but the only life worth living.”
Franz Kafka: “Writing is utter solitude, the descent into the cold abyss of oneself.” 
And on a brighter note! Margaret Atwood: Writing is alone, but I don’t think it’s lonely. Ask any writer if they feel lonely when they’re writing their book, and I think they’ll say no.

No distractions

What these writers are saying is that the actual physical work of writing is best done on one’s own with no distractions. But I firmly believe there is a place for writing with others, and meeting and/or socialising with other writers. There are so many options: it’s just a case of finding what works for you.

  • A writing buddy
    A fellow writer you’re happy to spend time with, in person or, if circumstances demand, on a screen. You might talk about writing; you might swap pieces and critique them; you might spend the time in relative silence to write.
  • A group of writers
    The group could meet weekly, set homework, read out and critique each other’s work. They could be monthly meetings, some with a guest speaker, others as manuscript critiques.
  • Classes/workshops
    Many adult education colleges run these, so too do individual writing groups, writers, publishing companies etc etc. They vary – in quality, makeup of participants and price! Personal recommendation is probably one of the best ways to choose. I love them! I always manage to get motivated by going to a class, and if you find a really good tutor, that’s a bonus, so too a writing buddy.
  • Residential writing courses
    Many are held in lovely parts of the country with meals all catered, one-to-one sessions, guest speakers and critiquing sessions. They tend to be attract what I term “serious” writers and can be very sociable.
  • Online courses
    These seem to have proliferated in the last ten years with publishing houses in particular offering a whole range of topics. Again, some are quite pricey. They can vary from one-day webinars, to three or six-week or even six-month courses, with some offering the opportunity to critique each other’s work.
  • Free online courses
    These often take the form of webinars – often by authors, agents, editors and publishers. I find the half-hour ones the most accessible as anything longer, I have found, can deviate from the main topic and you end up not getting much out of them. Again, speak to your fellow writers and ask which ones they recommend.

In the New Year I hope to blog a bit more about courses, telling you about the ones I’ve found useful and enjoyable. If anyone has similar stories they’d like to tell, please do send them via the Feedback button.

So, is it best to go Solo? My preference to is to write on my own, in silence, resisting telephone calls and emails. And then, to go to any or all of the above to be sociable, and to keep up my motivation and learning.

Happy writing.

Linda

Autumn Blog

September – October 2024

Editing Part 2

Last month we looked at the WHEN and BIG PICTURE of editing. This month, I’m looking at some of the best ways to read your writing, what you should be looking for and where to go for help.

HOW

It’s all too easy when reading our own writing to read what we think we wrote. So here are some suggestions to get over that:

  1. ALWAYS read your work out loud. It’s so much easier to hear mistakes such as unintentional repetition of certain words and phrases, badly constructed sentences, too many adverbs, no change of pace. By reading it out loud, you will also notice typos and misspellings.

2. If you’d like someone else to read your writing out loud, you’ll need a very understanding writer friend! Or you can use the Read Aloud facility on your computer (you may need to have a word processing package subscription to use this).

I’ve set up a new page Computer Tips where you’ll find how to do this with MS Word. Computer voices have improved a lot over the years, and I’ve just had a very nice woman read this all back to me!

3. If you can, print out your work before reading it out loud and editing it. A change of medium often helps as it will come over as a “new” piece of writing. I use a red pen to mark any mistakes which are then easily identifiable when correcting back on the screen.

4. If you are editing on the screen, then highlight the whole piece of writing and change the font.

Don’t be tempted to try one of the more outlandish fonts that Microsoft Words offers, like Algerian or Broadway. They are fun to experiment with if, say, you are designing a poster. But for any length of writing, they are difficult to read.

I usually change from Times New Roman to Ariel and then back again when I’ve finished editing and I’m going to send it off. Times New Roman is an industry standard, so it actually makes sense to set your word processing package to using that font all the time (the default font).

Have a look on YouTube – I’ve found a couple of videos that explain it. And you’ll find my guide on How to change your default font on the new Computer Tips page.

5. Alternatively, changing the colour of the font can have a similar effect, making you read your writing more carefully.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Mostly, you’ll be looking for consistency, such as the spelling of names, place and proper nouns.
Dialogue tagging – have you stuck to he said, she said, rather than use a lot of fancy alternative.
Grammar – reading out loud should help you pick up errors.
Punctuation.
Unintentional repetition of words or phrases.  
Exceptionally long sentences.

WHO CAN HELP

You can, of course, do all this editing yourself. But it’s all too easy to read what you think you’ve written. If you have writing buddies who are willing, then my suggestion would be to ask them to do specific editing eg are they engaged by the characters? Another friend might like to read your writing as a reader – does it grab them and make them want to read to the end? Another friend might be good at spotting typos, grammar and punctuation mistakes.

Another option is to use editing packages – free and paid-for..

You will have to look at each one to see what it offers. Some are free but then offer more features if you pay.

Grammarly
Prowritingaid
Hemingway editor
Autocrit

The one I have used several times is Authors AI. You can have your whole novel analysed for free, and for $45, you get a more detailed report – mine was 30+ pages long! Their web address is authors.ai

You can always pay for a full editing check of your writing – costs vary enormously. You can be charged by the word, the page, by the hour or a flat fee.

The Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading charge £25+ per hour for proofreading and £34 per hour for developmental editing.

The Literary Consultancy charge £1000+ for up to 60,000 words.

The Oxford Editors charge £820 for 100,000 words.

Some professional companies also offer Zoom meetings, express delivery, mentorship etc – all at extra costs.

Have confidence

As with all outside editors (whether free, friends or professionals), it is totally up to you what you do with the feedback. My advice? Read what they say but have confidence in your own writing.

Once you are happy with your editing, you might want your mother/auntie/boyfriend to have another read. I can guarantee they won’t spot the edited adjectives and adverbs, the change from passive to active verbs, the shortened (or lengthened) sentences. But they might just say “That reads really well now! I didn’t notice any difference.”

Only YOU will know the work that has gone into making your writing that much better.

Happy writing!

Linda