Editing your Story: Why is it necessary to edit?
As with many other people in this
world, English is not my native language, and yet I still prefer it
as the language to write my stories in. Does this excuse any mistakes
that I would make as a result? Never. And there are a few reasons for
that, but the most important would be respect for my readers.
If I don’t make the effort to ensure
my manuscripts are as correct they could possibly be, I would be
insulting my readers if I delivered sloppy work and then expected
them to pay for it.
Let me tell you the reason I decided to
write this series of blog posts. When I decided to self-publish my
first novel, Géra’s Gift, I was pleased that the publisher offered
copy-editing services as part of the package that I purchased from
them.
I was, however, really chuffed when
they didn’t find many mistakes in the manuscript. After a re-check,
I found two more and then it was published with all the corrections.
Of course, I am under no illusion that it was perfect, as pointed out
by a friend who found three more grammar errors after it was
published. Still, three mistakes in a book of ninety odd thousand
words can probably be forgiven. They were not glaring mistakes
either, so I wasn’t worried.
When the short story, Hunger, was done, I
decided to do my own editing, given the track record I had with
Géra’s Gift. After it was published, a friend who is also an
editor, pointed out some mistakes to me, and brought my arrogant self
down a notch or two or three. Five errors in a 7500 word story is not
the kind of quality I was striving for. Although these were minor, I
was not happy since it seemed that I was getting worse not better.
So lesson learned, I asked several
friends and acquaintances, all of them writers, to proofread
Perfection for me. And boy, am I glad I did. Upon reading their
comments, I decided that there had to be more to this editing
business, and I was right.
Stick around as I share with you the
tips and tricks that I find, and try them out as I do my final
editing on Keeper of the Dragon Sword.
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