I have been a writer for years, but not until recently, have I published one of my books. My wife's idea. The editing process is painful. However, I have found some tools that have helped me immensely. In MS Word is "Text to speech." Highlight a section, click the icon, and it will read it back to you. The voice lacks expression, but it helps. Grammarly program picks up grammar errors, but it's not perfect. I would say 75% effective. Word will, sometimes, find errors Grammarly misses. My input, for what it's worth...........
Dear💐Kristen Martin, as a new author I absolutely love and admire excellent authors like you who not only write amazing book but, selflessly, share your how you make your books totally engaging. Thank you!
My editing plan after the first draft is 1. line edit. 2 .grammar edit - e.g. get rid of all the sticky sentences and passive voice and fix punctuation. 3. Go through the manuscript and get rid of all redundant words. 4. Add and improve if needed. It works for me.
Hi Kristen, Your advice was really helpful and came at a time when I was revising and editing my novel for the umpteenth time. You look beautiful and I think an angel plucked a feather and just blessed you by brushing past your right shoulder.
I do the same thing you do. I edit while am writing the novel. I usually write about five or six chapters at a time and then go back through and edit things. But I never thought to use highlighters when editing. So thank you for that tip.
I know this video was probably posted a long time ago, but, it's a really great video. Thank you, it inspired me to go and sit down, and just work ok my novel. Also, you're a person that speaks with your eyes, you said you went through some things, I can see it... even though it was probably a while back, good for you for standing strong. Thanks for your amazing videos Kristen.
Read your scenes out loud to yourself. Makes a huge difference because you have somewhat of an idea of how a reader would comprehend your work - especially if you have dialect in your dialogue that grammar software would attempt to correct.
Thank you for this video! I am currently working on my 2nd short story. I need to edit my first one except, its hard for me because i am emotionally involved with my story. It all makes perfect sence to me. I need to have it done because i belive this manuscript would make an amazing motion picture, indeed a story that our world could really use...!
Tip: create a separate profile for your characters and add in all their details; background, name, languages, education, pet(s), etc... so you can refer back to these profiles WHILE writing. Create these profiles in FB, making sure you put everything to PRIVATE, so you may end up with fully dimensional characters. Just a tip, case it helps 😘❤🌹
I had to watch this video twice.. sorry but your eyes just made me deaf, I would listen and then drift away .. but yes I agree with everything you said. For me its the hardest part as my logical brain portion is for smaller than my creative one. ..hmm maybe that's why I just adored your eyes, my imagination was hijacking my thoughts lol ? :)
I should hire you to edit my novel for me 😂. 🖒🖒🖒 also, I usually edit as I go too. I use grammarly.com for grammar issues I have. also, also, do you ever read your words out loud to see if they make sense? I would love to see what the colors of your highlights mean so I could do it, too.
Hello Hello there Kristen, my name is Bambe Nge I'm from Cameroon. Well I'm a young motivational speaker and I also write novels but I've never tried selling my books online! Went through some of your videos on RU-vid and I think helped me, I really want to be successful in selling my books online. I'm thinking o creating a website to sell my books, wants to ask is it going to profit me working on my own and not with amazon?
I just started writing my novel,I am only twelve ( almost thirteen) and decided to prusue my dream of being a writer.i know it takes time and effort.but was wondering if you have any tips??? P.s if you are wondering how I have even the slightest amount of time I am Homeschooled.i know I am lucky. Thanks
Go for it and don't think you are too young! I started writing at 12 as well and today I published two books and one if them is actually the story I wrote with 12 (I rewrote 90%, but the plot nearly stayed the same) If you wanna write do it!:)
One thing I'll say is have fun! I'm not a pro and I don't know everything, but just have fun! You have a whole life ahead if you, and no matter what you do, love the journey. Don't be in a hurry to get there.
Do you have any tips for when it comes to revising a story? I'm in that process now with the first book of a saga and I'm now at a point where I have to add a lot because I'm taking a lot out and I'm kinda lost :(
I don't know if I should change this in my book, I was writing a Conversation between two characters, in the middle of the conversation I realized that I didn't mention the other characters name. So then I wrote "I forgot to ask.... What's your name?" Then he answers, she says hers, he said he knows, she asked how, he doesn't answer and continues the story that he was telling. Should I change this? Does it make sense?
Darkscarlet 101 What I learned (slowly and painfully😅) is to not be lazy. You can't fix things when you already made the mistake, readers will sense you did it and that it is kind of an excuse. I'd say go back and fix the mistake in the beginning. Hope I could help:)
Do ebooks have to be edited before publishing? I obviously don't wanna pay anybody to edit so they have apps etc where they can automatically edit your ebook for you. I honestly wouldn't know how to do it myself Do ebooks have to be edited before publishing? I obviously don't wanna pay anybody to edit so they have apps etc where they can automatically edit your ebook for you. I honestly wouldn't know how to do it myself
I actually have a pretty nice printer in my home office, so I did it there, but I believe you can go to Kinkos/FedEx/Staples and they can print for you.
Before hiring an editor, I would say to get some beta readers for feedback. I will probably do a video on beta readers in the near future - I don't have one just yet.