Before an editor sees your work

What happens to a rough draft?

• If the editor is working for a prospective publisher, it's going to go back to you with little of it read - or it will land in the trash if there's no SASE.

• If you're paying an editor by the hour, you'll spend more money as they fix things you could have done yourself.

• If you're paying a per-word or flat rate, they'll deal with minor technicalities and give you less in-depth advice.

Even if you've hired a developmental editor, you want the manuscript to read easily so they can focus on the larger picture. Before an editor sees your work, make sure it's your very best effort.

Before an editor sees your work:

Look at comparable work.

Look at work meant for the same audience to understand what is expected for the genre and general conventions:

• Fiction: What's the usual length? How is the story structured? Are there elements that seem to be in every story? What kind of ending is the norm?

• Non-fiction: How is the information presented? Are there particular formats, charts, visuals? Are there footnotes? Bibliographies? What kind of language is used - is it appropriate for your intended audience?

Participate in a good critique group and/or find good beta readers.

This needs to be people who will give you honest feedback. If possible, some of them should be familiar with the genre of fiction or the subject matter of non-fiction. If they spot places the story doesn't fit expectations - listen to them!

Read Your Work – Out Loud

I work with several critique groups. Some of them have us email pages ahead of the meeting and we come prepared to dive right into discussion. Others, we each bring a (usually smaller) number of pages to be read on the spot—often out loud. While it’s possible to get more work critiqued with the mail-ahead groups, I really like reading a story out loud. As I read, I often make my own corrections as I hear a word repeated unnecessarily or realize I missed writing a word. I also read pieces aloud before I submit them. It’s amazing how many times I’ll catch one last typo in a work that’s been polished.

It makes sense, though. Teachers are encouraged to use multi-modality instruction because we learn through all of our senses. While we write, we’re using primarily vision, along with the tactile and kinesthetic senses used with the keyboard or pen. If we only use our vision to edit the work, we’re more likely to miss errors. By reading aloud, we add our auditory sense and move the kinesthetic experience from hand to mouth. Because we’re changing the senses used, errors stand out more vividly. Especially if a sentence is worded awkwardly, or meaning is not clear, or the wrong word has been used, it will be heard more readily than seen.

Especially if you are a new writer, read your work out loud before you submit it to a critique group, contest, or publisher.

www.sherimcguinn.com www.amazon.com/author/sherimcguinn

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Critique Groups – Key Elements

I was extremely lucky in my first critique group. Running Away was losing agent interest in the first pages. I read it to the group and they unanimously proclaimed I’d started in the wrong place. They were absolutely right!

The best critique group is going to include people with diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and skills. They’re going to be supportive of each other, even when they’re giving negative feedback. Every person will leave the meeting energized.

Aside from that, there are a lot of different ways critique groups may work. Here are a few variations.

Sheri McGuinn I write. www.sherimcguinn.com www.amazon.com/author/sherimcguinn

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