Guest Post - 5 Self-Editing Tips that Will Make Your Book 10 Times Better

Happy WHATEVER, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I have a super special guest post for you all on editing. The fabulous Alicia Rades is going to take you through a number of tips to make your book awesome. Don't forget to give Alicia a follow on all the social media things linked at the end of this post! Ready? Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

 5 Self-Editing Tips that Will Make Your Book 10 Times Better

As authors, we go through a lot of stages of writing. There’s brainstorming, outlining, actually writing the first draft, self-editing, beta reading, more self-editing, repeat, repeat, sending to an actual editor, and so on. I don’t know about you, but for me, self-editing is one of the longest and most stressful stages.

It’s also one of the most satisfying. Seeing your story transform into something better than you imagined is a magical experience. What’s better is that you get the satisfaction of knowing you made that happen.

Self-editing should never be used to replace a professional editor. However, tweaking scenes, improving wording, and catching your own mistakes can all help you make your story better. Here are a couple of techniques I personally use when self-editing my novels.

Take a Breather

The first thing I do is set my manuscript aside. I recommend forgetting about it for at least two weeks. I know. It sounds like torture to not be working on your book. But this strategy allows you to approach your manuscript with a clear mind. Once you start to forget a little of what you wrote, it almost feels like you’re reading someone else’s writing. It makes it so much easier to spot your mistakes.

Focus on One Thing at a Time

Don’t go through your manuscript looking to fix everything at once. Instead, take it in stages. The first time back through it, you might read for plot holes or areas that need clarification. Next, identify unnecessary scenes. Then focus on characters actions and their development throughout the story. Do they act like themselves the whole time? Do they grow from beginning to end?

Once you have the bigger kinks worked out, you can move on to focus on your wording. Is there a better way to describe an action? Do you repeat the same words too often? Are there misspellings that spellcheck didn’t catch, such as “weather” versus “whether”?

That’s not to say you should ignore certain parts if you’re not explicitly looking for them. For example, if you are reading for plot holes but notice a misspelling, feel free to fix it. Just don’t try to fix everything at once or you’ll end up missing too much.

Search for Overused or Misused Words or Phrases

Once I get down to the nitty gritty and start looking for ways to clean up my phrasing, one of the most effective tactics I’ve found is to use the search function. In a Microsoft Word document, there’s a “find” button, or you can click CTRL + F. Then type in the word you know you want to clean up throughout the manuscript.

For example, like many authors, I’m a culprit of using the word “that” far too often. As a general rule, you should only use it provide clarification. Overusing it makes your writing seem somewhat amateurish, and it can pull readers out of the story. So by searching “that” in your document, you can identify areas where it’s needed and where it can be removed.

Don’t stop the search at phrases you tend to overuse. Also take a look at words you tend to misuse. Examples include:

• good/well
• affect/effect
• their/they’re/there
• your/you’re
• lay/lie
• that/which
• further/farther

Read Your Manuscript Aloud

It’s a tedious task, but reading your manuscript aloud is worth it. Doing this makes it easier to catch strange phrasing or repeated information in the story. I personally read each of my books aloud to my husband like an audiobook when we’re in the car together. This gives me a chance to hear mistakes while my husband can give me feedback on the storyline. If you’re not comfortable reading aloud to someone else, it can be just as effective to do it in private.

Don’t Over Edit

As authors, we want the work we send out to the world to be perfect. The reality is that it isn’t going to be perfect because you’re always going to want to change something. And when you’re always changing something, you may end up working backward and hurting your manuscript.

The good news? You can get pretty darn close to perfection! To manage that, though, you eventually need to set down your manuscript and say, “I’m done!” Self-edits are an important part of creating a professional product. They work together with a professional editor to make your story the best it can be. Not only that, but working with an editor can help you become better at self-editing.

Do you have any personal strategies when it comes to self-editing? Tell us your secrets in the comments.

Would you like to follow Alicia? Here are all the stalk links!
Website: aliciaradesauthor.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aliciaradesauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aliciarades
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/aliciarades
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Alicia-Rades/e/B00F9ZFTE8/

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

13 Rules for Stronger Writing

Happy Friday, everyone! Wow, it's the weekend already. I feel like I've missed out on a couple of days in here somehow. Anywho, today is all about making your writing stronger. I have thirteen tips that'll help you keep your writing flowing. Ready? Awesome. Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

No dallying today. Right into it. When examples are given, what you shouldn't do will be in red, what you should do will be in green.

1. Use active voice. Don't use were. Reconstruct your sentences to read as it is. Example: There were fifteen girls standing on the field. Fifteen girls stand on the field.
2. Kill the truth. If reality is blocking, make up new rules. You're writing fiction, after all.
3. Unite common phrases. Things that go together, stay together. Example: Molly lifted her arm and then, with a roar like a lion, she began beating the door. Molly lifted her arm, roared like a lion, and beat the door.
4. Write as you see. When you're writing, think visually about the scene, and use the imagery as fodder.
5. Catch the beat. All writing has a rhythm. You know it. Use it.
6. IT is a horror story. Beware of dangling "it" in your prose. Example: I thought it was strange. I thought the chair scooting across the floor by itself was strange.
7. Sentence structure variation. Don't write the same sentence over and over. Example: I walked into the kitchen. I got a glass from the cabinet. I filled the glass with water, and I drank. I drank it in one gulp. I walked into the kitchen, grabbed a glass, and filled it with water. As thirsty as I was, it went down in one gulp.
8. Marry related words. Keep things together that go together. Example: Henry stared at the float in the pool that was spinning in the middle. Henry stared at the float spinning in the middle of the pool.
9. Allow the reader to infer. Don't over explain. Example: "I'll do anything I can to help," Tina said lovingly. "I'll do anything I can to help," Tina said.
10. Create parallels. Mix some ideas and compare two unrelated things.
11. Kill repetition. Don't use the same word more than once in a paragraph; your reader will feel like they're reading the same sentence again and again.
12. Use one instead of two. If you can delete a word and not lose meaning, do so. Example: A scary, creepy spider is crawling up my leg. A creepy spider is crawling up my leg.
13. Beef up with stronger verbs and concrete nouns. Use these to replace adverbs and adjectives.

I hope you got some good tips today. Any of these that you didn't know?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Book Giveaways in Your Inbox

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I know you all love books, right? That should be why you're checking out my blog. Today I'm gonna tell you about an awesome service INDIE Books Gone Wild offers their clients and give you a link where you can join in the fun. Get your clicking fingers ready and let's get going!

PROMOTION

Why is that such a scary word? Because Indies promote tirelessly. It's really quite a big job to promote one book, let alone two, ten, or fifteen. For that reason, writers rely on having fans; people who know and love the books these Indies write, and folks who'll seek out more once they've tasted something awesome.

(Sign up for IBGW's newsletter here.)

Think about it: Who are your favorite authors?

Betcha have a list of well-known writers alongside those Indies you love, right?

How'd you find them?

Was it through a friend's recommendation, or were you browsing a bookstore one day and happened upon a novel that captured you?

What if you could've tried that new author you grew to love with zero risk?

That's what we're offering you!

Here's the skinny:

IBGW edits and proofreads a book (or a series). Once that book (or books--if we do them all at once) gets published, we set up and run a Rafflecopter giveaway. Entry options are always to give our author a follow on some kind of social media and give IBGW a follow somewhere, somehow. IBGW purchases the books and ships or gifts them to the winner(s).

This accomplishes two things:

1. You get the chance to follow an author you might like
2. Our authors get a little publicity as we build our own audience

We only send out e-mails when one of our authors publishes a new title we've worked on in some way, and an e-mail once a year (in January) as a recap/roundup. While we can't guarantee you'll love every genre and want to enter, or even that you'll love every story our authors produce, we can guarantee you'll find a well-edited (or well formatted, depending on the service we provided) novel. We embed the giveaway form in the e-mail, so all you have to do is click and enter!

When we edit and proofread a book, we give away two digital copies. When we format a print book, we give away one.

So, head on over to our signup form here:

MAILCHIMP

and let the delivery of awesome begin!

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Did you sign up? What kind of genres do you prefer to read?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

A Tiny Comma Trick for Thursday

Happy Thursday, everyone! Today, I'm bringing you a little trick that'll help you keep your commas straight. I'm not talking about the format; this is about where to put those little boogers in your sentences. So grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Commas are a major problem for a lot of authors. Where the heck do they go? Why do they go there?

Here are three common comma issues and how to keep them straight.

A comma to separate two independent clauses joined by and, but, or, so, etc...

If the first part of the segment is a complete sentence, and the second part of the segment is a complete sentence, use a comma. An easy way to check:

Gail went to the store, and she bought everything she needed for dinner.

Separate it:

Gail went to the store. She bought everything she needed for dinner.

Correct.

Gail went to the store, and bought everything she needed for dinner.

Separate it:

Gail went to the store. Bought everything she needed for dinner.

Incorrect.

See how easy that was to check? Now you know.

A comma used to offset a clause.

If you can take the piece out of the sentence and everything still makes sense, surround it with comma love. Example:

I strolled down the boardwalk, my shoelaces slapping at the wood, until I got to the candy shop.

Take out what's inside the commas and see if it makes sense.

I strolled down the boardwalk until I got to the candy shop.

Correct.

I strolled down the boardwalk, to meet Adam, who'd invited me to dinner.

Take out the commas.

I strolled down the boardwalk who'd invited me to dinner.

Incorrect.

Last, but not least, commas for introductory or unneeded words.

If you can remove the word and the sentence still make sense, it gets commas. Last, First, then, too, okay, etc... Example:

Today, I'm bringing you a little trick that'll help you keep your commas straight.

Remove the introductory word.

I'm bringing you a little trick that'll help you keep your commas straight.

Correct.

I wanted to go to the store, too!

Remove the unneeded word.

I wanted to go to the store!

Correct.

I hope that helps.

Did you know these quick tips? Do you struggle with commas?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Collaborating on Google Drive

Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! I promised you this post last week and ended up not doing anything at all. Eeeeew. What can I say? I have my off days, too! *grin* But, as promised, it's a Tuesday and you're getting all the deets. Now, I'm not going into all the things Google Drive can do, because that's a vast amount of information, but I'll explain how it can be used to co-edit a document and a cool feature that's available once you're on the inside. Ready? Cool. Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Once you click on the drive icon from Gmail, you'll see something like this:

You'll want to click the New button (in red) on the top, left-hand side for this exercise. Here:

Now, you'll have a choice to make. Please choose Google Docs like this:

Drive will magically take you here:

Click on the words Untitled Document in the top left:

Type in the name of your new doc in the popup box:

I'm not going into all the menu options today, that's a whole other blog post. But, as you can see, you have a ton of ways to format your document (and it auto-saves your progress):

Now, you need to look on the top right and find the share button:

Once you click it, you get a popup like this:

Start typing a name. If you have them in your Google address book, you'll get a dropdown:

Choose one. Click on the dropdown on the right that says Can edit:

 

These are the options you get:

Be sure Can edit is chosen (it's the default, but...). Now, you've chosen your collaborator, so let's go look at advanced options. Click the button:

You'll see a screen like this:

Pretty self-explanatory, no? Make your choices and send it on. I'm inviting the awesome Casey L. Bond to join us for this tutorial.

Here's where the magic happens! Once your collaborators access the document, they'll have a little icon (based on their Google Drive photo) in the top right, next to your name (Casey's is the cover of her novel, Reap, mine would be my logo):

As they type, their name shows next to the text (this works for each person typing):

They can change options just like you can:

Now, see the little icon next to Casey's?

Click it and select launch chat. This pops up:

It gives you a way to discuss what's being typed in the document as others are editing it without making changes. How cool is that?

Add to the coolness, this document is automatically saved in the main menu of your Drive. You can pop it into a folder, or leave it with all the other stuff you have stored there. The sky's the limit!

I hope this little walkthrough taught you something you didn't know. The power of Google Drive is awesome, and I hope to hear about you guys using it in the future!

Did you learn something? Ever used that feature before? Tell me about it!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Indie-Visible PubHub Launches

Hey writers!

Did you know you can visit Indie-Visible's PubHub to build your own publishing team?

Indie-Visible is giving extra focus to the PubHub side of things and want to give a big shout out to our AWESOME TEAM OF FREELANCERS.

Indie authors can use this list of highly recommended professionals to "Build Their Publishing Team" and gain assistance in all phases of the publishing process. Propel your next book to the heights of success with expert content editing, copy editing, proofreading, cover art, formatting, interior design, and marketing. PubHub has it ALL! In addition to building your team, PubHub also provides ongoing Expert Articles with tips and advice on all phases of publishing, including the business side of being an author. Indie-Visible's goal is provide a one-stop, interactive site for all indie authors seeking assistance, encouragement, and a team to root for them.  

New to Indie-Visible? Check out the Soft Launch Post for a nice overview of what they do. If you haven't yet familiarized yourself with them, I encourage you to head on over to their site, get to know The Literacy League Crew, and subscribe to the two Hubs for tons of fun and informative posts.

If you've been following their posts, THANK YOU!

If you haven't yet subscribed to BookHub or PubHub, you can subscribe on any of their posts, or sign up here.

 Giveaway Alert!

As an added BONUS, if you subscribe to either or both Hubs, you will be automatically entered to WIN a fantastic prize package giveaway from the PubHub that will fulfill any author's dreams! This package will include a day blitz package from Red Coat PR, website design by Starling Magic, book cover art from MaeIDesign, branding from Whit&Ware, and more!

Next Tuesday, there will be an official Giveaway Post with all the pertinent details coming soon. It is something you will not want to miss.

So, what are you waiting for? Go check out Indie-Visible and join me in bringing LITERARY JUSTICE TO ALL!

New Release - Renaria: Into the Adyton

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! I'm so excited to announce this awesome new release from author J. L. Wilson. If you love MMO games, you're gonna freak out over this novel. Heck, even if you don't know what an MMO game is and you just love fantastical creatures like dragons and fairies, you're gonna dig it. So, grab a cup of something warm (because it's hella cold outside), and let's get going!


Without further ado, I bring you the book!

Title: Renaria - Into the Adyton
Author: J. L. Wilson
Genre: YA Fantasy
Length: Around 250 pages
Buy Link: Amazon Kindle $2.99

Synopsis:
A small memento, a universal power...

It’s the year 2126, post-World War V. Leda, age seventeen, bounds through the lush forested region of the Desintor Foothills as a regal, bow-wielding, High-Elf Scout. That is, when she’s logged into her favorite MMO game: Renaria.

One crisp fall afternoon, an unseasonal storm fractures the sky of Trinton, New Texas with splinters of emerald lightning and otherworldly songs. Oddly, no one sees the storm except her brother and their guild mate Travis.

She brushes off the event as a fluke, but she can’t seem to get the song out of her mind. Suddenly, a new quest appears in her game directing her to the blue sand dunes of the Sinare Desert to meet Caleb, a legendary Elf Diviner.

Now she has a choice: Ignore the quest and turn off the game, or dive in and risk everything for a shot at an adventure.

Now that you've seen it, enter to win one of two e-copies!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What do you think? Pretty, huh?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Office 365 - Good, Bad, and Awesome

Happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! Do you remember that post I did a while back on MS Word vs Scrivener? Well, I may have mentioned something about Office 365 playing a huge part in the decision on whether I'd take the leap and learn Scrivener or just stick to MS Word. So, I invested in the Office 365 suite, downloaded the app, and the results are in. If you've been on the fence, this might be the tipping point. Of course, my experience with the program may not mimic yours, so remember to take everything you read (no matter the source) with a grain of salt. Grab your comfy chair, a cup of Jo, and let's get going!

When I saw the editing and portability power of Word in the 365 suite, I knew it would be the game changer for me. I can't begin to tell you how amazing it is to be able to write on my computer, pick up my iPad and go outside to sit with my daughter while she swims and write some more, and then come back in and have the words I wrote magically appear on the screen in my manuscript. Can you say freedom? No longer am I tethered to my desk.

But writing in two different places and having it all sync up is something Evernote could do, right?

Yes.

However...

I'm also an editor (and if you're a writer, you kind of are, too). No other program holds the MS I'm editing, allows me to make inline changes and comments, and keeps it all in a format most people have the program to open (.docx). Best of all, it can also be saved out as a .doc.

Now for the one downside so far:
On my iPad, it's difficult to highlight a specific place in the text because I don't have a mouse. It requires a few more motions to get to where I need to be because of the press/hold/select function. I kinda wish it was adaptable to highlight whatever I hold my finger on without me having to go into select/select all.

But, I can also see how that might be an annoyance. Hello? I just clicked to put the cursor there, not select the word! Right? So, six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Also, I'm not losing as much editing time when I have to hold my finger as I would be if I needed to be chained to my desk to work.

Make sense?

So, the pros outweigh the cons for me. But, allow further elaboration. Here are some screenshots of my WIP in Word 2013 on my iPad (click to enlarge):

Here we have the HOME screen.

You can see, it looks a lot like the traditional Word. No huge learning curve, and nothing to be alarmed about. You won't be able to format your page like you can in Word, but if you take a moment and set it up beforehand, it functions just fine. Or, you can always open on your laptop or desktop and select all and format. It'll save the changes over automatically.


When we click on the INSERT tab at the top, we get this:

It lets you add pictures, shapes, a text box, and all sorts of goodies.

Next up, is LAYOUT:

Just like in the older version of Word, you can change the margins, headers and footers, and numbers.

Then, we have my favorite, REVIEW:

Ahhhh, the power of the editor is here. This screen. You can turn on Track Changes, leave inline corrections, comments in balloons, and do so much more. See that tiny icon in the top right? You can add editors to the document if they have the program. Their edits show up in different colors when you look at the document again. How cool is that?

Last, is VIEW:

This is where you can choose what Word shows you as you write or edit. You know we all love word count! *grin*

Another awesome thing is how this program (on your desktop or mobile device) will take you to the place you left off when you return. It happens automatically on the iPad version, and you just click a ribbon that resembles a bookmark on the desktop version. My app crashed on me one time so far (knock on wood) while I was editing. But the changes were automatically saved as soon as they were made, so I lost nothing. Yeah, awesome.

By the way, the desktop version functions like MS Word 2007. Not a bunch of new stuff to learn before you use it.

Everything is stored in the cloud, and you're giving a ridiculous amount of storage space with the home version (I have 1TB). I mean, will I really ever use a terabyte of storage? I think not.

It is a per-year cost, so consider yourself warned. But every single one of you are writers or editors and will be using it for work, right? Ask your tax rep if you can write it off. My version is Office 365 Personal and will be $70 a year. It includes one desktop and one iPad license.

Anyway, now you have more information and a personal account of this new software. As always, I get no kickbacks from anyone, and there are no affiliate links on this blog. I just tell it like I see it and let you make your own decisions. You can get more information here or do a Google search for Office 365 and go from there.

What do you think? Have you considered changing? Any questions about the software for me?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Dialogue - Keeping it Fresh

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm talking with you about dialogue again. I started writing this post yesterday, but life took over and killed it. Ha! Great how that works, isn't it? But! The kids go back to school soon, so things around the blog will settle down as they were before. Anyway, today we're gonna talk about keeping your dialogue fresh for readability and comprehension. I'll also give you a little exercise to do afterward. Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Let's start with things you shouldn't do.

• Make every line of dialogue begin the same way.
• Break several lines of dialogue in a row with an action.
• Confuse your dialogue tags with action tags.
• Make everyone sound the same.

In keeping your writing fresh, you want to use dialogue, action, and dialect in a way that keeps them harmonious.

Example time!

Shouldn't do:
Pat elbowed her way through the crowd. "Can you believe how many people are here?"
I grabbed her hand before leaning toward her ear. "It's always like this on Friday night!"
Lucy made her way to us and joined the circle. "I'm so excited to be here! I can't believe our parents let us come."
I put my free hand on her shoulder. "This is once in a lifetime, kid."
Music pumped through the speakers, and my insides rattled.

Better:
Pat elbowed her way through the crowd. "Can you believe how many people are here?"
"It's always—" someone jostled me, and I grabbed Pat's hand to lean toward her ear "—like this on Friday night!"
Lucy made her way to us. "I'm so excited to be here, y'all! I can't believe our parents let us come." Her eyes sparkled.
"This is once in a lifetime, kid," I said.
Music pumped through the speakers, and my insides rattled.

Frequent name restatement is often necessary when there are several people in a discussion. Watch your pronouns. Let's look at one more example; then I'll turn you loose with an exercise.

Shouldn't do:
"I wanted to go to the store with Mommy," Lisa whined.
Her father's mouth turned down. He said, "You didn't want to stay with me?"
She crossed her arms and shook her head.
"I thought maybe we could play your favorite," he said, pulling out Chutes and Ladders.
She clapped her hands and said, "Yay! Yes, Daddy. I want to play."
"But you wanted to go to the store with Mommy," he teased.
"I was just kidding," she said.
He roared with laughter.

Better:
"I wanted to go to the store with Mommy." Lisa threw her tiny figure face-down on the couch.
Her father frowned. "You don't want to stay with me?"
She rolled over, crossed her arms, and shook her head.
"I thought maybe we could play your favorite," he said.
When Lisa saw the Chutes and Ladders game in his hands, she clapped. "Yay! Yes, Daddy. I wanna play."
"But you wanted to go to the store with Mommy."
"I was just kidding."
He roared with laughter.

Not only is the second passage easier to read, it's correctly punctuated. Remember to ditch the dialogue tag when giving the character an action. If you use a dialogue tag, there should be no action. Change it up so it doesn't get stale. No one wants to read: he said, she said, he said, he said, she said over and over again.

Time for your exercises!

#1:
Write a few quick paragraphs of dialogue with four characters: Paul, Mike, Anna, and Frank. Start each sentence the same way, pay no attention to punctuation, and no attention to pronoun usage.

Use the tips above and this post to correct your writing. Feel free to send it to me if you want someone to check it.

#2:
Using the ideas above, craft one line of dialogue for each of the following:

1. Starts with an action, ends with dialogue.
2. Uses a dialogue tag at the beginning.
3. Uses a dialogue tag at the end.
4. Break the dialogue with an action.
5. Stars with dialogue, ends with action.
6. No dialogue tag; no action tag.
7. Interrupted speech (remember your em-dash!)
8. Trailing off of speech (don't forget the ellipsis!)
9. Starts with action, then has dialogue, then another action

You may feel free to post your attempts in the comments below.

What do you think? Helpful?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Reversal Word

Happy Thursday, good people of the blogosphere! As you can probably tell, I'm going into word reversal in novels today. What the heck am I talking about? Well, I'm not gonna beat around the bush. Grab your pens and notebooks, slurp up that coffee, and let's get going!

When I say word reversal, what I mean is using the difficult path to convey an idea to your reader. One of the things I do when I'm editing is check readability. Your words should flow for the eyeballs moving over the page. One of the acronyms I love is:

K. I. S. S.

It means: Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Never speak over your reader's head (we know you're smart, but making someone feel stupid isn't a good idea), and try not to reverse your words. If you do, be on the lookout for awkward sentences in your first round of edits.

Time for some examples!

Rob looked at me, and I inwardly cringed.

First off, you don't need that adverb. Taking it out would simplify the sentence and make it more reader friendly. But let's say we want to leave it in there. As an editor, I try to apply a lighter hand when suggesting changes. I'll suggest a blanket change to remove most of the adverbs when I run across the first one. Mentioning it again becomes cumbersome. If the author enjoys adverbs and I leave this sentence alone (thinking it'll be fixed later), I'm doing them a disservice. Why? Because it will read/flow better if the action precedes the modifier. That's my job. There are two possible fixes if we leave in the adverb:

I cringed inwardly when Rob looked at me.
Rob looked at me, and I cringed inwardly.

Put the action first.

Here's another one that needs some rearranging:

I'd heard about the relationship being messed up between them, but I knew it wasn't also damaged on my side.

A small move will make a big difference. Like this:

I'd heard about the relationship being messed up between them, but I also knew it wasn't damaged on my side.

Make sense?

Yes, there's always more than one way to fix a sentence. Remember to KISS your reader, and you'll be fine.

When in doubt, read it out!

Do you ever catch yourself making those kinds of mistakes?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Love Giveaways with a Guarantee of a Great Read?

Happy Friday, everyone! As you all know by now, I'm a member over at INDIE Books Gone Wild. Well, we've just had a brilliant idea to get the books by our authors into your hands with greater ease. As you know, we do a little promotion and giveaway of our authors' books (at no extra cost to them) at the end of every edit, formatting job, or proofread.

Well, here's how we're doubling the exposure for our authors, and providing great books to readers:

Every time we list a giveaway on the IBGW blog, we'll shoot our readers an e-mail with the rafflecopter link and details about the book. No more having to keep an eye on the blog to know when another great title has just hit the shelves!

Besides that one e-mail every now and again, you'll get a message every January that recaps the previous year's publications. We won't bug you about anything else, sell your e-mail address, or spam you. No crazy marketing stuff, just books by our authors we know you'll enjoy winning (and reading).

As you may be aware, we're planning to add six new editors to our amazing team! Details about those lovely ladies will come on the IBGW blog next week and the week after. Keep your eyes peeled! This is going to be amazing. I've searched the web to find editors who have a love for the finished product and adoration for their clients. I think you'll all be extremely pleased to get to know them, work with them, and add them to your "go to" editor list. Their way of thinking melds well with ours, and I think you'll all love them as much as we do.

Time to give you that link!

MailChimp signup for INDIE Books Gone Wild Publishing News

If you're one of our authors, signing up for that e-mail will let you know when your giveaway is live.

What do you think? Did you sign up?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Tia Silverthorne Bach - Guest Post

Happy, happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I have a super special guest post for you all from my sister from another mister, Tia Silverthorne Bach. She's got some awesome advice for you. At the end of this post, you'll find two things: A Rafflecopter entry form for a chance to win Tia's book, Chasing Shadows, and the winner(s) of my personal share contest for the author interview series I didn't tell anyone I was running. Sometimes, I like to surprise people by doing something they didn't know was planned. I kept a spreadsheet of each share, retweet, post, and comment on every interview I did. Only the people directly involved in the interviews were eligible to win a prize. I wanted them to be organic with their shares, and not be doing it with the hopes of winning anything. An unexpected prize is the best kind you can receive, in my humble opinion. Isn't that lovely? Anyway, kick back, relax, and get your read on! I now give the floor to Tia.

Squashing the Bugs

by Tia Silverthorne Bach

UtopYA is less than a week away!

Thanks to the alien theme this year, I’ve had all kinds of creatures on the brain: everything from the kind ET to the gross bug-alien from Men in Black.

Bugs gross me out. I could be having a perfect picnic on a beautiful summer day, but it’s over if I see a bug. That’s the same way I feel if I see constant errors in an otherwise amazing novel.

Yes, I managed to go from bugs (and an alien theme) to editing mistakes. It’s a gift.

So, what’s a writer to do?

Read Out Loud
Not only will you catch mistakes (left out words, poorly written sentences, misused words), but it’s also an excellent tool for discovering and fixing awkward dialog.

Simplify
Have you ever struggled with a long sentence that becomes a punctuation nightmare? It might be time to simplify. Either break the sentence into two shorter ones or write a tighter, less wordy, sentence.

Search & Find
Every writer has words they overuse. When you are done with your manuscript, do a search and find for your problems (e.g., just, that, all, and ly words). It’s also a great tool to make sure character names are spelled consistently. Then, as you edit, mark down overused words outside the initial search. Then, it’s time to hit the Thesaurus and make some changes. Which brings me to…

Internet
Don’t forget to use this valuable tool when editing. On the first read through, mark any issues which require an Internet search and then go back through and do them all at once. If you go to the Internet with each question, at least if you are like me, you’ll end up distracted. Use the Internet to check spellings, punctuation rules (Grammar Girl is a great source), and other references. Example: Is it Crock Pot or crock pot?

Hire a Professional
Yes, even after all of the suggestions above. You are too familiar with your own work to find everything. At the very least, please hire a proofreader. When I proofread, I will usually do a full edit of the first chapter or so many pages to show the author what it would look like. Whether you get a full edit or a proofread, you really need a trained pair of eyes on your hard work.

Now, go squash some bugs!

Can’t wait to see everyone at UtopYA.

*No bugs were harmed in the writing of this post. If squashing bothers you, feel free to imagine catching the bugs, putting them in a glass jar, and setting them free.*

~ Tia Silverthorne Bach

That was an awesome post. Guess what? It's gonna stay up as the top post until the end of the con. I'll be back next Monday with a goodies post about what I saw and learned at the con.

Why not give Tia a follow on these social media sites?
Pinterest: TiaSBach
Google+: Tia Bach
Goodreads: Tia Silverthorne Bach
Website: Tia Bach

As promised, here's the Rafflecopter entry form!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now for a very cool little add-on to my author interview series!

As I posted, tweeted, shared, and shouted about these authors from the rooftops, there were three people who helped me out at every turn. Because I'm a crazy author, I decided early on to award prizes for the person who shared the most. Well, turns out there were three people who really embraced the Indie author code and shared their butts off. Who are they and what did they win?

Well...

First prize (a $50 Amazon gift card): Casey L. Bond
I swear, every time I turned around, I was thanking her for retweeting, sharing on Facebook, or sharing on other media. She was really a force to be reckoned with. Thank you for all you do, Casey!

Second and Third prizes (a $25 Amazon gift card): Carlyle Labuschagne and N. L. Greene
These ladies did a ton of sharing. Not only of their own posts and interviews, but of other authors' as well. Thank you both so very much for spreading the Indie love!

I'll be handing out these fab prizes at UtopYA.

I can't wait to see you all!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Pronouns in Dialogue

Happy Thursday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm gonna talk to you about pronouns in dialogue and how they impact the way you use them outside speech. I've been over pronouns twice thus far, but this little tidbit needs to be added. I didn't want to confuse everyone by putting this information in with the other pronoun posts, so I'm making one all its own. Grab your pens and notebooks and join me for a quick lesson! Warning! This post seems long, but it's a lot of the same stuff written over and over again. A necessary evil, I'm afraid.

Remember, your pronouns are: he, him, she, it, its, they, their, them, they're, hers, and his.

Now, when you're writing a scene, the pronoun refers to the last person or thing named.

Learn more here and here.

There are caveats to this, though. First, when we speak, we usually don't use pronouns the right way. For example:
"Lisa told me last night Mel owes her money and isn't sure when she's gonna pay her back."

What a mess that is, right? But it makes sense when someone speaks that way. Why? Because that's what we're used to hearing. We get that Mel owes Lisa money and Lisa isn't sure when Mel is going to return said money. But to write the dialogue with proper pronouns, we'd have to rearrange it like this:
"Lisa told me last night she isn't sure when Mel's gonna pay back the money she owes."

That's okay, too, by the way; but don't beat yourself up over pronouns in dialogue. Above all else, you want speech to sound natural, not forced. So, pronouns in speech aren't something you need to be super vigilant about. Let it flow.

Second, when you're creating dialogue and you mention a name, you need to remove the speech to see who your pronoun is actually referring to. Also, the pronouns in speech are separate from the ones in text. This gets tricky, but I'll do my best to show you a couple of examples:
Susie looked at Byron and drummed her fingers on the desktop. "So, you're saying Lisa doesn't really like Mark?"
"That's what I'm saying. She's just using him to have a date to prom."
She gasped. "That's horrible!"
"You know how she is. How does that surprise you?" His eyebrow lifted and a smirk found its way onto his lips.
"I just never thought she'd be so crass." Her mouth turned down and her eyes shifted away. "It doesn't do to hurt people. Mel let it drop the other day that she thought her intentions weren't honorable. I just didn't believe her."
"Well, I'm telling you now, she's planning to make a big scene and leave him looking like an idiot at the end of the night." His hand found its way to hers in an attempt to offer comfort.
Sighing, she moved closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

Okay, now, you can see the mess we'd have if we followed traditional pronoun examples and tried to have everything include the dialogue. How do you check it? Like this:

#1 Delete the dialogue and highlight the pronouns.
Susie looked at Byron and drummed her fingers on the desktop. "So, you're saying Lisa doesn't really like Mark?"
"That's what I'm saying. She's just using him to have a date to prom."
She gasped. "That's horrible!"
"You know how she is. How does that surprise you?" His eyebrow lifted and a smirk found its way onto his lips.
"I just never thought she'd be so crass." Her mouth turned down and her eyes shifted away. "It doesn't do to hurt people. Mel let it drop the other day that she thought her intentions weren't honorable. I just didn't believe her."
"Well, I'm telling you now, she's planning to make a big scene and leave him looking like an idiot at the end of the night." His hand found its way to hers in an attempt to offer comfort.
Sighing, she moved closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

#2 Rewrite it.
Susie looked at Byron and drummed Susie's fingers on the desktop.

Susie gasped.
Byron's eyebrow lifted and a smirk found a smirk's way onto Byron's lips.
Susie's mouth turned down and Susie's eyes shifted away.
Byron's hand found Byron's hand's way to Susie's in an attempt to offer comfort.
Sighing, Susie moved closer to Byron and rested Susie's head on Byron's shoulder.

We know the passage is correct, because it reads like it's supposed to. If it didn't, we'd need to fix it.


Dialogue is independent of the text providing support. Is it possible to fix the pronoun issues in the dialogue? Yes. It can be done easily, but watch for forced speech. You don't wanna take something that works and tweak it until it sounds, well, tweaked. *grin* Proceed with caution.

One more example, and I'll let you go for the day. This time, we'll use four speakers and I'll make errors. See if you can find them before I go to the correction phase. GAME ON!

Lisa slapped Mark's hand before taking it in her own and tugging. "You're so silly sometimes. Let's go find Susie and Byron."
He grinned at her, loving the way she gave him love taps now and then, and let her pull him along.
"Lisa! Hey, girl. What are you guys up to?" Her speech was slurred and her eyes glassy.
"Sorry, guys, she's had a little bit to drink." Byron supported Susie with one arm while balancing two cups in the hand on the other.
She put her hands on her hips. "Aren't you gonna share?" One hand flew out, knocking the drinks off their perches. "There's Mel!"
"Lisa!"
"What?"
"You have zero class, you know that?"
"Oh, come on. Stop being such a ninny. Not my fault your girlfriend's sloshed. Would you look at her? I wonder where she got that dress?" She took off in Mel's direction without offering an apology.
Mark shrugged. "Sorry about that. She's kinda rude sometimes."
Glaring in her direction, he snorted. "Kinda rude? Sometimes? She's extremely rude always."
Feeling his face turn red, his mind began to wonder if he should punch the guy out to defend his girlfriend's honor. Deciding against it, he shrugged and started after her; anger boiling beneath the surface.

Ready? GO!

Done yet?

How about now?

Okay, your time's up. My turn! I'll show you why the passage is wrong, then correct it. Four steps this time.

#1: Remove dialogue
Lisa slapped Mark's hand before taking it in her own and tugging. "You're so silly sometimes. Let's go find Susie and Byron."
He grinned at her, loving the way she gave him love taps now and then, and let her pull him along.
"Lisa! Hey, girl. What are you guys up to?" Her speech was slurred and her eyes glassy.
"Sorry, guys, she's had a little bit to drink." Byron supported Susie with one arm while balancing two cups in the hand on the other.
She put her hands on her hips. "Aren't you gonna share?" One hand flew out, knocking the drinks off their perches. "There's Mel!"
"Lisa!"
"What?"
"You have zero class, you know that?"
"Oh, come on. Stop being such a ninny. Not my fault your girlfriend's sloshed. Would you look at her? I wonder where she got that dress?" She took off in Mel's direction without offering an apology.
Mark shrugged. "Sorry about that. She's kinda rude sometimes."
Glaring in her direction, he snorted. "Kinda rude? Sometimes? She's extremely rude always."
Feeling his face turn red, his mind began to wonder if he should punch the guy out to defend his girlfriend's honor. Deciding against it, he shrugged and started after her; anger boiling beneath the surface.

#2 Highlight the pronouns
Lisa slapped Mark's hand before taking it in her own and tugging.
He grinned at her, loving the way she gave him love taps now and then, and let her pull him along.
Her speech was slurred and her eyes glassy.
Byron supported Susie with one arm while balancing two cups in the hand on the other.
She put her hands on her hips. One hand flew out, knocking the drinks off their perches.
She took off in Mel's direction without offering an apology.Mark shrugged
Glaring in her direction, he snorted.
Feeling his face turn red, his mind began to wonder if he should punch the guy out to defend his girlfriend's honor. Deciding against it, he shrugged and started after her; anger boiling beneath the surface.

#3 Replace the pronouns
Lisa slapped Mark's hand before taking Mark's hand in Lisa's own and tugging.
Mark grinned at Lisa, loving the way Lisa gave Mark love taps now and then, and let Lisa pull Mark along.
Lisa's speech was slurred and Lisa's eyes glassy.
Byron supported Susie with one arm while balancing two cups in the hand on the other.
Susie put Susie's hands on Susie's hips. One hand flew out, knocking the drinks off the drinks' perches.
Susie took off in Mel's direction without offering an apology.Mark shrugged
Glaring in Mel's direction, Mark snorted.
Feeling Mark's face turn red, Mark's mind began to wonder if Mark should punch the guy out to defend the guy's girlfriend's honor. Deciding against defending honor, the guy shrugged and started after the guy's girlfriend; anger boiling beneath the surface.

#4 Repair
Lisa slapped Mark's hand before taking it in her own and tugging. "You're so silly sometimes. Let's go find Susie and Byron."
He grinned at her, loving the way she gave him love taps now and then, and let her pull him along.
"Lisa! Hey, girl. What are you guys up to?" Susie's speech was slurred and her eyes glassy.
"Sorry, guys, she's had a little bit to drink." Byron supported her with one arm while balancing two cups in the hand on the other.
Lisa put her hands on her hips. "Aren't you gonna share?" One hand flew out, knocking the drinks off their perches. "There's Mel!"
"Lisa!"
"What?"
"You have zero class, you know that?"
"Oh, come on. Stop being such a ninny. Not my fault your girlfriend's sloshed. Would you look at Mel? I wonder where she got that dress?" She took off in Mel's direction without offering an apology.
Mark shrugged. "Sorry about that. She's kinda rude sometimes."
Glaring in Lisa's direction, Byron snorted. "Kinda rude? Sometimes? She's extremely rude always."
Mark felt his face turn red, and his mind began to wonder if he should punch the guy out to defend Lisa's honor. Deciding against it, Mark shrugged and started after her; anger boiling beneath the surface.

Blue marks what I changed to make the passage correct. I know it seems like a lot of work; but if you take the time to learn how to recognize these things, it'll become second nature and move fast.

How about you? Did you get anything out of this post? How many errors did you find in the example?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Dialogue Traps to Avoid and How to Fix Them

Happy Monday, everyone! I do hope you all had a fabulous weekend and are raring to go for the week ahead. Today, I'd like to talk a little bit about dialogue traps many authors fall into and how you can pull yourself from the quagmire of quicksand that's sucking you down. These are things I find in many of the books I edit, and the author usually does a little head slap once I point out what's going wrong. Grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going! Be sure and check out the link to some dialogue exercises near the end of this post.

One of my most popular posts, He Said, She Said, Who Said What?, goes into ways to keep the local vernacular true to the characters. It uses extremes, but I did it to make a point.

Let's expand upon that and talk about how to keep the speech true to humans.

In I, Zombie, I used dialogue to help pull the reader into the culture. Some people enjoyed it, some didn't. However, it's true to the location and that's what I was after. Bronya, book one of the Mystic series, is also set in Southern Louisiana, but I chose not to use the local dialect. I both loved and hated that aspect of the book, but it's a choice an author has to make.

Note what I said there: Choice. It's up to you how your characters will speak, but the key to doing anything well is consistency. I know, there's that word yet again! Remember when I talked about creating a style guide for your novel? If your characters are gonna talk a certain way, be sure you're consistent. Your style guide will help you (and your editor) do that.

Now, a few things to keep in mind when characters are speaking to one another:

• You don't always have to use a dialogue tag (said, mumbled, asked, answered, etc...), an action tag (Sabrina put her feet up on the couch, Luke took a long drink of his coffee, Pig plopped his big, round bottom down, etc...) will work as well.
• There's no need to name the character the one speaking is talking to unless: There are more than two characters in the room and he/she is speaking to someone out of the group specifically, or there's no action tag like: Pig looked at Sabrina.
• When a character uses another character's name in speech, it sounds like a lecture or like one is lording their superiority over the other. Think about how you speak and when you use someone's name.
• We speak in contractions unless we're speaking formally (old English, Historically, etc...). Use them. It'll help. Remember to practice writing in contractions everywhere, not just in your novels. If a character doesn't use contractions, be consistent and don't ever use them. One day, you'll thank me. *wink*
• Watching the rename will help with pronouns. Time for an example! 

If we know Pig and Luke are having a discussion, it might go like this: 
Pig looked at Luke. "So, you're saying I didn't need to sit?"
He answered, "That's exactly what I'm saying."
His tail uncurled and his ears drooped. "I thought I was being good."
This is wrong, wrong, wrong. It creates a pronoun problem. Either you have to rename Pig (which gets irritating to readers if it's done too often) or remove Luke. We know who Pig is talking to because the scene has been set.

How about: 
Pig looked up. "So, you're saying I didn't need to sit?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying."
His tail uncurled and his ears drooped. "I thought I was being good."
Note that Pig was the last male named so the pronoun his is used correctly. There was no need to rename Pig or worry that we couldn't use the pronoun his after we named Luke.

Please, know your action tags and your dialogue tags. Here's a post that will help with that. Some get commas and others get periods. Be sure you're varying what you use. Dingle said, Pig said, Sabrina said, Luke said, Howey said, Dog said, gets redundant and boring after a while. If it's obvious who said it, leave it alone. If you must give a name, use an action tag now and then.

Are you ready to practice flexing your dialogue muscles? Here's the fifth post in a series with links to the previous four: Dialogue Exercises. There are fifteen practice scenarios for you to use. Have some fun, okay?

Did you know these loose rules? Do the examples above help at all?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

What Kind of Editor do You Need?

Happy Thursday, good people of the blogosphere! I missed my post yesterday! But, it's all good because I'm caught up with work and back to one hundred percent. Kids are back in school, there's no snow days causing my internet to malfunction (you wouldn't believe how slow it is when the whole neighborhood is home and online!), and I'm back in my office after being run out by the cold. So nice! Anyway, today we're gonna talk about the different kinds of editors and how to decide which one is right for you. So, grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

You've written a novel! Yay! Good for you. Now you have this manuscript you don't know what to do with. Well, first things first. You need to do at least four rounds of edits on it yourself. Start by following the steps listed here and the tips on what to look for here. Once you're done with that, then you'll be ready to start looking for an editor. But there are so many to choose from. Hopefully, this list will help you choose the right kind for your novel. Heck, you may think you need more than one. Allow me to open your eyes to a fabulous secret! But, that's on down the page. Keep reading!

First up, we have the Developmental Editor.
These guys will check your plot, structure, and flow. They'll make sure you don't have holes in your story and ensure your facts are kept straight. Yeah, they're the ones doing all the research and making copious notes on long, yellow legal pads. They're the right choice if you aren't sure about your novel's storyline, character building, or facts.

Next, I give you the Beta Reader.
These folks are fans of your genre and know what they're looking for in a story. Giving them a questionnaire to answer will help them give you much needed feedback. Commonly, a beta reader is used before you go through a ton of editing, but huge errors will have them complaining that you need to write your story better.

On to the Copy Editor.
These folks check facts, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. They do exactly what their title implies: edit the copy. They won't be looking for what the Developmental Editor looks for. There will be no plot, storyline, or character development checking. They live and breathe the written line.

Now, the Proofreader.
Your proofreader is NOT your editor. They exist to find those little, niggling errors missed by your editor (and yourself). Their whole purpose in life is to make sure your copy is clean and error free after the editing is done. It shouldn't take them as long as it did your editor because they should be able to skim your work to find what was missed.

Next up is the Content Editor.
They live and breathe plot, characters, voice, and setting. These folks don't give a hoot about your grammar, punctuation, spelling, or otherwise. All they care about is the story and making sure you aren't jumping tenses, head-hopping, or meandering off the storyline.

Bet you're freaking out right about now, huh? I suppose you can see how you could need more than one of these folks for your novel and how it would behoove you to have them all in your corner. Well, that leads me to the last (but certainly not least) type of editor on the list. This is the fabulous secret I mentioned earlier. Your secret weapon.

I give you the Line Editor.
These folks do it all. They check facts, grammar, punctuation, POV, plot, characterization, flow, tension, storyline, word count, redundancy, tenses, and every other manner of novel content. It should take them a long time to edit your novel. They don't play around and a lot of writers become dismayed by the amount of feedback given by a Line Editor.

Line Editors will cost you a little bit more. But, that's understandable, right? They're a one-stop shop. This is the service we provide at INDIE Books Gone Wild. We check it all. Your MS will have so many comments, you'll think you died and went to heaven. Plus, we hire one of our own to do your proofread after your edits are complete (yeah, it's included in the cost of editing). That's just good business.

Which one do you need? I'm sure by now you're foaming at the mouth. You already know. Indie authors should expect to use a Line Editor and then a Proofreader. ***Warning! If your proofreader gets your MS and it's obvious it hasn't been edited, they'll send it back to you (and will have every right to do so). So be sure you've used an Editor before you contact a Proofreader.***

Most importantly, be sure you know about your editor; no matter what kind you use. Vet them. Do the work to find out if they're worth it. Don't get snowed. Refer to Monday's post and Tuesday's post to know what to ask, what to expect, and what to look for in your contract. This is SO important. I won't take it personally if you don't use IBGW. I just want you to be careful and know what you're getting into.

I can't stress it enough. Watch your back because you're all you have. There's no big publishing house that's gonna do it for you unless you're traditionally published.

Questions? Comments? Pop them in below and I'll answer everything I can. If you have an editor you'd like vetted, feel free to shoot me an e-mail and I'll do everything in my power to check them out for you. Let's not use the comments section for that, okay?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo