Free Advice for All Writers
Jul. 31st, 2011 02:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lagilmanOne of the things I love about editing – other than the fact that I like working with other people, getting them to the Best Their Story Can Be – is that it teaches/reminds me of shit I need in my toolbox, too.
And so, here’s a useful reminder. When working on a story, always go back and make sure the assumptions you’re working with at the end of the story match the assumptions you used at the beginning of the story. That is, if your main character believes X, and nothing happens to make her change that belief, she should not then believe Y instead, at the end of the story.
It’s not a flaw or a failure to have things change in the process of writing. It IS a failure to not take the time and go back to check and fix.
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Also: contact info on your manuscript is BASIC SUBMISSION PROCEDURE. If you can’t/won’t manage that, you’re giving off Speshul Snowflake vibes, and no editor wants to work with Speshul Snowflakes. They tend to melt down and leave a mess behind.
originally posted at Practical Meerkat: A Blog
And so, here’s a useful reminder. When working on a story, always go back and make sure the assumptions you’re working with at the end of the story match the assumptions you used at the beginning of the story. That is, if your main character believes X, and nothing happens to make her change that belief, she should not then believe Y instead, at the end of the story.
It’s not a flaw or a failure to have things change in the process of writing. It IS a failure to not take the time and go back to check and fix.
————–
Also: contact info on your manuscript is BASIC SUBMISSION PROCEDURE. If you can’t/won’t manage that, you’re giving off Speshul Snowflake vibes, and no editor wants to work with Speshul Snowflakes. They tend to melt down and leave a mess behind.
originally posted at Practical Meerkat: A Blog
