Don’t Shoot the Editor

angry author anger-18658_640We all love to complain, especially when those complaints are generic. It fills a certain need, I think. Perhaps it gives a sense of belonging, of oneness or agreement with others. Among writers some of those darts are aimed at editors.

Those who do not write, I think, mostly read for pleasure and tend to be more forgiving of a certain number of editing errors in what they read. As long as the book flows, holds their attention, and entertains them, they are willing to overlook some weaknesses.

That changes when readers become writers. I know, because it happened to me. Other writers tell me it is the same for them. We notice every spelling error, every bit of missing or incorrect punctuation, every overused word. While we disagree on what we enjoy reading, the one thing we do tend to agree on is that books must be well (read perfectly) edited before being offered to the public – to readers, including us. Continue reading “Don’t Shoot the Editor”

Most Common Manuscript Mistakes

Author K. S. Brooks
Author K. S. Brooks

I’ve been honored a number of times to participate in a Novel Writing Contest as a Top Tier Judge. During those contests, I’ve seen a lot of manuscripts. Some showed good promise and strong writing skills. Others made me want to stab myself repeatedly rather than read further. In most cases, these authors all made the same mistakes, the most common of which I’ve listed below.

A good editor would pick up on these bad habits. If you don’t have the luxury of hiring an editor, then you should pay special care to avoiding the list below. (Even if you do hire an editor, avoiding these pitfalls will make their job easier.) And now, in no particular order, I present to you the “Most Common Manuscript Mistakes.” Continue reading “Most Common Manuscript Mistakes”