Tag: beta readers

The Five Writing Mistakes I Made and Found Out About When the Second Copyeditor Worked on My Novel.

Posted on by

In a previous blog I wrote about the costly mistakes I made when I self-published my first book. In that article I wrote about my lack of attention to detail, poor research and my impatience. This article I will concentrate on the five things I learn while having the wrong Copyeditor and what it is to be having the copyeditor that works best with you. 

In the case of the Copyeditor, their function is basically to review your manuscript and correct it for readability, fitness for its purpose, accuracy, free vocabulary, some inconsistencies of names and numbers, fact finding, and repetitions of sentences. Having said this I’ll go into the five things I learn when I went from having a Copyeditor that did not work well with me and another that did.

The things I leaned were, some of my characters lacked a unique Voice, I lacked a steady pace, I lost my readers, head hopping, and I didn’t listen. So, I will go one by one and I will tell you what happened and I will assume all my responsibility for my own actions. I am a big girl, retired Army Officer. I know how to be accountable.

Unique Voice

So, I wrote my story and I was proud of my first-born novel. And like every parent, you can’t see when the kid is ugly as a kick at midnight. If you read my first blog you will see I had two copyeditors one was okay the other is great. The okay editor did not tell me that my novel needed the literary version of orthodontic braces. My characters although they were not flat, some needed to have a unique voice. I have made the mistake of writing a multitude of characters and because I needed to do some heavy worldbuilding in the story I sacrificed adding that special something to some of the characters. I didn’t even notice until my second editor pointed out when she read the story as a beta reader even before she took on the book as a line-copyeditor.

Steady Pace

I lacked a Steady pace throughout the story. This is something that a developmental editor will let you know. However, the developmental editor I hired did not point it out but my line-copyeditor did mention and I had to make adjustments. My story was poorly divided. It had a crazy partition of events and I did not follow the 3 act structure in storytelling, because of that the story was broken in pieces and the pace wasn’t sequential. Either people love the story or hate the story, and many times the people that hate the story is because are not used to the jumping from one sequence of events to another, I wish people would give it a try and continue reading to the second book, that is where things start to blend. But that story is already published and now is too late to make a first impression. 

I Lost My Readers

I lost my readers and I blame myself. They got lost in the multitude of side plots that make the whole of the story. My Copyeditor pointed out that I managed very eloquently to lose my reader in the development of this very large story. I wasn’t successful in presenting a story that had a multiple character living thing at the same time that in the end were relevant to end in this final event. 

So, in my impetus I came short. In reality, the intent was to tell a story as if it was a group of friends telling a story or showing a story and all have a unique perspective of what happened. But I failed in a megalithic way. This is the reason why you need to find the right editor to work with you and your manuscript.

Head Hopping

This is a cardinal sin. I did not know I was head hopping until it was pointed out to me by my copyeditor. Again, this is something a Developmental Editor will pick up and mention, but it went unmentioned. Now there are many copies of my book with this issue. As much as I want to go back and fix the head hopping or going from the point of view of one character to the point of view of another within the same section, I can’t go back and do this. Maybe in the future, I’ll create a third edition of the book and I correct these errors. However, all I can do now is move forward and learn from my mistakes.  I made this mistake because I did not do my research and study the art of writing and thought writing a book was as easy as a walk in the park. 

I did not Listen

The worst mistake I made was that I did not listen to good advice. I know I should have waited and polished my manuscript until it was in a better shape to be published. However, I was full of myself, stubborn and did not listen when I was told to wait. Many times, we just want to see our work in print and we cut corners. Some of us think because we are English teachers or took many English courses in college we can write well and don’t need an editor. For some of us writers we are in a budget and affording an editor is an expense. But I will tell you, that it is an expense that will pay off if you find one that work well with you.

Final words

I learned many other things in the process of publishing my first book. And I have many pet peeves and one of them is when I hear people say oh this happen to you but it is not your fault. Well, if you read this and decided to make the same mistakes I did, then it will be all your fault. In the end, the way you can go about to avoid these mistakes is by educating yourself. Do your homework. Read books on creative writing and style, revise your work, find a beta reader and most importantly find the Editor that works with you and is willing to listen to you and you are ready to listen to him or her.

 In the next I’ll write about what I do when I get writers block.

The Five Costly Mistakes I Made When I Wrote and Self-Published My First Book.

Posted on by

What a tragic title?

Well, they were costly mistakes for me, because they have prevented my book from receiving top reviews. I must be honest and admit what is clear to me. My mistakes have made it near impossible for my series to move forward in sales and my second and third book has had no reviews and dismal sales. All in all, anyone that reads my book and knows anything about structure and flow can see my mistakes. Although I have fixed many of them in the second edition of my book.

However, I will spell them out here for you, my top five in the hopes you learn from my mistakes and can avoid the chasm of the deathly mistakes. On the other hand, I will give an idea or two on how to avoid these mistakes but they are not exclusive, and there are many others.

1.   I Did Not Do All My Research

I had a great story. I created a character arc for all the main characters and secondary characters of importance. I developed the world and created a back story. I made a map to trace all the action and created a glossary of invented words. I thought I had covered all my bases. Like Moliere’s said, “A learned fool is more a fool than an ignorant fool.” I forgot to do my research in topics like voice, Point of View and plot continuity, to name a few. I made a cardinal sin. I rushed and made a deadly mistake. So, I wrote a story that in my mind had a structured flow, but in reality, it was hard for my readers to follow. Moreover, I learned that after the book was published. Bad Omy, bad, mia culpa. I could have picked up that issue by having my book read by Beta reads. But I could not find any, so that was another problem. However, we will discuss that issue in a later post.

2.   I Did Not Check the Document Twice.

Everyone that celebrates Christmas know the “Santa Clause is Coming to Town” song and the verse that says “He’s Making a List, Checking it Twice.” Well, I did not check my manuscript twice. It was my very first book, and I was so full of myself that I thought, my words were gospel. Plus, I was going to send the book to the Developmental Editor, and any mistake in my manuscript was going to be detected by the Editor. “Oh, Wrong I was, Again. Rush, I did, again” The Force wasn’t with me at all, because I had done deadly mistake number one. Then I rolled into mistake number two, and now I was drowning in my ignorance.

3.   I Chose the Wrong Developmental Editor

So, in my defense, here I did do some research in “what good writers need to do and what was essential for creating a worthy manuscript.” I knew I needed an Editor. I must say, English is not my First or my Second Language. Therefore, I knew my words needed to be polished. So, I looked for a Developmental Editor and found one I could afford. However, I did not do my job correctly. Again, I rushed, I forgot to do my due diligence. Which took me back to mistake number one. I did not do my research correctly.  

If only someone would have had written something about this issue. The Editor I hired, edited YA books, and my book was High Fantasy. He was a writer that knew about editing but not an editor that specialized in Developmental Editing. His advice did not point out my book was littered with head hopping’s, multiple POV’s in the same scenes, plot holes, it needed a timeline chart, and in need of part separations, to name a few of the monsters of maladies in my literary work of fiction. The editor did suggested me to forget the entire novel and concentrate on two characters and write a 68,000-word romance fantasy. My manuscript was 115,000 words. I am glad I did not followed that suggestion. Moving on, this was an enormous lesson learned.   

4.   I Hired the Same Developmental Editor as the Copyeditor and I Did Not Check His Work Twice

Ladies and Gentlemen, because I am an overachiever, I hired the same person to copyedit my manuscript. This person did the job of a proofreader than a copyeditor. I took it at face value that I was getting quality for my money. I paid a comparable amount to a certified editor. Let’s make a pause here. Some universities give editing certifications like the University of Chicago which has a program for Editor.

Moreover, there are highly recognized organizations and societies that have certifications and rankings. Society for Editors & Proofreaders, for example, gives certifications to its members, https://www.sfep.org.uk , also the Editorial Freelancers Association, https://www.the-efa.org , and the Editor Canada, https://www.editors.ca among many others offer courses and resources for their members. As a case of serendipity, I found a phenomenal editor, who knows my voice and style of writing. It didn’t take us long to find our groove, because we have a real and open communication relationship even though she is in New Zealand and I am in the US. I suggest you do your research and make sure that the person you hire is a member of any type of association or society and you can work fell together. This piece of advice is critical. Editors are essecial. 

5.   No proofreader

The last of my costly mistakes was that after I paid so much money for Developmental Editing, Copyediting, and a book cover, but I did not have the book proofread. I did not check it a third time. For a person that English is not my first language, every word, every sentence and every paragraph must be close to perfect. Why? Because we are scrutinized harshly. In my case, I was short on funds, and I suffered from a bad syndrome called impatience. I didn’t want to wait until I could make the money for a proofreader. I wanted to see the book in print. I trusted the Copyeditor had done a pristine job. After all, I paid good money for his work. My fault, I did not check his work. A costly mistake I will pay for a long time. 

How You Can Prevent from Making Any of These Mistakes?

Preventing from falling in the trap of the costly writing mistakes are simple. First, do your research. As I wrote the mistakes, I gave some possible fix for some of my mistakes but all of them boil down to a straight and forward solution. Read and do your research. Ask questions when you don’t know what to do. Find a mentor or join a writer’s group. Facebook has many writers’ groups that will give you many ideas on how to fix things a improve your craft. Here is a good Facebook group. It is called Write with Megan. https://www.facebook.com/groups/writewithmegan/

I belong to this Facebook group, and the community is like a family. We know each other, we share ideas and our host continually interacts with the group.

Finally, do not rush when you are revising your manuscript. Before your novel goes to the Editor, make it as polish as you can. Do like Santa Claus. Check it twice, three times, four or five if you have to, but also give yourself a dead line, so you know when to stop revising and not get obsessed. 

I learned my lesson the hard way, but now I am a writer that seeks knowledge. I take my creations seriously. They are part of me and deserve the best I can provide within my means. I hope my words were of some value to you. If they were let me know, leave me a comment. 

You all have a blessed day. 

Later, I’ll write about what I learned during editing.