Our group is set up to do a beta read on a complete manuscript the second meeting of each month. Last night's beta read brought up an important point and the focus of this blog. This was a 120k word story the writer had been working on for years. They told us they had read it several times and checked for mistakes with a "fine-toothed comb".
It's amazing what our mind will do to fool us. If you've been working on the same piece for years, our mind will correct the mistakes automatically and we'll never see them. You know in your mind how it's supposed to read, and that's what you see. Everyone in the group commented on the large number of mistakes, such as mis-spelled or missing words, and bad grammar. I felt sorry for them as they sat there with a dumb-founded look on their face. Fortunately, some of the group took the time to mark every mistake and send the file back.
Fine-toothed combs are not a good editing tool. LOL
This week's snippet is early in Navon's story, and hints at a developing relationship that will change his life. Thanks for reading.
In the morning,
Navon rolled over in his cot and came face to face with three hairy muzzles
with fangs and yellow eyes that danced with excitement. The pups started
nipping playfully at his blankets and the cot, threatening to tip it over.
“Alright,
alright!” Navon laughed as he swung his legs out. “I’m getting up, but what are
you three doing here?”
The young wolves
turned and trotted toward the entrance of the tent, their job done. Just before
passing through the flaps, the female turned, showed him what could only be
described as a wolf smile, and continued with her tail flagged out playfully
behind her. Shaking his head, Navon pulled on his boots, and then reached over
for his sword, belting it on. He finally accepted the fact that Emma must be
right, his life was in danger. He swore he would never be caught defenseless
again.
It took me three reads of your writing group adventure before I sussed out that you might be using "they" as a gender-fogging, identity-cloaking pronoun. OR, the mystery book is a collaboration between a couple of writers.
ReplyDeleteIt confused the potrezebie out of me.
The best tactic I've found for self-editing is to read the words aloud in a clear, firm voice. Wowzer, does that flush twisted sentence structure and typos out of the underbrush! (And it's good practice for giving readings at book launches!)
Sorry about that, Murray! I was just trying to hide the person's gender.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. Reading out loud is great, and I've heard some of the writing software will read it out loud for you.
A friend of mine is a truck driver, and he downloaded my stories into his kindle fire, then converted text to speech so he could listen to them while driving. Wish I could afford a kindle fire. I would love to hear my stories read out loud by someone else.
Listening to a computer voice read would be fun, but I know that wouldn't match me doing the reading for myself. When I listen to podcasts or audio books or what have you, my attention can drift into a "multitask" mode. Me doing the reading maintains a focus I need for maximum editing power.
ReplyDeleteSome good points being made. I think what you say about mind filling in errors is right. But that is for grammar. Big Murr is on point with the reading aloud. A good copy editor can clean that up. For me though, beta read is about the plot, character development, to much here and to little there. In short story structure. Where is the hook? Where does the skipping occur? Poor use of cliches, lousy similes and metaphors.
ReplyDeleteI read a really good book by a fellow on Google+ that admitted he couldn't afford a editor. He did the best he could. He was right, he needs an editor if that was his best. I forgave him and read through the grammar because I enjoyed the story. Of course, there are few like me to be so forgiving and a agent is unlikely to give him serious thought. Doesn't mean it can't happen that he can't get an agent.
I've been on her writing journey since the beginning. Although I beta read it and gave my two cents I don't think an honest assessment came come from me. I know to much backstory that isn't in the book. Like Roland says my mind compensates, in the case, for possible gaffes in the story line. There are teeth missing in my fine-toothed comb.
I threw away my fine-toothed comb a long time ago!
ReplyDeleteIf most authors suffer the preposterous situation I've discovered, solo-assessment is almost all there is! When I first entered into this writing racket, I knew there were not going to be many in my circle who would or could read a polished first draft. Of those select few, what I did not expect was the weaselly procrastination. Weeks and even months have passed since they cheerfully and, it seemed, sincerely accepted the assignment. And then nuthin'. I prod them as much as feasible, since they're doing me a favour and all, but I get a load of feeble excuses. I can only guess that I hit some subconscious childhood memory of loathing homework
ReplyDeleteSounds like Jerry and I are lucky. Our critique group will do a beta read once a month, if someone has a completed manuscript. Everyone reads and comments unless they've been sick or out of town. I'm pretty proud of our group!
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