You've written the end of the book and breathe a sigh or relief. But you're not done. These days editors want to see a book that's almost publishable. There are some places you need to check in your story.
First is the spelling and grammar. Sadly the Spellcheck doesn't pick up every errata in the mss. So what you need to do is do a read and find those words that are really words but don't belong there. Put in the periods, question marks and commas you've missed. Question marks is my big issue. I tend to forget them in things like phrases that are really questions but not spelled out like Really. when I mean Really? You know the sort of thing.
Second comes the plot. Read just to see if you've tied up all the loose ends. Really troubles me when I read a book and there's a thread left dangling. Are the major scenes played out to the greatest degree. Sometimes we rush over a scene that needs expanded.
Third comes Characters - Checking to see that the names of the characters remain the same. If they change, there should be a logical reason. Also make sure their hair and eyes are the same throughout the book. Does their dialogue sound unique to each character. Try reading just the dialogue sections and see if the characters speak with the same voice. If so a bit of work is needed.
Last comes the setting - Are the places mentioned shown with enough detail to make the reader visualize the place? Is there so many words describing the setting that the reader gets bogged down and forgets the story. That was never my problem. When I began writing, my characters existed in a cacuum. These books were nurse romance stories and I was a nurse. The hospital was so familiar to me, I forgot most readers weren't nurses and needed to see the setting through the use of the senses.
So there you have it. You've done the revisions and sent the book off. But you're not done with this book yet.
https://twitter.com/JanetL717
First is the spelling and grammar. Sadly the Spellcheck doesn't pick up every errata in the mss. So what you need to do is do a read and find those words that are really words but don't belong there. Put in the periods, question marks and commas you've missed. Question marks is my big issue. I tend to forget them in things like phrases that are really questions but not spelled out like Really. when I mean Really? You know the sort of thing.
Second comes the plot. Read just to see if you've tied up all the loose ends. Really troubles me when I read a book and there's a thread left dangling. Are the major scenes played out to the greatest degree. Sometimes we rush over a scene that needs expanded.
Third comes Characters - Checking to see that the names of the characters remain the same. If they change, there should be a logical reason. Also make sure their hair and eyes are the same throughout the book. Does their dialogue sound unique to each character. Try reading just the dialogue sections and see if the characters speak with the same voice. If so a bit of work is needed.
Last comes the setting - Are the places mentioned shown with enough detail to make the reader visualize the place? Is there so many words describing the setting that the reader gets bogged down and forgets the story. That was never my problem. When I began writing, my characters existed in a cacuum. These books were nurse romance stories and I was a nurse. The hospital was so familiar to me, I forgot most readers weren't nurses and needed to see the setting through the use of the senses.
So there you have it. You've done the revisions and sent the book off. But you're not done with this book yet.
https://twitter.com/JanetL717
http://wwweclecticwriter.blogspot.com
http://bookswelove.net/authors/walters-janet-lane-romance-fantasy-suspense-medical/
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