So You've Finished Writing Your Book........by Annie Seaton

Okay...so you’ve finished writing your book and you are ready to send it as a submission to a publisher or to your editor if it is already contracted.

Three words of wisdom...

Don’t be hasty.

It is a tremendous feeling typing the last word, the last sentence and wrapping it all up.

What you do now may mean the difference in being published ... or getting a rejection letter.

Now that the story is finished, this is the time to go back in and polish it until it shines.

The very first thing I do, is listen to my story one chapter at a time. There are a number of free software programs that will allow you to copy and paste chapters of your work into it and read it to you.

This will pick up missing words, mistaken words ...I have a dreadful habit of mixing up through, though and thought...and of course a spell checker does not pick them up.

Listening to your work will also let you adjust the flow and pace of sentences.

One of the things I love is writing vivid descriptions of my settings. When I listened to Italian Affair before sending it off to my editor, I had many instances of geraniums spilling from baskets, and herbs being crushed beneath feet! I was able to adjust and rewrite before my editor picked these repetitions up.

So we only ended up with on...

It wasn’t a cottage. It was a small villa that was well cared for, and it was obvious from the pots of pink and red geraniums spilling down the sides of the wall overlooking the sea that someone still maintained it on a regular basis. The windows shone, and the pungent smell of thyme growing in the cracks between the cobblestones floated in the still air as it was crushed beneath his feet.
  
One of the other things I search for is instances of filtering. This is where you distance your reader from the action by using words such as watch, heard and gave. A quick use of find will pick up the use of these words and you can judge whether you have put a barrier between the action of the character and the reader.

Check your punctuation. Have you omitted any full stops and commas? Is your manuscript in a standard font?

Have you read the submission guidelines?

And finally.....do you have any common words that you over use or misspell?  The importance of this point can never be overlooked!

By taking the time to really check your manuscript and send it off as perfect as it can possibly be, you will improve your chances of publication.  Without a doubt.

Annie has recently released Book 2 ...of the Affairs series ...Italian Affair with Entangled Publishing which followed Book 1 -Holiday Affair. The third book in the series Outback Affair will be released later this year.  You can find Annie on her website here and also on Twitter and Facebook.

ITALIAN AFFAIR

Free-spirited sex therapist Brianna Ballantine has four days to find a fiancé so she can inherit her birth mother’s Italian villa. Commitment is not on the agenda. Writing her sex therapy book and signing legal papers are. And once all is said and done, she’ll return home to Scotland. For finance guru Tomas Richards, relationships have been a bad investment—give him stocks and shares any day. When Tomas offers a marriage of convenience to help Brianna secure her inheritance, the sizzle between the sheets promises an affair to remember, despite family complications at every turn.  But Tom must convince Brianna to stay, and make this Italian affair a lifelong commitment.

Reviewed at RBH Contemporary Romance Reviews

Amazon     Amazon UK

Editing Tips from Patsy Collins

Hi, Maria, thanks for inviting me over.

I have a confession to make - I quite like editing. Not the fiddly stuff at the end so much and definitely not when an editor has asked for changes after I thought I was finished, but I enjoy the first stages of editing. I think that's when the writing really starts. My first drafts are always a mess, but once I have one I have something to work on and almost anything I do will improve it.

Editing is our chance to fix mistakes but it's much more than that. We can add stuff too.

For example during the first draft of my novel, A Year and a Day, none of my characters had a birthday. The story covers a whole year (and a day  - but you guessed that) so that was a mistake to fix. Because I knew the characters very well by that stage I knew what sort of birthday they'd like and whether the people close to them would make that happen.

I didn't just write in a couple of birthday party scenes though. I used them to show more about the character's relationships and to advance the story. That meant deleting some earlier scenes and incorporating others into the new setting. Just tidying up the first draft and adding in the missed birthdays would have been far quicker and easier, but writing is about more than getting to the end as quickly and easily as possible.

My editing tips for short stories and novels -

Try not to edit as you go. It's OK to experiment and make mistakes in the first draft.

Keep a copy of the draft, especially if you intend big revisions. It's easier to be brave if you can change your mind later.

The delete key is your friend.

Take a break between each stage and work on something else for a while.

British author Patsy Colllins is the author of  many published short tories and three published novels. She lives in England with her husband.  Her latest novel is A YEAR AND A DAY.

A YEAR AND A DAY

Despite Stella's misgivings her best friend Daphne persuades her to visit a fortune teller. Rosie-Lee promises both girls will live long and happy lives. For orphaned Stella, the fortune teller's claims include a tall, dark handsome man and the family she longs for. Stella doesn't believe a word, so Rosie-Lee produces a letter, to be read in a year's time, which will prove her predictions are true.

Stella remains sceptical but Daphne is totally convinced. She attempts to manipulate Stella's life, starting by introducing Stella to her new boss Luigi, who fits the romantic hero image perfectly. In complete contrast is Daphne's infuriating policeman brother John. Despite his childhood romance with Stella ending badly he still acts as though he has a right to be involved in her life.

Soon John is the least of her worries. Daphne's keeping a secret, Luigi can't be trusted, romantically or professionally and both girls' jobs are at risk. Worse still, John's concerns for their safety are proved to be justified.

John, and Rosie-Lee's letter, are all Stella has to help put things right.

Get this at Amazon  and Amazon UK