Your Rx for first draft-itis
October 26, 2011
Ever suffer from a bad bout of “first draft-Itis”?
We all have. First draft-itis refers to the various flaws that everyone – including the author – during a first read of a manuscript all quickly agree should be corrected. In short, they’re common flaws that appear in first drafts.
What are some common problems in first drafts? In my editing of novels, short stories and nonfiction books, I generally see:
n Spelling errors (usually just typos)
n Punctuation errors (especially with commas and quotation marks – you know, those pesky little rules we didn’t bother to learn in sixth grade)
n Capitalization errors (particularly with pronouns used during dialogue)
n Misplaced modifiers (such as “We ate the hamburgers we just bought quickly” really should be “We quickly ate the hamburgers we just bought.”)
n Using vague words (like “thing”) and weak verbs (like “walk” instead “saunter”)
n Shifts in verb tense (often moving between past and present tense)
Many other problems can’t be quickly agreed upon and so aren’t first draft-itis: Plot turns that don’t seem to make sense, characters acting in a way contrary to how they were previously presented, and point of view shifts. These issues all are a matter of craft and style. In addition, what might be perfectly acceptable in one genre, such as a romance, won’t fly in another genre, such as literary.
First draft-itis certainly is not a problem – so long as you take care of it. The best medicine is to proofread and edit and revise, over and over, until you get it right. You don’t want to send a manuscript to a literary agent or a self-publish your book on Amazon.com when it’s full of errors.
In short, your first draft shouldn’t be your final draft. If it is, first draft-itis can be fatal.
Rob Bignell is owner and chief editor of Inventing Reality Editing Service.
Tags:
editing, first draft-itis, proofreading
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Correct usage
August 15, 2008
Some words are frequently used incorrectly - that is, the wrong definition is assigned to the word. Misuse of such words can wreck a reader’s suspension of disbelief by jarring them out of the story. It also can wreck an editor’s confidence in you as a storyteller. Here is a list of commonly confused and misused words that I’ve seen in the work of novice writers.
Breathe vs. breath
“Breathe” is to inhale and exhale, as in “We must breathe oxygen to stay alive.” “Breath” is a solitary moment of inhaling or exhaling or the actual air that is inhaled/exhaled, as in “He stopped to catch his breath” or “His breath stunk like garlic.”
Its vs. it’s
“Its” is the possessive form of “it”, as in “The sun shined high overhead, its brightness warming his face.” “It’s” is a contraction for “it is”, as in “It’s just like the one my father wore.” (“It is just like the one my father wore.”)
Literally vs. figuratively
“Literal” means you’re saying exactly what happened “Figurative” means you’re speaking metaphorically So, during a headache, one’s head “figuratively explodes” not “literally explodes”
Mam vs. ma’am
“Mam” refers to a member of a Mayan people of southwestern Guatemala or to the language they speak. “Ma’am” is the correct spelling of the polite address of a woman, as in “Thank you for the change, ma’am.”
Sensuous vs. sensual
“Sensuous" means to appeal to the senses or to have strong sensory appeal, as in “The Klingon found the Grapok sauce sensuous.” “Sensual” pertains to fleshly or sexual appeal, as in “The Klingon warrior found B’etor’s ample bosom quite sensual.”
Sight vs. site
“Sight” is what you see, as in “Watching the flying saucer land was the strangest sight he’d ever seen.” “Site” is a location, as in “The landing site was in a secluded, wooded area.”
Your vs. you’re
“Your” is a possessive form of “you”, as in “Did you remember to bring your ray gun?” “You’re” is a contraction for “you are”, as in “You’re one ace shot with that ray gun, Johnny!”
You Do It
Go back through a story or novel you’re working on and check the words for correct usage.
Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell
Tags:
editing, proofreading, style, usage
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Distrust your spell check
June 9, 2008
So you’ve got your story typed in manuscript form and are about to send it out. You decide to do one more spell check before printing the final copy. Good idea, right?
Wrong.
If you don’t feel confident that your manuscript is as perfect as can be, you should print it and make one more read of it. Don’t leave your manuscript’s quality up to the computer spell check.
Instead, learn to distrust the spell check.
Spell checks certainly are improving, and the dynamic spell check on current word processing programs are excellent tools. A spell check, however, should not be the sole method you use to edit your manuscript.
Here are some common problems with spell check: n Homonyms - These are words that sound the same but are spelled differently, such as there, their and they’re. The different spellings have different meanings, and spell checks often can’t tell the difference. n Machine gun checking -Because spell checks have limited dictionaries, they tend to flag words that are spelled correctly. Writers often fire rapidly through these words. The result is that some misspelled words are missed. n Misspelled words can pass - If you misspell a word in such a way that it becomes two correctly spelled words, such as “miss steaks” when you meant “mistakes”, or simply mistype one letter so that it becomes a new word, such as “advise” when you meant “advice”, the spell check won’t catch it.
This is not to say you shouldn’t use your spell check. It is like having a second pair of eyes on your story. But the brain behind those eyes isn’t particularly smart. You wouldn’t be satisfied with letting a junior high student be the only one to edit your manuscript - so why would you put all of your faith in a spell check
You Do It
Print a copy of one of the pieces you’ve written for a previous “You Do It’ exercise. Edit it for spelling and grammar. Next, run the same piece through your word processor’s grammar and spell check (without making any of the corrections you did when editing it by hand). Is there a difference in the number of corrections made? Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell
Tags:
editing, proofreading, spell check
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