Writing w/Your Reader In Mind

What exactly do I mean, you ask? I mean write a book you want to read. One that you can follow easily but it will still keep you wondering what's going to come next. One that will keep you on the edge of your seat wondering if s/he really will kiss her/him or whip out a knife yelling - SURPRISE! I'm the bad guy! One where - if you're into that sorta thing - the frigid and hulking vampire actually has a softer/secret side and knits little bunny mittens for underprivileged inner-city children.

Okay, maybe I took that a bit too far. My apologies.

But never one where you're reading one sentence and the very next one has nada to do with the previous. As the author, we know everything that happens in our books; we know that nothing is said errantly, everything means something in the end. BUT our readers do not. We can't have them playing too much of a guessing game during their reading or else their attentions will stray. Instead of reading, they'll stop and wonder what we mean or make up explanations of their own in their mind. And as writers, I feel it is our responsibility that any leaps in logic our readers have to make are just and not big enough to fit inside the grand canyon.

Thankfully, there's a somewhat easy fix.

Read. 'Tis all. Read lots and lots of books. Read great books. See how the words flow, observe how the author segues into different chapters. See what their grammar looks like and take note of their writing style. Read bad books so you know what doesn't work. So you know what you don't want your book to sound like.

Writing is not a sprint. It's a marathon. And how many times have I told you that you can't run a marathon without putting a couple band-aids on your nipples?*

Sorry, I was watching Horrible Bosses earlier. Kevin Spacey rocks. And Jason Bateman is one of the handsomest men I've seen in a good while.

Moral of the story: Take it slow. Your novel will not decrease in awesomeness or value if you spend more time to "perfect" it. Do your research, get to know your characters inside and out and TRUST in your own creative voice. That is the most important, I believe. You could write one of the most amazing and insightful books ever but it means nothing if you don't believe in it.

*Quote copyright to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Six Reasons To Seek Outside Help When Editing YOUR MS

Okay guys, let's say you've - like me - been a HUGE fan of writing for a long time. You've even started several books over the course of five or six years, but - also like me - you've only actually finished one or two full manuscripts. When I say 'finished', I mean your MS is 80k or more words.

Now, let's say you've - like me - called yourself editing it on your own, revised, changed, went over it with a fine-tooth comb and FINALLY, you think you've gotten it SO perfect, you think it couldn't get any better if some form of deity has written it themselves -

 I'll get into the several reasons why you'd be wrong in a second. -

and you think, 'Yes, I'm going to send off a few query letters'.

No. Just no. No matter who you are, what you write, published, unpublished, Indie or self-pubbed - SOMEONE ELSE - meaning not YOU - NEEDS TO TAKE  A LOOK AT YOUR MANUSCRIPT AND QUERY LETTER BEFORE YOU SEND ANYTHING OFF TO ANYONE. 

Reasons why: 

1. As authors, we already think what we write is amazing. We think we're so genius, G-d has touched us with the ability to write magnificent MS's and any agent/publishing house would be lucky to sign us. *Shakes head* Sadly, no. 
2. Not everything you write is a hit, not everything you write is sell-able, there isn't a market for everything you write - NOT EVERYTHING YOU WRITE IS GOOD. And yes, it chafes your a*s like a fluffer-nutter and no, people may not always be kind when telling you these sorts of things but you HAVE to hear it sometime.
3. Other people - once again, not YOU - know what they like to read, how they like to read and what they want to feel when they read. You cannot, cannot, cannot trust your own eyes, emotions and judgement when it comes to editing your MS. Obviously, you're biased. You wrote it, therefore you love it. 
4. When you edit your own MS's, there are going to be several mistakes that you missed, overlooked - or sometimes you may leave them on purpose (builds character for your MC or it is how a certain character in your MS speaks) sometimes those work and sometimes they don't. More often than not, they don't. 
5. You may not notice it, but you can easily over-write a MS. Case in point: my very own first MS is north of 140k words. No publisher ANYWHERE is going to pick up a debut more than 100k words. As evidence of my MS STILL lying untouched on my hard drive. Also, too many adjectives, similies, metaphors - all those add up in word count. And too many words is a problem. Ideal MS length is between 80k and 110k and 110k is pushing it. Books that are too long probably won't get read. No one wants to be intimidated by the size of a book on a shelf before picking it up.
6. Your MS can ALWAYS get better. You may be among one of the most creative minds on the planet but no one is perfect and everything can get better. A little tweak here, a revision there can make any great MS amazing. Don't be too proud. Every book gets edited before publishing and rather than seeing a bunch of red ink all over your precious baby, take the time and have a few friends peruse it. Have some margaritas with your girlfriends, a couple beers with the guys, lunch with your author friend or a night out with your bookclub and get it done. 

Prime example: I haven't touched my first MS in months because of Caylee and Caleb. I, too, thought it was perfect, sent off dozens of badly written queries for it and got sad like clockwork over the next 6-12 weeks when I got all my NO's and refusals - or didn't get any, in some cases. The moment I went back and started reading the first chapter, I found twelve mistakes in the first 750 words. It. Was. Crap. Crap, Shit, Garbage, a Hot Toddy - whatever you prefer to call it. Why, you ask? Because I didn't get anyone to look over my query BEFORE I sent it and I didn't let my impromptu editor look at the full body of work BEFORE I stamped it as done. Now, I'm in the middle of shaving about 80 thousand words off it - words, I now know I did NOT need - and making it presentable. Which is just a BUNCH of fun.

To avoid hacking away at your precious MS - like I am - be cautious when you write and pay closer attention when editing if you choose to self-edit. As you know, I am still unpublished and in no way should my reasons be followed to the T but  it is because I remain unpublished that I'm almost 80% sure that you should at least have someone take a second - or twelfth - look at your MS and/or Query letter.

Editing Rants, ahoy!

Honestly, I can be critical - very critical apparently - about grammatical errors, etc. and I promise you I have a reason for it. I, myself am an aspiring author. I take writing very seriously and each sentence I write is just an extension of my soul. When editors are called in to do what? - EDIT someone's baby, in my eyes they should do just that. Edit it.

In more and more of the work I'm reading now, someone is sleeping on the motherfluffing job and that is unacceptable. Every author I know spills their heart out onto a blank page and fills it up with amazing writing that leaps off the page at you and burrows into the heart of the reader, taking them off to a far away land where they don't have to deal with their own real life problems. If only for a minute. And when an editor doesn't catch the typos, mistakes, misuse of grammar or lack thereof, you are doing the author and readers a serious disservice.

I know I don't like to feel as if I'm editing a book as I read which makes me anal to the point of obsession with my own works and any typos/errors that pop up. I know, almost counter-productive, but by golly gee I HATE a typo!

*Exhales* Sorry. Rant over.