Drzava

I started my first work of brilliance last night, I wrote the first page to my fictional to-be classic. However, I'm already kind of worried if/when I do finish it, how does one proof a novel? I struggle getting through normal books, and the last thing I want is to force myself to read my own. What about subtle instances of grammar I may miss? Does anyone here have any advice on what to do besides 'hit spellcheck, read, reread, have a friend read' ?

TempterOfFate

Sadly, I believe "read, re-read, have a friend read" are the best options. You could also put it "out there" for other people to read (like us here at www.writingforums.com or the kind folks at www.writing.com).

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Emma LB

You don't want to read your own book? I'm afraid you'll have too, hehehe. But I'm not quite sure I understand you. I mean even if you could find the money to find some one professionel to proof read it for you, all they'll edit is incorrect grammar or spelling mistakes. But when you re-read you're own work you'll probably notice that some sentences need to be totally rewritten, if not whole chapters. No one can do that for you, and if you don't do this re-writing then your book won't be as good as it could be if you did (unless you are brilliant and everything is perfect first time).

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Drzava

Well, yes, I am brilliant, but it's not the re-writing I dread. It's after the re-writing, when the grammar and all that must be checked. I just don't know if I could be motivated to do it. Maybe I'll write, send it to a publisher, and if they like it they can do it, and if I get rejection I'll stick it in my archive

Airborneguy

It sounds like you might want to check out the publisher I use when you are finished. If you send something like that to a traditional publisher, they will throw it out around the thrid or fourth grammar mistake. They don't play games. And they won't tell you your submission has been dumped either. Check out www.publishamerica.com, a little lenient, good way to get started.

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Drzava

Cool, thanks. I'm looking at the site now. I may discover the answer in a bit, but, how is it free? And, do they accept everyone? Maybe you could perhaps tell me your experience with it...

Airborneguy

Word is they accept 20% of the submissions they recieve. Most publishers are around 1-2% and you must have an agent. Publish America doesn't charge you a thing, they are a traditional publisher except you have to do the marketing. You get royalties based o nthe sale of the book, which are comparable to traditional publisher's payouts. They edit 2 times, for free. The only thing is, you can't make significant changes once you submit the manuscript, only editing changes, ie grammar, spelling, sentence structure, etc. I hear they are very good with this (my book is editing now). Check it out, you don't need an agent, you don't even have to send them a traditional proposal, I sent 3 chapters and that was it. Key is, you have to market yourself, so if yo uwant to make money, you have to work. good luck.

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Drzava

Sounds good. Making money isn't really my concern, I'm writing for myself and would just like the aspect of being published as a status symbol. Perhaps a bit shallow, but royalties and matters like that don't matter all that much to me.

What is the timetable on writing a novel? I have done about 2 pages in the past 2 days, but I have done some planning and my mind is completely absorbed in it. If I did submit several chapters and by some miracle got accepted, do they require I finish in a timely fashion, or am I allotted several months?

sully474

I find it much easier to just flip through your book for grammar errors and take care of most of them by yourself. Then send it to people that you know, but not ones that are overly optimistic, because otherwise they will just say that it is really good. Find a pessimist. They will tell you that it totally sucks, then ask them why it sucked and they will go on about what was slightly wrong with each situation. Then just take their advice, if it will work with your book and try to tie things in. Whatever you do, take nothing personally, just as criticism. Those pessimists can be nasty

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gabriella

How subtle? Chances, are nobody will care - they don't want a friggin professor writing the novels, after all. You just need to know the essentials to get your point across efficiently and, well, professionally.

I always read that it was the other way around... if they read the manuscript, and see errors, they'll toss it aside, like airborne said.

After doing heavy calculations, I have determined that at the rate of a page a day... you'll get nowhere. A page isn't even enough to finish a scene, so by the end you'll be taking over a week to finish a scene/chapter, and then later on you'll probably decide that it was bull, and need to get rid of it, or that you need to rewrite it, etc.

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Airborneguy

These two statements contradict each other, unless I am misreading the first one. If you submit something with mistakes (and trust me, THEY will notice, as will readers, no matter how small), then your submission will be tossed. So I think you should try to get it a close to perfect as possible, that's always been my technique.

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Drzava

Yes, well, I am still in a planning/thinking stage. Once I get going I usually don't stop. The initial part is slow for me, and then it gradually snowballs to a fairly quick stage.


Tonight I got through my first chapter, I will just take it from here I guess. If PA is as good as it seems, I have a bit more motivation to actually churn something out and not just think about it all day long.

Ozmandius

Not to be a prick or anything, but don't you think your time would be better spent on actually writing the book instead of fretting about what to do after its done?

Oz

Drzava

Possibly. But what kind of writer would I be if I didn't whine and complain constantly?

Ozmandius

A published one.