Showing Tag: "editing" (Show all posts)

To Cut, or Not to Cut

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Monday, February 15, 2016,
Editing your own work is one of the hardest parts of writing. The trouble is, you know the story, so it's hard to tell whether you've given the reader insufficient detail or too much. Asking someone else to read it is always a good idea–preferably more than one person. Failing that, put it aside for a few weeks, if possible, so you can come back to it fresh.
    There are various 'rules' to stop your work being slow, which is usually taken to mean 'boring'. Generally, writers are told to cut...
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Be Critical

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Sunday, February 3, 2013,
Last week, I wrote about the joys or otherwise of being asked to critique someone else's work as a favour, and offered some suggestions as to how to survive the process with all your friendships intact.  This week, I want to share some of the pluses that linger after feeling flattered has worn off.
Editing or proofing someone else's work makes you more aware of how you write yourself and of any bad habits you might have drifted into.  It teaches you to take an objective look at what you do, a...
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Handle with Care

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Monday, January 28, 2013,
Sooner or later it's bound to happen. Someone discovers that you're a writer and presents you with your manuscript asking for your opinion. It would be easy to see this as an imposition. After all, you have your own work to get on with and someone else's project is yet another reason to procrastinate. Instead, take it as the compliment it is.
How you tackle the task you've been given depends on how experienced the writer is, how long or complicated the manuscript is and how well you know the ...
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Point of View

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Sunday, September 23, 2012,
When you return to a place after a gap of years it can seem smaller and far more ordinary than how you remembered it. The same applies to re-reading books. The imaginative tale you remembered can now seem derivative, the creative prose clichéd. It's disappointing, and might deter you from revisiting these old 'friends', however there is an upside. Books that you once found incomprehensible or uninteresting might now reward you if you read them again.  When I first read 'Ping' by Samuel Becke...
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More Rejects

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Sunday, April 15, 2012, In : Inspiration 
One of life's more annoying facts is that it's usually the phrase/sentence/paragraph that you're most pleased with that you end up having to cut from your final draft.  In fact, always be suspicious of your finest lines.  What makes them memorable is usually that they are different from the rest of the piece and indicate a change of style that creates an (often inappropriate) jolt.  They're often descriptive so they could slow down the pace as well.  Hardening your heart and killing your 'bab...
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US vs. UK

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Saturday, March 3, 2012,
When e-publishing is it better to use American English (spellings, vocabulary and grammar) or UK English?  If you're submitting to an e-zine or publisher, they will usually say which they prefer in their guidelines and, if they like your work enough, will correct one or two oversights that might occur if, say, American English isn't your first language.  However, if you're self-publishing you have to decide which one to use–or do you?
There's less risk of making mistakes if you stick to UK ...
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Dear Readers, Readeresses, Readerlings

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Monday, February 13, 2012,
I recently edited Discord's Child again (the new version is online now), and for the first time I used the proof-read feature on my computer.  It was worth doing.  Every time you make changes to a manuscript you run the risk of making new mistakes, and the more familiar you are with the work, the less likely you are to notice them.  
The computer proof-reader spotted several instances where I'd removed a word and left an extra space, and drew my attention to a tendency to repeat certain phras...
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About Me


My writing career began as a freelance feature writer for the local press, businesses and organisations. Now a prize-winning playwright and short story writer, my work has appeared in numerous publications on both sides of the Atlantic. I write as K. S. Dearsley because it saves having to keep repeating my forename, and specialise in fantasy and other speculative genres.

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