Here is where you get to benefit even more from the fruits of my labor. You know all those free-tiques I do? After a while, I notice tendencies among you writers. I’ve seen some of the “issues” enough I’ve given them special names.
- Are you guilty of hammer-head?
- Are you an -ing addict? Or a serial when-or-as killer?
- Do you overwrite or underwrite? Lose all sense of mind, body, and space when it comes to setting?
Don’t get me wrong: all the free-tique manuscripts I see contain some pretty decent writing. Why? If you’ve found me, chances are you are dedicated to your craft. You actively participate in many of our clandestine activities on the Internet. You read. You write. You want this. But no matter where you are in this field (published or unpublished, award-winner or not), you’ve also done something in your work which might require a little Revision 9-1-1.
Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be doing a series of articles on revising. Inside these posts, I’ll list the most common issues I’ve seen in manuscripts today and offer suggestions on how to fix them.