Ellyn Oaksmith's Blog - Posts Tagged "editing"

Having just completed a final polish of Knockers I've learned a couple of lessons. Number one: never assume failure. I thought I would dip my toe into the pool of self publishing. Throwing Knockers up on Amazon.com was an experiment. Well, it has been a fantastic experiment and tens of thousands of people agree. Therefore, make sure everything is edited to the best of your ability the first time. Lesson number two: Energy, meaning pacing, smells and scene setting are hugely important. Right away I noticed how I paid attention to those things and it brought Knockers right up to speed. It's something I'm going to carry through to the next book but is easy to forget. Little things create the texture and pull the reader quickly into your world. Lastly, because I have to get back to writing my new book, it's a very good idea to go back and read old work. Painful as it might be - you can learn from your old mistakes and see what you were doing right which you might have forgotten. Every decade brings new experience and insight. I have a very different perspective on life than I did when I wrote Knockers. It was fun to see the more light-hearted side of my writing. Happy reading and writing!