Letters to Kel: REVISIONS -- Yes, you MUST!!!

As a freelance editor, I get an unfair amount of books from people who have just written their first book -- people who have been rejected by traditional publishers and never asked why their books were rejected, but just decided, "I'll show them and publish this myself" -- people who decide that "rules are for other people" because what they have to say is so important -- people who wouldn't know proper grammar/spelling/punctuation if it knocked them down and rolled them in the mud and stole their wallet.

Far too often lately, I have opened up manuscripts and watched as Word marks all the mis-spelling and questionable grammar and word choices with the little red and green squiggly lines. Now, these books have been submitted as Word documents, so that means these people USED Word to write their books. How come they couldn't be bothered to go through the manuscript and at least TRY to correct the spelling mistakes displayed on their screens, at the very least? Why didn't they use the spell-check tool?

Why didn't they go through the book at least once, looking for the simple mistakes of spelling, grammar, punctuation? One revision would have caught so much. Even if they don't know anything about writing and publishing, wouldn't common sense tell them that they should look over what they just created to make sure it says what they want to say, that they didn't leave anything out, that they didn't make stupid glitches that will make them look stupid and sloppy? REVISE, people. Everyone must revise. Everyone who CARES about their writing REVISES. Best-selling authors revise -- so that means you should, too.

I don't care what your publishing goals are -- this is YOUR baby. YOU need to make it the best possible book you can before you hand it off to someone else to tweak the things that got past you, to find the holes that you can't detect, and to suggest fixes for problems you can't fix even after you've puzzled yourself into a headache. This is YOUR baby -- would you let someone else dress your baby in clothes you didn't pick out, dye her hair, cut her hair, paint her toenails, and put makeup on her to suite THEIR vision of what she should look like?

That's what happens when you toss a first-draft mess to an editor. His or her vision is going to form your book, no matter how light a touch the editor employs, no matter how hard he or she works to preserve your voice. If the general impression of your manuscript is that you don't care, the editor will take it over, take it out of your hands, and even make major decisions that you might not agree with. Do you want that to happen? Then give your editor as few reasons as possible to change your book -- give the editor very little that needs fixing. REVISE. Multiple times, if necessary. And the closer you are to the starting point in your writing career, the more revisions you need.

Fine, you're unsteady on details of grammar, but doggone it, USE the spell-check program. If you can't figure out that the first word in every sentence should be capitalized, and you finish a sentence with a period, a question mark or an exclamation point, and when you write dialogue you put punctuation INSIDE quote marks ... you shouldn't even try to write at this stage. You should be reading dozens and dozens of books to learn from those who know what they're doing, and in school, learning the basics.

You may have something important to say with your book, but you have to learn to express yourself clearly so that people understand you, before anyone will listen. And that means REVISING.