Ornery Owl's Wise Words: What to Do for a Better Review: Edit!

 

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This is a response to a post by Larry Mihm.

https://larry-mihm.com/2021/01/06/january-insecure-writers-support-group-topic-of-the-month/

As a reviewer, I have been given books that I wondered if anyone had edited at all. There was a vampire story that I could see that the author had poured her heart and soul into, and I felt terrible giving it a two-star review because she seemed like such a nice person, but this already published tale was convoluted and hardly readable. 

The story switched between character perspectives and even between first and third-person perspectives so often that I had no idea what was going on. I suggested that the author have the story professionally edited because while the concept was interesting, the book in its current form was too confusing to be enjoyable. I also stated that I hoped she would keep writing (which I meant) because she did have raw talent. 

Then there was a story that was nothing but dialogue--really, really awful dialogue. That book got one star although I politely suggested that the author should work on scene-building to improve the manuscript. I really felt like that book was a NaNoWriMo project that the author, for reasons unknown, thought was acceptable in its current form. Reading the book literally gave me a headache.

Writers, please take the time to proofread your work. One thing that I like to do is read my work out loud and see if it makes sense. Sometimes a sentence that looks okay sounds strange when spoken aloud. I hate having to give a poor review because the book looks as if it hasn't been proofread or edited. 

You worked hard writing your book. Go the distance and work hard editing it.

Ornery Owl Has Spoken

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