I was one of those writers. I was so eager to get a story in an anthology I finished it up 2 hours before the deadline. A few hours after sending I decided to reread it. Holy crap! What a mess. So much telling and a few tense screw-ups. Luckily, it was rejected a few days later. I then took my time rewriting it and had the sense to run it past a couple of writers I respect. Four months later, that short became my first published horror story.
Now, I don’t rush to make a deadline. I take my time, write what I like, and make sure I have the help of more advanced, published writers to give me the thumbs up.
Readers notice poor editing. My last book got a review that specifically noted how well the book was edited. At first, I thought that was odd, but I think the reviewer had probably encountered enough poorly edited indie books to feel it was something worth mentioning in their review.
That’s a really good point. Not everything written needs to be published, and if we, as writers (I too need to only put forth my best efforts) there’s not gonna be anyone but ourselves to blame. The genre already gets a bad enough rep when an unedited book crosses over and gets more eyes on, and reinforces the stereotype of poorly written, unedited garbage. I’m sitting on a 30k manuscript I’ve been adjusting for over a year now because it’s just not good enough
I was one of those writers. I was so eager to get a story in an anthology I finished it up 2 hours before the deadline. A few hours after sending I decided to reread it. Holy crap! What a mess. So much telling and a few tense screw-ups. Luckily, it was rejected a few days later. I then took my time rewriting it and had the sense to run it past a couple of writers I respect. Four months later, that short became my first published horror story.
Now, I don’t rush to make a deadline. I take my time, write what I like, and make sure I have the help of more advanced, published writers to give me the thumbs up.
Very well said, my friend.
Readers notice poor editing. My last book got a review that specifically noted how well the book was edited. At first, I thought that was odd, but I think the reviewer had probably encountered enough poorly edited indie books to feel it was something worth mentioning in their review.
That’s a really good point. Not everything written needs to be published, and if we, as writers (I too need to only put forth my best efforts) there’s not gonna be anyone but ourselves to blame. The genre already gets a bad enough rep when an unedited book crosses over and gets more eyes on, and reinforces the stereotype of poorly written, unedited garbage. I’m sitting on a 30k manuscript I’ve been adjusting for over a year now because it’s just not good enough
Louder for those writers in the back row