Book Reviews

Edit first.

The reason why I added this chapter is that so many of my first reviews had grammar or simpler issues that you don't need reviewers for. But I'm not a grammar guru. I'm not going to ditch your book over spelling errors. That's not the problem my guy. 

The issue is when you have so many problems like poor spelling, improper paragraph breaks or wrong dialogue tags, it's very difficult for me to review the more important parts of your book. This is not an editing space! I become very short with you if there are repeated problems (described in detail further in this chapter). Because I don't want to comment on how untidy your format is, or how there needs to be more clarification on who is speaking. You don't need a reviewer for that. 

At first, I thought people weren't using their common sense (which was pretentious of me). I soon realized that I had to learn these things through an editor too. Some people may genuinely not know and be learning it through me for the first time, and I don't want to be the person who just snubs them for not knowing. If my first editor did that, I would have quit writing. 

So I put together this chapter, going through all the common mistakes writers make. These problems can be corrected without a reviewer so please, go through them, edit your book, then and only then, submit a request. 

Is everyone paying attention?

Let's start with Grammar. It's not the most important thing, true. But I can pay attention to more of the story if I didn't have to wade through in-comprehensive prose. There are easy solutions to this, though! 

1. Ask your friends to proofread it for you. 

2. Set the WIP aside and come back to it later. 

3. Change the WIP to a different font, possibly an official-looking one(?). Then proof-read it. 

4. Use grammar websites (Grammarly, or Hemmingway) 

I understand if you're not perfect with grammar (I'm in the same boat) but give it your best. 

Dialogue is the second element I want to address. Let's run through some things you definitely need to revise if you spot it in your WIP.

1. Stuttering that l-looks l-lik-like this. Unless there's a particular medical condition, a stutter, or a tic, it's not realistic. It should be- well- it should be something like- like this. 

2. If a character is addressing someone by name/nickname, a comma should come after or before the name, depending on its position in the sentence. Correct examples: "Dear Anya, please go away." "Hi, Derek!" "Gods above, Sita, why did you do that?"

3. Don't let two people speak in the same paragraph. 

4. The said tag is your friend. It's something the brain glazes over no matter how many times you use it. 

Are you guys with me so far? New writers, don't be discouraged; learning is key. If you take a peak at my first novel on this site (no, I'm not going to tell you the title), it probably contains all the problems I mention in this chapter. So, yeah. Everyone's been there. 

Okay, next let's look at prose. I'm going to loosely call it prose, but there'll probably be some character/plot tips? 

1. Break up paragraphs like a pro using the Tip Toe method. Every time there's a new time, place, topic, person, switch paragraphs. A more visual tactic is to start a new paragraph every time you want the figurative camera to move.

2. I don't want to read about the character waking up. Every one who clicks on your book is familiar with the process. So only bring in your character's morning routine if something is going to disrupt it. (If you're uncertain on where to start a scene, medias res is your best strategy. Come late and leave early.) 

3. The word 'that' is often redundant. If you're ever using it in prose, read the sentence without the word and see if it gives the same meaning. Most of the time, it works just fine without. For example, you type out 'Who would want to know about the crap that he's been through?' Read the sentence again without 'that.' See what I mean? 

That said, 'that' in dialogue is acceptable. 

4.1 Write physical descriptions that matter. Check out ShaelinWrites on How to Write a Character Description. Blue eyes and blonde hair doesn't say much about your protagonist. 

4.2 Leave out detailed descriptions of passing characters and only mention stark features. If this is a cab driver your protagonist is seeing only once in the novel, readers don't need to know about their wrinkles, warts and all. Keep it to two features maximum, something the protagonist will note. Like a cap that's too big, or a scar etc. 

4.3 Don't use 'the blond' or 'the taller man' to identify your characters. Use their names. I understand how sometimes names can be overused. To that I'll say that readers barely notice it, don't worry. But if it really is an issue, maybe your sentence structure is becoming too repetitive. 

5. Find your infodumps. Kill it. 

6. Over-dependence on adverbs like angrily, happily etc is not good. There's probably a physical action that is more interesting and gives away something about the character. Adverbs can be bland and at worst do the homework for readers. Which means readers will put your book down and we don't want that. 

By now, your book must be readable! You've made it! You've dunnit! kudos for that alone! Now that you've edited your precious WIP, you're free to go ahead and submit it for a review. The link is in my bio. I will do my best to help you with my review and work on things that actually need an outside eye. 

Anyway, ciao!