Writers Tricks of the Trade Issue 2 Volume 9 | Page 34

What a great question. He was right.
There probably wouldn’t be limited parking
in a small community on a Sunday. These
are the type of details that can torpedo
chances of a manuscript being accepted.
Beyond that, many readers are astute
enough to pick up on things like that.
S UGGESTIONS
Some of these suggestions might seem
like I’m asking you take unnecessary time.
Most of them are reiteration, but from what
I understand, things don’t sink in until
you’ve heard them many times, so bear
with me.
Once you have a finished first draft al-
low it to sit on your computer for a week or
more.
Read it through again by yourself and
catch anything that beckons to you.
Then work it through with one or more
writing buddies.
Choose your critique buddies well—you
want people who will give you prompts and
offer opinions. Avoid those who expect you
to use their complete rewrite of your work.
Maintain your own voice and that of
your characters.
S UMMER 2019
Consider suggestions with an open
mind. Try to imagine this is the first time
you are seeing this manuscript.
Work on suggestions you feel are valid
and put the others on a back burner. Accept
only the suggestions that work for the story
and for you.
Make the edits, then let the manuscript
get cold again.
 Do another full read-through.
 Make any last minute edits.
 Now it is ready to go.
Most of all, and I can’t say it enough, re-
sist the temptation to immediately send out
a just-finished book, short story, article or
contest entry until you have gone through
these plateaus.
When you see the final product, you will
be happy you took the time to get it right.
Even with all of the precautions, rewrites
and edits, it seems as though many books,
stories and columns still have a mistake
you wish you’d caught or a passage you’d
have edited if read one more time. That’s
okay. It happens to the best of us.
P AGE 29
W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE