Let's start with the first section of the self-publishing master checklist.
Here is a link to the master checklist post if you haven't seen it yet.
Writing
Write your first draft.
Self-edit and rewrite as needed.
You may be thinking, “Um, we know about writing, get to the publishing part!”
And I seriously considered skipping the writing portion, because finishing a draft before you publish is a no-brainer. That said, there are some tips I’ve learned while working on the first draft of my book that I hope you find helpful. These suggestions are for both plotters and pantsers (definitions below for what I consider plotter vs planner).
Plotter: a writer that outlines the story with all major, and sometimes all minor, plot points and uses the outline as a guide while writing.
Pantser: a writer that sits and writes a story without planning, with plot points unfolding as the story comes together.
Tip 1: Give yourself permission for the rough draft to suck. The prose can be sloppy, the dialog choppy, and the description can be overdone in some areas and lacking in others. That is okay. Just get it on paper. If you focus too much on perfection or getting it right, it’s more difficult to finish at all. Let this be imperfect. You’ll make it beautiful later.
Tip 2: Watch out for too many adjectives and adverbs, as these can pull the reader out of the story if used too much. Ones that snag me include suddenly, softly, quickly, loudly.
Tip 3: Rewrite or revise your rough draft. You can rewrite scenes completely, or add or remove details as needed. This step is essential to getting your manuscript ready for beta readers.
Tip 4: It is easy to overuse words in a scene, so comb through your chapters and use synonyms to avoid reusing the same word over and over. (One of my favorite synonym sites is WordHippo.)
Words I tend to overuse are eye, glanced, looked, and clenched. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to stop myself from choreographing every eye movement. Readers don’t want that. One “she glanced into his ocean blue eyes” is enough.
Tip 5: Run your manuscript through an editing program like Grammerly or ProWritingAid. I have the latter, and find it incredibly helpful. While it wasn’t free, it is an investment that is worth it if you’re writing to publish.
Fantasy Note
If you are writing fantasy, readers will expect a rich, alternative world experience. It is important this is delivered. Info dumping is never wanted, but readers want some description of fantasy customs, religion, geography, cuisines, clothes, etc. Make sure you know your world inside and out, or create it as you write if you’re a pantser, so you meet this expectation.
I have a richly detailed world, but I did not include enough description of it in Nirel, and my readers let me know in reviews and feedback after I published. So I intend to increase the world-building in my next book. Just make sure you are giving readers enough information to understand your fantasy world without overwhelming them. Beta readers will be very important with this process as well.
Conclusion
If I had to sum up the most important pieces of today’s points, they would be to write an imperfect first draft and then focus on self-editing to get it as polished as you can for beta readers.
I’ll focus on critique partners and the beta reading process next week.
What Type of Writer Are You?
Pantser
Plotter
In the middle somewhere
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