#Manuscript Revision

[ancientroyalblood]

Editing and Revising: Transforming Your Draft into a Polished Gem

Writing is a journey, and the first draft is often just the beginning. The true magic happens during the editing and revision process. This is where your words transform from raw material into a polished gem. In this comprehensive guide, we will take you through the step-by-step process of editing and revising your work. From structural changes to proofreading, we’ll provide you with the tools…

[i-m-abett]

[princesskealie]

taking my mom to the doctor again tomorrow~ please send any good vibes/prayers/thoughts her way that all goes smoothly! 🙏🙏

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2025: February Wrap-Up.

As it turns out: Rereading your own novel manuscript twice (once for the original NaNo and once for the most-current-frankendraft) dramatically slows down the Reading Published Books train, which is fine! I had fun on all fronts! And I did a bunch of knitting, too, and everything I read this month was Good, Actually :D

Photos and/or reviews linked below:

THE LANGUAGE OF THE NIGHT - ★★★★★ Essays on writing, science fiction, and fantasy! Wound up loving this, per my Le Guin Usual, had to bust out the flaggies to mark passages. My favorite chapters were "Introduction to City of Illusions" (which I must track down a copy of immediately), "Talking about Writing," "The Stalin in the Soul," and "The Stone Ax and the Muskoxen."

METAL FROM HEAVEN - ★★★★★ Y'all this was SO FUCKING GOOD. It's pitched as for fans of Gideon the Ninth and The Princess Bride, because it's about messy lesbians and one in particular's quest for revenge against the industrialist who had her entire striking family killed. Personally, I'd also throw an Arcane comp in there for the class warfare and aesthetics and weird magical substance. Significant review linked, PLEASE go check this out, it was very excellent.

ODD THOMAS - ★★★★ Reread, to go with my own manuscript-rereading (this book was an Inspiration for my project, as was WtNV). I still love Odd so much. Fucked up, weird, funny, tragic book--if you've ever been curious about Koontz, try this one.

WHEN WOMEN WERE BIRDS - ★★★½ Received this in my nature writing subscription box, started it without meaning to on a random Tuesday, accidentally read the first three chapters because it sucked me in. Parts of this REALLY hit right for me and parts of it were just Meh--definitely depended on the particular Variation on Voice. The opening chapter is the author receiving her mother's journals, collected over a lifetime, and they're all blank. If you like memoirs, and feminism, and environmentalism, and birds, and writing, and Mormonism, or any combination thereof, check this out! Short little book, does neat stuff with white space.

Under the Cut: A Note About ~*★Stars★*~

Historically, I have been Very Bad™ about assigning things Star Ratings, because it's so Vibes Heavy for me and therefore Contingent Upon my Whims. (Example: I don't like that stars are Odd, because that makes three the midpoint and things are rarely so truly mid for me)(I have hacked my way around this with a ½, which is really only applicable for me at ★★★ and up). Here is, generally, how I conceptualize stars:

★ - This was Bad. I would actively recommend that you do NOT read this one, no redeeming qualities whatsoever, not worth the slog. Save Yourself, It's Too Late For Me. Book goes in the garbage (donate bin).

★★ - This was Not Good. I would not recommend it, but it wasn't a total waste or wash--something in here held my interest/kept my attention/sparked some joy. I will not be rereading this ever. Save Yourself (Or Join Me In Suffering, That Seems Like A Cool Bonding Activity).

★★★ - This was Good/Fine/Okay/Meh. I don't care about this enough to recommend it one way or another. Perfectly serviceable book, held my interest, I probably enjoyed myself (or at least didn't actively loathe the reading). I don't have especially strong feelings. You probably don't need to save yourself from this one--if it sounds like your jam, give it a shot! Just didn't resonate with me particularly powerfully. I probably won't reread this unless I'm after something in particular.

★★★½ - I liked this! I'll probably recommend it if I know it matches someone's vibes or specific requests, but I didn't commit to a star rating on Goodreads. More likely to reread, but not guaranteed.

★★★★ - I really enjoyed this!! I would recommend it (sometimes with caveats about content warnings or such--I tend to like weird fucked up funny shit, and I don't have many hard readerly NO's). Not a perfect book for me by any means, but Very Good. This is something I would reread! Join me!!

★★★★★ - I LOVED THE SHIT OUT OF THIS, IT REWIRED MY BRAIN, WILL RECOMMEND TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE AT THE SLIGHTEST PROVOCATION (content warning caveats still apply--see 4-star disclaimer). Excellent book, I'll reread it regularly, I'll buy copies for all my friends, I'll try to convince all of Booklr to read it, PLEASE join me!!

[sisterdivinium]

Now is the time to place your bets on whether or not this hyper self-indulgent doctor superion Vampire the Masquerade AU fic will or won't get to 100 handwritten pages...

[allthedesiredusernamesaretaken]

... memory lane ...

The manuscript of 'Ulysses' revised by James Joyce

[halalgirlmeg]

Everytime I see authors talking about getting their book published in three years I'm like welp! Time to retire

[coquelicoq]

last day of reading madame bovary will be spent on the chronology of flaubert's life at the back of the book, which i have been looking forward to ever since very early on when i discovered in one of the copious endnotes that flaubert spent five years writing this book, did not i think have a paying job during that time, and then at the end of the five years had to be talked into publishing it because he was really just doing it for himself. how was he feeding himself??? hopefully i'm about to find out.

[rowanthefierce]

new chapter in the jaspidot anthology check it out (this one's a star trek au): https://archiveofourown.org/works/3978880/chapters/153678028

or don't. idgaf.

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2024: June Wrap-Up.

Okay, y'all have Convinced Me--I'm going to start doing little wrap up posts! Behold: a shelf of what I read in June (not pictured: the bookmark at page 466 of ORDINARY MONSTERS, because despite having read two (2) books worth of book so far, I'm still not quite done with that one).

June was kind of a slow reading month for me (I did a LOT of writing, looking back--nice). I wanted to take OTHER TERRORS and THE ELEMENTS OF ELOQUENCE a bite at a time so the horrors and figures of rhetoric (respectively) didn't all run together. Both of those, much like A SHINING, turned out to be pleasantly leisurely wanders, whereas MONSTERS is kind of a plod.

I already did bigger write-ups for TERRORS and SHINING, linked in the bullets below.

OTHER TERRORS - ★★★★ Great bite-sized horror anthology with a really inclusive mix, as promised! I enjoyed most of these (always nice in an anthology!)

A SHINING - ★★★★ Weird fucked up heavy little book in translation, lit-fic flavored, but very approachable, I thought. Tiny enough to swallow in a sitting, but also kind of exhausting to do it that way? I'll definitely reread this one in the future.

THE ELEMENTS OF ELOQUENCE - ★★★ Fun romp through rhetoric! The examples were fun, and I appreciated the humor, but I also find myself still uncertain what a bunch of the figures actually ARE, definitions-wise, despite having read a book full of so many of them (I did just buy his recommended A HANDLIST OF RHETORICAL TERMS to help with that, at least, which is. almost entirely. definitions by volume). Neat thing to have on my references shelf, but it wasn't as excellent as I was hoping it'd be.

ORDINARY MONSTERS - 466/658 pages read; will report back later (but it's not looking good, folks).

[curiosity-killed]

What if I updated Callebero’s tattoos (again) to have like a smaller set of wings wrapping around his neck

[lnk-and-lnspiration]

The Importance of Revisions: Tips for Improving Your Writing

Writing is a creative process that requires dedication, skill, and the willingness to revise and improve. While the initial draft of a piece may capture the essence of your ideas, it is through the process of revisions that your writing truly comes to life. Revisions allow you to refine your work, polish your prose, and ensure that your message is effectively communicated to your readers. In this…

[starlightswait]

i am!! annoyed but in a way that makes me want to fucking cry!

[kazz-brekker]

reducing word counts in my book is so hard but i am being so brave and doing it