A Beach, A Manuscript, A Red Pen

Finally done…

After I typed the last word of the manuscript, I did what every writer does: I celebrated for about five minutes, then panicked.

Now what?

I had a complete story—a beginning, middle, and end.

But I had no idea if it was any good.

Asking for Advice

School was about to recess for the summer, and because I hadn't told any of my teacher friends about the novel, I had to obtain some advice from someone, but who?

At first, I googled my way across the web, looking for experts who would critique the manuscript, but you're talking a major expense, and lists upon lists of people you have never heard of. That's not an option.

I knew the principal at the high school pretty well. I drove over to see him one day after school and found out he had gone to Northwestern in Chicago and majored in journalism. Who knew? And, of course, I told him, "I had a friend who wrote a novel,” and asked what he thought was the best way to evaluate a manuscript. He said, "Read the whole thing aloud."

What? After I steadied myself, I asked him, "Why?" He informed me that you can catch most mistakes by reading anything out loud, picking up confusing passages, catching grammar or punctuation errors, and monitoring the flow from scene to scene.

After I thanked him and wished him a wonderful summer, I had more pep in my step as I headed to my car.

Heading to the Beach

School let out for the summer. I packed up my room and finished report cards. Sunny days ahead!

 Lake Michigan is only about thirty-five miles from home, and I love the water. So how could I make the most of my free time? Reading my manuscript aloud at the beach! I printed out five chapters at a time and gathered several red pens, a thesaurus, beach chairs, something to drink, and my husband. (He didn't know he would be reading aloud, too.

The best time to travel to Lake Michigan during the summer is during the week. The beach is less crowded and more relaxing. After setting up the beach chairs and finding a quiet spot, I pulled out the printed chapters and the red pens.

I explained to my husband that reading aloud helps correct the manuscript. By the way, my husband encouraged me to become a novelist. And he was all in. So we took turns: I would read aloud, and he would catch clumsy or nonflowing phrases. This technique would be our first go-around.

In the meantime, the waves splashed, the warm breeze off the water was calming, and neither of us felt rushed. It became a bonding time that we looked forward to over the next few months.

After reading aloud, we took turns editing word choice and grammar. When you read aloud, you catch overusage of words and phrases. Using a red pen, we circled all the punctuation errors, repeated phrases and words, scenes out of order, or anything that didn't make sense.

This process is time-consuming, but it works. There are probably better methods for this particular procedure, but at the time, it was all I knew.

What I Learned..

My first draft was messier than I thought, but I also knew the story had good bones. It was believable, and the characters were well-developed. Although reading aloud had been laborious and time-consuming, it allowed me to see what worked, what scenes needed to be cut, and how I overused familiar words.

Being at the beach made it feel less like work and more like remolding the story from a better perspective. Some days were more productive than others, and at times, I read it aloud by myself because my husband had a work schedule too!

This process took the entire summer because I had written a three-hundred-page novel. And working on the editing process in chunks made it seem less intensive and more carefree with the language. I believe this step is essential before sending anything to an editor.

Back to School

By the end of the summer, I had read every single word of my manuscript. The chapters covered in red ink, with crossed-out words and scratched-out scenes, I finally understood what my story actually sounded like. It wasn't perfect, but it was ready for the next step.

I headed back to school with more enthusiasm. This process helped me teach language arts to my incoming students. And as I looked back on the summer, I realized I was in the infancy stage of the whole process. I had one small step among many to take to reach the next phase.

Until then, if you've finished the first draft, I recommend printing it out. Find a beach, park, or your living room, and read it aloud. Your story will thank you.

Until the next blog…

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