It's the first Wednesday of the month and so it’s time for another Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) blog hop! In an IWSG post, we writers bring our writing challenges and problems out into the open to share with each other and try to offer solutions. I'm having to double up between the weekly Monday post and the IWSG post again. I had to take off the weekend and recuperate from a busy last few weeks of trying to make changes in my life for both health and financial reasons. So, for this post, I'm answering the IWSG optional question of the month, and I have updates on the stories I'm currently working on for my upcoming short fiction collection, "Bad Apps". I’ll also show you why it can be helpful to format your story before doing a proofreading of it.
IWSG Question for March
The IWSG monthly question for March is: If for one day you could be anyone or *thing* in the world, what would it be? Describe, tell why, and any themes, goals, or values they/it inspire in you. My answer to that is that I don't think I'd want to be anyone else even for a day. When I was in my teens and, perhaps, my 20s, there were probably several people and animals I would like to be just for a short time at least. I just don't remember who or what I had wanted to be.
I didn't even know what I really wanted to be as far as personality went. I was always trying to find my identity in other people and even though because we're social beings we influence each other, I never found it. It wasn't until I dated a gal who was a real eccentric (in some ways, too much of one) that I found out that it's okay and is actually important to accept who you are and not try to cover up your likes just for the rest of the crowd.
In relation to this, I never really wanted to be another writer such as Ray Bradbury or Harlan Ellison, two of my favourites (especially the latter). This is because I knew I had my own story to tell: my own life that influences that the stories I write. Why should I want to be another, more famous, writer or artist? If I were to be another, I would be neglecting my own unique self and so my own unique vision on life. Writing and art are all about the unique vision of the artist and if you let yourself be someone else then what good does that do or the world? Doing that is telling yourself that you can't be your own writer or artist and it’s keeping back a unique vision from the rest the world that can learn from it.
How Formatting Your Fiction Draft Can Help in Your Proofreading
I'm now in the final proofreading stages of two of my stories for my collection, "Bad Apps". Actually one, "Game Night", has already been proofread, I just have to type in the grammar and mechanics edits. The other one, "Virtual Voodoo", I’m just finishing up on the formatting so I can proofread it out loud for clarity and smoothness.
Normally, I save the formatting for after the final proofreading. However, with “Game Night” and “Virtual Voodoo” I decided to do differently and format the stories before proofreading them one last time. The formatting involves, as a lot of us know, things such as indenting the beginning of each paragraph, spacing in the appropriate places and taking out those extra spaces (and so spaces in inappropriate places). For me, it also means taking out all and any highlights, revisional notes (which, on electronic copies, I normally put in bold inside brackets), and deleting any cross-outs or strikethroughs. However, I do these things on a separate copy that I make which I call a revision read copy. That way, I can go back to the original if I have to find a crossed-out passage or refer back to a revisional note for whatever reason.
The reason I've been formatting before the final proofread is because I can catch problems with sentence structure and repetition more easily among. If the text isn't formatted when I do the final proofread then unindented paragraphs and crossed out passages and such may distract from catching the mistakes. By the time of the final proofread, the content matter such as the story structure and characterization should be all revised which during those stages the formatting shouldn't really matter as much.
So, if you find yourself having a problem during your final proofreading catching any of those smaller issues but ones that can be distracting to your readers, you may want to try formatting the story ahead of time.
New Blog Appearance
I haven't been able to find a theme on Blogger that will fit my blog's new background. I tried uploading the new background using different theme templates after having tried the current template, but none of them worked out. I'm going to see if I can upload a template from outside Blogger that the background will fit, but I'm not sure if the platform allows outside templates.
Newsletter
I've been behind on my author's newsletter. Right now, I'm in the early planning stages. One of the things that I'm planning is a behind-the-scenes in addition to the usual progress report on "Bad Apps". If you're not signed up for my newsletter, you can do so here. It's free!
Would you be another person or thing if you could? When do you normally format your story? During the revision process? Before? After?
Today’s IWSG is brought to you by these super co-hosts: Ronel Janse Van Vuuren, Pat Garcia, and Liza @ Middle Passages! IWSG was founded by awesome author Alex Cavanaugh, writer of the Cassa Series of novels!
Until next time . . .
I'm completely with you on not wanting to be another person. Not even for a day. Good luck with finishing up your collection! It sounds like you're getting there. I always do a final proofread using the physical proof copy, and I've found that I can usually catch a few more errors/issues that way, despite the fact that I always print up the manuscript to check on paper before getting that far. It's still different to read it in the actual book, so doing the formatting and checking again like you said makes sense.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteI definitely do all my revising, including the final proofreading, on the physical copy. Trying to do it on the screen burns my eyes out and gives me a headache.
I only want to be me as well.
ReplyDeleteI make sure everything is formatted before I start any edits. Of course, I don't make any edits in the document like strike-throughs. Old fashioned - I print it out and edit there.
Normally I just do strike throughs on the e copy for those passages I'm not sure that I want to get rid of or not. Otherwise, I just cross out on paper.
DeleteI wish more authors knew how to get their manuscripts ready for formatting. I do print and eBook formatting and sometimes the stuff I get is a total mess!
ReplyDeleteI mostly do the formatting for my own proofreading, submissions to critique readers and to professional book manuscript formatters. I've tried formatting for the final book form myself and have nearly gone out of my head doing so. That's how mechanically disinclined I am! Lol
DeleteHi, Steven! A number of members have shared that they don't want to be anyone other than themselves. I think what you said about accepting yourself and not covering it up for the rest of the crowd is really important. Thanks for sharing the formatting info. Have a great March!
ReplyDeleteThanks Fundy Blue! You have a great March too!
DeleteYes, being yourself is important rather than trying to blend into the crowd. I think unfortunately many of us don't learn this into past our teenage years when all we want to do is fit in.
ReplyDelete