I don\u2019t read as much as I used to, mostly due to lack of time, but I like to keep\u00a0my Kindle well stocked with material for vacations or those nights when sleep eludes me.\u00a0My e-reader\u00a0carries a number of old favorite books, comfort reads for when I need it, new books from favorite authors, and stories from authors completely new to me. I\u2019m not particular about whether a novel is published by a major publisher, a small one,\u00a0or self published. I base my buying decisions on whether the blurb intrigues me and the opening grabs me.<\/p>\n
One thing I have learned from hard experience, though. If I\u2019m not familiar with the author, I always download the sample text. If there isn\u2019t a sample available, I don\u2019t buy it. There are plenty of other intriguing stories. If the sample is well written and grabs my attention, I buy.<\/p>\n
One thing that will guarantee I\u2019ll pass on\u00a0a story\u00a0is poor grammar or usage. I may not be typical in this because I’m a former editor myself, but repeated errors just totally bounce me out of a story.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m actually still surprised at the number of sample chapters I\u2019ve downloaded where writers who call themselves authors don\u2019t know basic punctuation and spelling. Even if someone isn’t really confident about the mechanics, this is so easy to fix there’s really no excuse for it. Hire someone to edit your manuscript before you put it out for public consumption. Sadly, though, I\u2019ve also found that most writers who haven\u2019t mastered basic grammar generally don\u2019t do well in other facets of storytelling either. Even a great story idea won\u2019t work if the creator doesn\u2019t have the tools to tell it well.<\/p>\n
Just a few days ago I got burned again, even though I downloaded sample chapters before I bought the book. The first few chapters of this story, which I won\u2019t identify, were nicely done\u00a0\u2013 clean, vivid, and appealing. But then the writing deteriorated. Initially good punctuation began to fade into run on sentences, missing commas, and other grammatical ills. A few misused words showed up, then the writing became vaguer, sentences became awkward, and telling took over from showing.<\/p>\n
I recognized the symptoms of a phenomenon I\u2019ve heard agents and editors talk about: manuscripts where the first few chapters have been workshopped and critiqued into smooth, clean storytelling, but the rest of the story hasn\u2019t enjoyed the same attention. Worse yet, this story had a terrific beginning that fizzled into a welter of unnecessary flashbacks, repetitive story events, and shallow characterization. A good idea drowned in the author\u2019s inability to plot in ways that would show how her characters wrestled with their problems and\u00a0grew and learned from what they experienced. Another draft or two could have turned this blah effort into a gem.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s sad that in the rush to self publish, too many authors are taking shortcuts that will likely short circuit their careers rather than take the time and make the effort to craft a product that will have readers clamoring for their next story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I don\u2019t read as much as I used to, mostly due to lack of time, but I like to keep\u00a0my Kindle well stocked with material for vacations or those nights when sleep eludes me.\u00a0My e-reader\u00a0carries a number of old favorite …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":605,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599\/revisions\/605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}