Using Technology to Improve Your Final Draft
One Saturday afternoon, I sat in a packed conference room with about 150 other would be writers, listening to a conference instructor tell us the keys to self-editing our manuscripts. The number of people in the room spoke to how important it is to make sure your work is crisp, and as close to publishable as possible. Of course, the numbers also told me how many of us don't feel completely sure of our editing abilities.
The advice the instructor gave was nothing new, eliminate adverbs, redundancies, and clichés. Use active verbs, vivid metaphors and strong verbs. Then she dropped the one that I stumble on every time, "read your manuscript out loud."
I have some mental block that prevents me from actually trying this editing method. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my husband already thinks I'm insane. If he hears me talking to myself in my office, he would have me committed. Then again, maybe it's my childhood fear of public speaking, even if the audience only consists of two cats and a dog. Whatever the reasons are I cannot bring myself to read aloud - especially not my own words (shudder).
However, I have found an alternative to the embarrassment of hearing myself speak. Years ago, I invested in a speech recognition software (you talk - it types), which didn't work very well in my opinion. Even after hours of trying to "train" the software, it still didn't understand what I was saying. Despite its uselessness to me at the time, I kept the software on my computer, taking up precious hard drive space. Subconsciously a part of me must have known that I would need something that could read to me someday.
The morning after the conference, I printed a hard copy of my manuscript, fired up the speech recognition software, and followed along as my manuscript was read to me in the most unemotional way imaginable. Think a Speak And Spell? that knows all the dirty words.
The software could not interpret what it thought I meant to say. It just spoke every word as written.
If I forgot a comma, or some other needed punctuation, the computer kept reading at the same pace without pause. That helped me discover one long paragraph that turned out to be one long run-on sentence.
The software program also read the words exactly as typed - typos and all. Did my hero whip or wipe the tears from the heroine's eyes? Typos like this can be funny when you run across them, but they make your manuscript look less than polished.
When you've read your manuscript to yourself, have you ever inserted words that weren't really on the page? You know you have, and you would insert missing words when reading your story aloud too, but the computer won't.
I did a quick internet search and found the particular speech recognition software I have for less than thirty dollars. Not a huge investment for a product that can help take some of the drudgery out of editing a manuscript, and make your final draft so polished your story will shine.
When Stacy Verdick Case (yes, that is her real name) learned that her dreams of being a comic book superhero would never pan out, she turned to writing instead. "In my writing world I can be anyone I want to be." She wrote her first "book" when she was in second grade, a jaunty little picture book entitled No Snow on Christmas, and hasn't quit writing yet.
Since 2000, when she began actively pursuing a career in full-length fiction, Stacy has penned five manuscripts. Her current manuscript, A Grand Murder, has received the following reviews from contest judges and published authors: "Wow! Great stuff!" "Intriguing, fast-paced, funny - flawless." "Loved it!" "It's commercial, it's accessible and you describe your characters very well." "I like Catherine very much and was pulled into this story immediately." "Your snappy contemporary prose are refreshing."
A Grand Murder is the third place winner of the 2004 Daphne du Maurier award in the Unpublished Mainstream Mystery category.
Visit Stacy on the web at http://www.StacyVerdickCase.com
MORE RESOURCES:
 Film School Rejects (blog) | 'Underworld 4' on the Way With 'Shield' Scribe Writing Moviefone According to the Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog, the task of writing the fourth film falls upon John Hlavin, best known as a writer and story editor ... Underworld 4 being scripted by John Hlavin |
Parting Shot: Writing In Alexander for Biletnikoff Award Kansas City Star By Mike dearmond - Posted on 20 November 2009 Danario Alexander is not a finalist for the award given annual to college football's best receiver. ... |
 Film School Rejects (blog) | Mike White Writing New Christmas Comedy Called Santa Wars Fused Film Paramount and Scott Rudin are teaming together for a new Christmas comedy that will feature battling Santas. ... School of Rock's Mike White Writing Holiday Comedy Santa Wars |
Analysis: Darwin vs. Genesis, a literary smackdown Toronto Star Genesis, it has to be said, is tough to beat as a piece of writing. It contains both the best of the wilderness, emerging over several generations from the ... |
Late mail on writing The Age He credits his mother for his love of reading and writing. She bore three sons in three years, and as her belly grew so did a line of Russian novels on her ... |
Mpls. Teams Needs Help Writing Cinderella Story KSTP.com An inner-city youth football team that helped revitalize a Minneapolis park now needs the help of the community to write the ending to a true Cinderella ... |
 New York Daily News | Martha Stewart pans Rachael Ray's cooking - and cooking writing New York Daily News Stewart told ABC News' Cynthia McFadden that Ray's approach to cooking - and cookbook writing - is "not good enough for me." In her first TV interview since ... |
 MTV.com | Lauren Conrad Is Writing A Book On Style MTV.com And when Conrad isn't busy writing books or working on the "LA Candy" movie, she is spending her time designing her clothing line, LC Lauren Conrad, ... Ex-'Hills' star Lauren Conrad is writing a style tips book. Chapter 1: Hire a ... Lauren Conrad is writing a style book Morning Round Up: Lauren Conrad to write a style book PLUS Leighton's latest ... |
Writing project gives Rainier students some new perspectives Longview Daily News Kirkpatrick's class, along with the other classes at Hudson Park Elementary School, have been working on a special writing project, learning to see stories ... |
Cassidy: Former Silicon Valley CEO settles into the writing life San Jose Mercury News Writing is not Raffel's first career. Way back in the 1990s, he started Upshot, a No surprise then that Ian Michaels, the startup executive protagonist of ... |
Its All About YOU!
The Hottest Word on the WebDid you know marketing people and copywriters are developing a science about writing for readers in this new medium called the Web? In fact, they use carefully selected words to catch a reader's attention. Here are a few:NewTrueAuthoritySexualGuaranteedBonusFirstQuickNowCatchFastPersonalSpiritualSuccessFreeThese words are not in any order of importance or frequency.
Writing Press Releases That Get Noticed
Among the various foolproof methods used to boost traffic to your site (ezine advertising, and search engine submitting, to name a couple) one method seems to be forgotten about by many new Internet marketers. That method is writing press releases.
Baby Boomers and Booklets - Share and Share Alike
As one of those fabulous Baby Boomers, you now own a lifetime of valuable experiences, experiences that are useful to other people. You've given so much to your family all these years.
Write That Down! Compulsively Collecting Content for Your Writing
Have you ever read someone else's writing and thought one of the following things:Where did he get such great stories?Why can't I think of examples like that?How does she always develop amazing illustrations?The answer is: content.In writing, content is KING.
Write Your Story, Put It On A Website, Sell Millions of Copies
Although he has his own website, John Grisham probably does very little self-promotion. When you have Doubleday on your side, most of the marketing is done for you.
I Am Biodegradable - My Writing Is Not
My dad was wrong. I just discovered that I am good for nuthin' after all.
How You Can Find Freelance Editing Jobs
Freelance editing opportunities are out there, you just need to know where and how to look for them. As a matter of fact, there are hundreds of companies that are waiting for you, right now, to fill their job vacancies.
Strategies For Finding Topics To Write About
What possibly could I have to write about? I never was good at it anyway. It doesn't matter how hard I try, I just sit and stare and stare at a blank screen.
How Long is a Chapter?
How long should your chapters be?I can't resist..
Masquerading As Novel ~ Can Author's Work Convey Important Perceptions?
While novels do not usually attempt to convey concepts about the need to protect ourselves, this one does. For Sale By Owners:FSBO.
Making Better Word Choices - 4 Examples
Choosing the wrong words can have a poor effect on your writing and on you. Whether you are writing a cover letter for a job, a business proposal, or an application essay for graduate school, using words poorly can result in negative feedback.
The Run-on Sentence: From Here To Eternity
If you find your sentences filled with commas, and they wend from one topic to another, then you, like many people, may be guilty of writing run-on sentences.The run-on sentence is annoying.
Finish Your Book Already!
I owe the completion and success of my book to a big cardboard box that saw me through the entire process. I found this box and filled it with any and all information I could find on my topic 'advanced presentation skills for speakers and business presenters.
How Three Publishing Myths Kill the Author
Agents and publishing houses have their best interests at heart, not the author's. Save yourself from headaches, disappointments, and money down the drain.
10 Best Writers Who Ever Lived
Compiling a list of the history's ten best writers is like skating on a heated swimming pool. Just when you get started, you find yourself in hot water.
To Transcribe or Not To Transcribe Interviews?
11 Secrets from an Experienced InterviewerOne of the unwritten rules of writing a book, an article, orany sort of material that requires the writer to interviewexperts or people "in the know" is to tape record theconversation. Whether the recording occurs via phone or inperson is irrelevant.
Editing and Polishing - How Much is Enough?
A few days ago, I critiqued a chapter for a writer I'd been working with for some months. The main thing we'd been working on was 'de-cluttering' her writing.
The Myths of Writing: Have You Bought Into These?
There is an image most people carry of the artist (think Van Gough's self-portrait, the one with his ear bandaged), working in solitude in a barren garret in a dark corner of the city. Everyday is a struggle.
Does Your Fight Scene Pack a Punch?
Long ago, movie directors mastered the technique of creating a convincing fight scene. Bodies crash to the floor.
Local Knowledge: Background and Historical Setting in Novels
You're writing a story set in your local city, but one hundred years in the past. How can you recreate the feel of the past in your words of the present? Local knowledge, that's how.
