Yo guys I want to clarify something when I read my book for any mistakes everytime I find at least one or two sentences that can be written better this looks like a never ending problem for me what should I do now should I leave it as it is? And is this a problem for every one or I'm the only one who's having this type of problem!
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Yo guys want to clarify something...
- Thread starter Bick vire
- Start date
pmmg
Myth Weaver
Ya know, the above post is hard to sift through. If your book is same...you may have an uphill battle.
Your posts in general have me wondering if english is a first language for you. It seems like it is, but sometimes I wonder.
Yes...if you have errors in your book, or you can find ways to write things better, especially with more clarity, you should do so.
What you put out in public represents you, and if what you put out is not ready to be under lights, you risk drawing a lot of negative reviews, which will be hard to overcome when later works come out. You should always look to put your best foot forward. Put out quality work you can believe in. That should always be your goal.
And, it is a never ending problem for us all. I can assure, lingering inside of my published works is probably 100 errors I dont know about. It is a never ending struggle.
But...there does come a time when I've done my best, and its time to move on.
Your posts in general have me wondering if english is a first language for you. It seems like it is, but sometimes I wonder.
Yes...if you have errors in your book, or you can find ways to write things better, especially with more clarity, you should do so.
What you put out in public represents you, and if what you put out is not ready to be under lights, you risk drawing a lot of negative reviews, which will be hard to overcome when later works come out. You should always look to put your best foot forward. Put out quality work you can believe in. That should always be your goal.
And, it is a never ending problem for us all. I can assure, lingering inside of my published works is probably 100 errors I dont know about. It is a never ending struggle.
But...there does come a time when I've done my best, and its time to move on.
Get the free version of Grammarly and pay attention to the gold underlines. (You will get clues on those, but have to figure out the fix.) That will catch about 60-65% of the errors. Paid Grammarly will catch about 90% of the issues
I think I understand the struggle here and it's a real one. As with so many other aspects of writing, dealing with it varies from one writer to the next, so in the end you're going to have to find your own way. But here are my own thoughts, for what they might be worth.
There's finishing the story, then there's finishing the book, and then there's being done. The goal is to get all the way to done.
Finishing the story is a milestone, to be sure. It's when you've got the whole story written, with THE END right where it belongs. That feels so good, the very natural thing for a first-time author is to get the thing published.
That's when we discover that there's a whole _process_ that comes after THE END. It's formatting, and getting an author copy so you can review it yet again, and then there's the whole marketing business. If you're doing traditional publishing, the process is often even longer.
As the OP has discovered, though, there's also the process of letting go. It's a bit like when you have grown children and they come visit and then they leave again. There are the goodbyes, maybe some tears, you wave as you watch the car pull away. And there's a space of time, maybe minutes or hours or even days, when you still feel the absence. Eventually, though, the day fills with other activities and cares and the goodbye is truly done.
That's something like what happens. The book is done. It might even be published. But you have not yet let go. It doesn't help that you're out there marketing the book, talking to others about it, so it stays fresh. You have reason to look over the work, maybe a page, maybe a chapter, and your eye trips over a stupid error, or your ear catches a false note in some dialog, or maybe you just think you could do that scene better.
The only way to get past all that is to find your way to get past all that. The first step is to acknowledge the problem. You don't *feel* done with it.
My way, and I think many of us here have found this, is to start in on the next story. That gradually fills up my mental and emotional space until I can regard the previous book, not with objectivity but at least with resignation. Yes, this or that could be better. Yes, that error there still makes me wince.
But I'm done with it. I'm not going back and I'm ok with that.
So, I don't really have any advice on how to do it, but I'm confident in saying that's your target. Aim for it. Be conscious and deliberate about getting past the story and past the book and get all the way to done. And then you can go forward.
There's finishing the story, then there's finishing the book, and then there's being done. The goal is to get all the way to done.
Finishing the story is a milestone, to be sure. It's when you've got the whole story written, with THE END right where it belongs. That feels so good, the very natural thing for a first-time author is to get the thing published.
That's when we discover that there's a whole _process_ that comes after THE END. It's formatting, and getting an author copy so you can review it yet again, and then there's the whole marketing business. If you're doing traditional publishing, the process is often even longer.
As the OP has discovered, though, there's also the process of letting go. It's a bit like when you have grown children and they come visit and then they leave again. There are the goodbyes, maybe some tears, you wave as you watch the car pull away. And there's a space of time, maybe minutes or hours or even days, when you still feel the absence. Eventually, though, the day fills with other activities and cares and the goodbye is truly done.
That's something like what happens. The book is done. It might even be published. But you have not yet let go. It doesn't help that you're out there marketing the book, talking to others about it, so it stays fresh. You have reason to look over the work, maybe a page, maybe a chapter, and your eye trips over a stupid error, or your ear catches a false note in some dialog, or maybe you just think you could do that scene better.
The only way to get past all that is to find your way to get past all that. The first step is to acknowledge the problem. You don't *feel* done with it.
My way, and I think many of us here have found this, is to start in on the next story. That gradually fills up my mental and emotional space until I can regard the previous book, not with objectivity but at least with resignation. Yes, this or that could be better. Yes, that error there still makes me wince.
But I'm done with it. I'm not going back and I'm ok with that.
So, I don't really have any advice on how to do it, but I'm confident in saying that's your target. Aim for it. Be conscious and deliberate about getting past the story and past the book and get all the way to done. And then you can go forward.
Karlin
Sage
This is from Aldous Huxley's introduction to Brave New Words (one of the later editions, by which time he'd gotten some criticism):
“Chronic remorse, as all the moralists are agreed, is a most undesirable sentiment. If you have behaved badly, repent, make what amends you can and address yourself to the task of behaving better next time. On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.”
“Chronic remorse, as all the moralists are agreed, is a most undesirable sentiment. If you have behaved badly, repent, make what amends you can and address yourself to the task of behaving better next time. On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.”
- Thread starter
- #6
Well I totally forgot that I posted about this
and well english is is not my first language actually it's the 3rd language that I learned. 1st one was "telugu", 2nd "hindi", 3rd english. And I also wanna learn Japanese for the future communication purpose haven't started learning it yet but I will in the future.
Currently This type of problem is not happening with the first book that i published recently on Amazon " The lost stone and the forgotten pact1" But instead it's happening in the other book that i kept that as Long term project! And i haven't even kept a title for that one! Because nothing seems to fit right with me. And just wrote
25-30 pages of story and well I'm currently not focusing on that one instead I'm focusing on "the lost stone and the forgotten pact" Well I guess it's fine because i kept that as a long term project 
and i felt a little bit releaved after knowing this is a common thing and it happens to everyone 
- Thread starter
- #7
ThinkerX : well I don't know what gold underline meansGet the free version of Grammarly and pay attention to the gold underlines. (You will get clues on those, but have to figure out the fix.) That will catch about 60-65% of the errors. Paid Grammarly will catch about 90% of the issues
Skip. Knox : Oooo ok it helps sooo much but what if the book is going to be a long one and takes much time to finish" years" Should I still let it be! Without rewriting it
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Karlin
Sage
Thank you. I have learned something about languages. I was vaguely aware of local languages in India, but now a have a specific example. It is humbling to think that ten times as many people speak telegu as speak Hebrew. Though Hebrew is better known in the West, because of the Bible.Well I totally forgot that I posted about this
And I also wanna learn Japanese for the future communication purpose haven't started learning it yet but I will in the future.
Currently This type of problem is not happening with the first book that i published recently on Amazon " The lost stone and the forgotten pact1" But instead it's happening in the other book that i kept that as Long term project! And i haven't even kept a title for that one! Because nothing seems to fit right with me. And just wrote
Dreamerif you read id again and find somethign to fix each time when you are reading, you will gona explode. maybe better is read it once,fix grammar mistake if have, and leave it alone.
ThinkerX : Well, I don't know what gold underline means
Grammarly underlines issues with your writing in different colors. Spelling. Punctuation. A sidebar offers fixes. With the gold underlines in free Grammarly, you get a cryptic note in the sidebar, but no suggested fix, so you have to figure it out. Most of the time, the fixes are obvious.
xena
Troubadour
Sometimes you just have to accept that it'll never be perfect and call it done at some point. Maybe try setting a limit for how many times you revise so it doesn't become endless.
Josh2Write
Troubadour
They're not talking about the inability to let go, they're talking about rewriting scenes as they read back over their final draft, which sounds like their first final ever and they weren't expecting so much rewriting so they were reaching out for answers, maybe thinking they did something wrong when all they did was what any final draft feels like
Josh2Write
Troubadour
It's what every single final draft feels like. You spent so much time moving forward in progression that when you finally finish and go back through and start to read the story again your mind starts seeing it go in new directions because you already know how it ends.
Some changes are slightly different and others can be big so it feels strange. But it's normal and all you have to do is realize it's your story and it can be however you want.
If you think you want to change something think about another person reading it. Which scene would you think they might like best. Read each version out loud or whisper it out loud, it helps to hear what it sounds like.
minta
Troubadour
Almost every writer finds things they want to improve every time they read their work. It can feel never-ending, but at some point, you just have to decide it’s good enough and move on. Maybe set a limit for how many edits you do, then take a break or get someone else to read it.
