Editing, and Originality
Been spending my time reading a lot lately. The writing Muse comes in spurts and right now it's off. So I'm swimming in books to read. A couple have been so hot I've re-read them! Anyway, it's distressing to see PUBLISHED works with bloopers. Like, in this one really good book, this character is working as an undercover cop, and one of the people with him uses his real name [someone who doesn't KNOW his real name--it's a writer's mistake which not everyone will catch, but--ouch!]. And, then there's this ARC [Advance Release Copy for review] I'm reading by a New York author and I'm only half through it and have already come across one wrong name use AND a content error almost any competent reader will catch. Heck, if any publisher saw that in my writing the manuscript would be tossed in the trash.
I've submitted two stories this summer. Both were rejected because they can't be placed due to not fitting said formula. At writer's conventions I've gone to, and in How To Write books I've read there are debates about Originality VS Marketability. Writers who follow the formula get marketed. The few lucky Original writers who get published win awards. If you're a writer, some day you too will have to make the decision--Do I want awards or money? Very few writers get both. Very few.
So far, I'm still on the Originality side--that's why only one of my many completed stories have published. Still, it's frustrating to see bloopers in stuff out of New York that would not be accepted in my work.
I've submitted two stories this summer. Both were rejected because they can't be placed due to not fitting said formula. At writer's conventions I've gone to, and in How To Write books I've read there are debates about Originality VS Marketability. Writers who follow the formula get marketed. The few lucky Original writers who get published win awards. If you're a writer, some day you too will have to make the decision--Do I want awards or money? Very few writers get both. Very few.
So far, I'm still on the Originality side--that's why only one of my many completed stories have published. Still, it's frustrating to see bloopers in stuff out of New York that would not be accepted in my work.