Oh it looks cool, I'll start reading it when I'm back later this weekend. I probably won't be able to do a page by page edit like puriful, but I'll give it a read and let you know what I think, although my preference would be to use a method other than ap.com comments to convey my thoughts.
Scratch that... don't do the generic email plot thing... that's a bad idea. Just let them get confused. They can individually come to you with questions. It may take a little more effort, but the more confusion the better. Means more opportunities to improve. :)
And I should have totally sent that last one in an email... haha... sry
Good. I'm glad you have some ideas for potential people to seriously edit. I'm only 22 and I know that I still don't know everything there is to know about the English languange and semantics. Haha. What I'm trying to say is the more people you have to edit, the better your stuff will sound. I might miss something that someone else picks up. Or one of us will make a stupid suggestion that a third person corrects.
Alright, skyping and continuation of proofreading will have to wait until I'm settled back at school. My winter break ends in a few days, so I'll be busy with new classes and all that.
You're right, it's good to start editing early. Hmm, suggestions for getting people to do what you want.... that's always tricky. Hahaha!! Well, I would say that you could ask one person to proofread 20 pages (I think that's a good, hearty amount. Ask for more if you need, or less if they're less willing). I would personally ask them to make at least 3 comments on each page. That way they're not just casually reading your stuff, but seeking out errors. If 3 comments are too much for them just ask for one per page (which doesn't include compliments. You don't want any bull, you want you're stuff to sound good. Compliments can be in addition if they feel so abliged).
It's kind of like selling a car. You want $5,000 for your good running car and the person interested in buying it is trying to talk the price down. You don't know their top offer is $4,500, but you're afraid they might walk away unless you signficantly drop the price to $4,000. You just lost 500 bucks!! What I'm trying to say is, always lean towards giving people more pages. Don't give them two options. Say, between 40 and 20 pages, because they'll pick the easier one. If it seems like a struggle and maybe they even already said no, then say "oh well, how about only ten?" People like to help people, but oftentimes not at their own expense. If they're about to back out, make it easier for them to help you.
Keep doing this for every 20 page set (or whichever number you choose). First 20 pages one person reads, pages 20-40 the second person reads, etc. Its good to have multiple people read every page, but if you're struggling just to get your entire thing read through by only one person... then you need to compromise. Hmm, you could even go by chapter if you so desire! Another problem though, is that people will be TOTALLY lost in what's going on in your novel. You can write out a quick generic email to introduce characters and plotline and send it to those proofreading your work. Don't give away anything important though. You still want people to "get confused" if they don't understand something. If you give away too much info, then its just like you editing your stuff... you already know what's going to happen so potential confusion isn't noticed.
Speaking of you editing. You never answered my question. Did you edit your first chapter yourself? You need to, if you haven't. Don't rely too much on other people to fix the problems for you. They may screw up royally and you might not notice when making the changes. Hey, things can happen.
On that note, don't just change what I tell you to. You're the author. You know how the story goes. You know how you want to say things and how you want the reader to perceive them. If you see unnecessary suggestions, then don't make the change. Possibly every person who edits your work is going to want to change alot. That can be because its not how "they would say it." This can be a problem because then the style of writing changes from page to page and might even be harder to follow than originally. Keep your identity as an author. You have an obligation to seriously consider suggestions (even giving yourself time to think about it), but you don't have a duty to every proofreader to enact them.
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I saved the email address, no worries.
Oh it looks cool, I'll start reading it when I'm back later this weekend. I probably won't be able to do a page by page edit like puriful, but I'll give it a read and let you know what I think, although my preference would be to use a method other than ap.com comments to convey my thoughts.
Scratch that... don't do the generic email plot thing... that's a bad idea. Just let them get confused. They can individually come to you with questions. It may take a little more effort, but the more confusion the better. Means more opportunities to improve. :)
And I should have totally sent that last one in an email... haha... sry
Good. I'm glad you have some ideas for potential people to seriously edit. I'm only 22 and I know that I still don't know everything there is to know about the English languange and semantics. Haha. What I'm trying to say is the more people you have to edit, the better your stuff will sound. I might miss something that someone else picks up. Or one of us will make a stupid suggestion that a third person corrects.
Alright, skyping and continuation of proofreading will have to wait until I'm settled back at school. My winter break ends in a few days, so I'll be busy with new classes and all that.
You're right, it's good to start editing early. Hmm, suggestions for getting people to do what you want.... that's always tricky. Hahaha!! Well, I would say that you could ask one person to proofread 20 pages (I think that's a good, hearty amount. Ask for more if you need, or less if they're less willing). I would personally ask them to make at least 3 comments on each page. That way they're not just casually reading your stuff, but seeking out errors. If 3 comments are too much for them just ask for one per page (which doesn't include compliments. You don't want any bull, you want you're stuff to sound good. Compliments can be in addition if they feel so abliged).
It's kind of like selling a car. You want $5,000 for your good running car and the person interested in buying it is trying to talk the price down. You don't know their top offer is $4,500, but you're afraid they might walk away unless you signficantly drop the price to $4,000. You just lost 500 bucks!! What I'm trying to say is, always lean towards giving people more pages. Don't give them two options. Say, between 40 and 20 pages, because they'll pick the easier one. If it seems like a struggle and maybe they even already said no, then say "oh well, how about only ten?" People like to help people, but oftentimes not at their own expense. If they're about to back out, make it easier for them to help you.
Keep doing this for every 20 page set (or whichever number you choose). First 20 pages one person reads, pages 20-40 the second person reads, etc. Its good to have multiple people read every page, but if you're struggling just to get your entire thing read through by only one person... then you need to compromise. Hmm, you could even go by chapter if you so desire! Another problem though, is that people will be TOTALLY lost in what's going on in your novel. You can write out a quick generic email to introduce characters and plotline and send it to those proofreading your work. Don't give away anything important though. You still want people to "get confused" if they don't understand something. If you give away too much info, then its just like you editing your stuff... you already know what's going to happen so potential confusion isn't noticed.
Speaking of you editing. You never answered my question. Did you edit your first chapter yourself? You need to, if you haven't. Don't rely too much on other people to fix the problems for you. They may screw up royally and you might not notice when making the changes. Hey, things can happen.
On that note, don't just change what I tell you to. You're the author. You know how the story goes. You know how you want to say things and how you want the reader to perceive them. If you see unnecessary suggestions, then don't make the change. Possibly every person who edits your work is going to want to change alot. That can be because its not how "they would say it." This can be a problem because then the style of writing changes from page to page and might even be harder to follow than originally. Keep your identity as an author. You have an obligation to seriously consider suggestions (even giving yourself time to think about it), but you don't have a duty to every proofreader to enact them.
Done. ttyl
Have a good new years?
and do you have any anime suggestions? im pretty much open to anything??