[WPOS] When proofreaders go dull - why First Readers are vital to stories
When errors aren't errors - how proper guttersnipe slang makes books come alive, despite offending proofreader's...
Proofers can wreck your book if they are academic while your characters are not. And I’ve had to caution my own first readers about going too far.
It’s like Robert Kiyosaki ran into - he’s the author of the bestselling “Rich Dad, Poor Dad.” At one point, he turned his book over to an English teacher to edit and proof it into shape. What he got back was nothing like he would ever tell someone. Dull, lifeless, and grammatically correct. So they reverted to the original. As he said, “I’m a best selling author, not a best writing author.
I have some great feedback that comes in on my books. And several people tell me of errors. I've had offers to proof my books as well.
And that is all good. Very good.
As long as this proofing doesn't change my character's voices or my writing voice.
I've had more than one character “tell” me their story in what would be very improper/incorrect English - but it is the way that story is best told. Even when the "English" is some future slanguage that probably will never exist. (Read the opening chapters of Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and you'll see some good examples.) Stephen King also murders proper English in the few stories of his I've read (not a great fan of horror.)
And all this goes back into what Brande covers in her "Becoming a Writer" - that you have a critical (editor's) mind and a creative (writer's) mind. Ideally, you can switch between these as you read - takes practice. Anyway, proofreading can get into destroying the mood and the pacing just to make the sentences "accurate".
Most of the great writing is not what you put in, but what you throw away.
The biggest test of your book is whether you're true to the story that inspired you. In "This Fiction Business" the million-words-per-year-as-routine writer H. Bedford-Jones says that only what is really vital to the story should stay in your writing. You edit out anything that doesn't directly forward the conflict-resolution and character-development. Anything that isn't vital to telling the story can and should go.
"You must be able to picture scenes and places in your own mind, seeing them as it were in a moving picture, and then transfer them to paper—making your characters talk and act naturally."
So if they talk like a guttersnipe - let them. If they are somehow at a royal wedding, well - maybe they clean it up a bit. But when they get back home and tell their family and friends what they saw that day - they won't be understood until they relapse into proper guttersnipe.
Meaning: your proofers need to leave that character alone - and - you'd best be sure that you know the "proper" guttersnipe "grammar". Consistency over propriety.
How to self-revise your story as you go.
The question is - have I left out all the dull parts? Review what you wrote the day before, or when you come back from a necessary break, and re-read what you last wrote. That's the point where you can find out something you should have included, and anything that you shouldn't have.
And you'll also find yourself inspired with what comes next - so park your editor mind at that point and start cranking away again.
If you're writing short stories or chapters-at-a-time, then you can go back and "proof" it for errors when you're done, but also proof it for readability.
The point is that an error is something that throws you out of your story as a reader. The best stories drag you right into the characters, their action, their conflict and don't let you go until the story is finished - and then leave you wanting the next story in the series.
It's not all just writing cliffhangers at the end of each section or chapter - it's throwing out anything that doesn't directly keep that reader reading from the very first word to the very last.
That's proper proofing.
Grammar is the agreed-upon usage by a group of people. It changes with time and by location. It's not set, certainly not by academics, big publishing houses, or large newspaper conglomerates. Jamaican English isn't Creole English isn't the Queen's proper English. Grammar inside your book is set by the characters in it, and the setting they are in.
Your author voice
...is how you talk. The phrase goes: Write like you talk, talk like you present, present to keep your listeners glued to their seats. Here's an exercise - go find the all-time most popular TED talks. Listen/watch them three or four times - until you can start seeing how those presenters trimmed out just what isn't needed for that story.
That's real presentation. That's what your story should be doing.
Your "proofing" should find those errors to fix that will polish your story into its best brilliance. So the reader is entranced all the way through.
You leave out the dull parts and let the story come alive through your typing. That is the only real use of your editor mind while you are creating. "Am I entranced by this?" is the main question.
First Readers vs. Beta Readers
There's some "conventional wisdom" advice to get beta readers going over your stuff. And that all may be fine - if you have readers you can trust to give you recommendations.
The trick, like "proofers" is to get them to leave your writing voice and your character's voices alone. Sure - find the errors, the oopsies. But leave the rest alone.
First readers get the story early on. And they are there to see if the story works.
"Does it throw me out of the story?" is the question for any error they find.
"Would it make the story dull by correcting it? would be the next one.
The other reason to use first readers instead of beta readers is so you can get started on the next story in your long queue.
I have a dear friend (by now) who I've been helping just get her book out. Since I'm getting the story even before its ready to be proofed, I have to turn off my editor mind completely and just enjoy the story. My job at this point is "atta-girl" cheerleading. I go through what I'm going to tell her about the story and how to improve it and simply delete anything that's not purely creative. She doesn't need my opinion about how I'd write that book. She needs (very occasionally) some suggestions of how to get re-started, or to get around some stall. She needs another suggested metaphor for her writing.
Sure, there's stuff that needs fixing. And right now, it's closer to being a novella. May never wind up as a full novel. That doesn't matter. What matters is that the story is true to itself, that you climb into the characters as you read, that you have to keep turning the pages to see how everything works out. And that you're occasionally misty-eyed or give up your sleep to see what's next.
There's the reason for drafts, if there is one.
And using beta-readers is better (bettah) for longer works. Maybe.
Or maybe you should post your chapters on Substack or some forum as you write your book. Plenty of eyeballs to see what you're writing as you go. To comment on your works, to engage with you.
The other reason for first readers
...is to give you more story ideas in the form of questions. How about? and What If? and But how come? are all perfectly good questions.
And those questions give you ideas for writing that can perch on your shoulder like a sharp-taloned crow. Instead of "Nevermore", it's asking "And then what happens?" If you don't write, you feel that twinge. The only way to get that bird to let go is to finish writing the story - and then you're flooded with all sorts of relief and joy as that story is now fully alive and flies off as a white dove to find people to entertain.
You sigh, wipe your eyes of excess moisture, and roll in another virtual sheet of paper into your word-processing program - all so you can get started on the next one.
In the breaks, you look for feedback from your first readers and tweak that last story as needed. Or tell those new stories their comment inspire to get into the queue. Then get back to bringing your current non-dull story to life.
No, you don't have to fix anything they want you to.
And that is the point of this essay today.
The point of any writing is to write the stories that the writer feels - to write the stories they'd like to find in a bookstore.
And to never be bored by the story you're writing. Because what you're feeling while you're writing is what your reader will be feeling at that point.
The purpose of First Readers is to find anything that interrupts those feelings flowing to any reader - and suggest ways to improve them.
The worst correction makes the fine edge of your story go dull. The best correction helps the story become more alive.