RE: The Red Ink Experiment - What a Workshopped Piece Looks Like
In the late 70s and early 80s I read slushpile for Asimov's SF Magazine and then for Amazing Magazine. The slushpile is composed of all the unsolicited manuscripts sent into a publication.
Here's a photo from that time period. Barry Longyear proudly holding a copy of Asimov's with a story by him listed on the cover. We're at a SF convention and he's standing with me in my booth. Sorry for the poor quality, I've lost most pictures from that time.
Some were well crafted, some were in red ink, handwritten, on yellow legal pad paper, and some were just unfathomable!
We worked with the new authors as best we could. But we always pointed out one thing that was good and then showed them what needed improvement or just plain deletion.
One of the most useful tools for an author is to simply read your writing out loud or better yet have someone else read it out loud to you.
Give it a try! All kinds of awkward phrases become so obvious out loud. And dialogue, you really need to have it flow like real speech. How better than to hear it out loud.
All you writers out there @jrhughes has great tips and guides! I just read through a couple of them!
I am following, resteeming and eagerly waiting for more! Also will be checking out the fiction workshop!
And keep on writing!!!
Wow, thanks @madlila, what a cool pic! You are so right about reading aloud. Even in my real-life job, which involves summarizing legal documents and such, I tell the crew to read their work aloud. They never listen lol. So many people will have whole words just missing and I know if they read it out loud they would slow down and catch that.
It sounds like you would bring a lot to the workshop, maybe even how to write better dialogue (which I need lol). We would love to see you there. I'm going to check out your blog now but be sure to give me a holler if you come by PALnet :)