3 Things To Be Aware Of When Editing Your Manuscript - syndicated from @JeanNicole19

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The following is syndicated from the blog of JeanNicole Rivers and is posted here with permission.

1. The number of times you use a particular word.

After writing my first novel, The Secret Keepers, I realized that one of my favorite words (unbeknownst to me) was “had”. I used the word so many times that I lost count after the first two chapters. During one of my many edits, I red-flagged each page where I used the word and almost every page was flagged with several uses of the word. Edit by reading your story out loud and abundant use of any particular word will become clear.

2. Times of day.

Make sure that the days in your story progress naturally. You can’t have your characters go for an early morning jog in one paragraph and in the next paragraph talk about how beautiful the sunset is unless you make it clear with your words that the story has quickly progressed into the evening. The scariest thing about this blog is that I would not be giving these particular tips if they were not things that I found in my own writing during the editing phases *shiver*.

3. Spelling of names.

Make sure that you are consistent with the spelling of character names. You can’t have half of the story speak of the main character, Hannah, and the other half speak of the main character, Hanna; that dog just won’t hunt.

Your reader is watching and they will be very critical of careless mistakes, but, also remember that, “a collection of mistakes is called experience and experience is the key to success!”

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About JeanNicole

Syndicated from her website

I was born in the tiny, but lovable town of Centralia, IL which has a two screen movie theatre, one high school and still celebrates May Fete, so I had no choice, but to develop a fantastic imagination. Since childhood I have been writing everything from short stories to songs, but I have always aspired to compose a novel. Black Water Tales: The Secret Keepers is my first novel and the first book in what will be a series of thriller novels.

Philosophy was my study in college and I received a Bachelor of Arts in the subject from Florida International University. Writing is one of my most favored artistic pursuits, but my love for the arts does not stop there, I am also a vocalist and actress and participate in local theater in Houston Texas.

Follow her on Twitter: @JeanNicole19
Check out her blog: HERE