Polishing Your Manuscript

Manuscript editing is often called polishing when it involves more than simple proof reading but less than full rewriting. Most manuscripts need polishing. Why?

We've all heard the old saw that two heads are better than one. In writing, two sets of eyes are much better than one. Few things are more difficult for writers than proof reading our own work. A student once asked me about a note he had received from an editor. It read: 'Manuscript not yet ready for book editing.' That meant, of course, that there were still some major work to be done on the mechanical side of the piece. In other words, it needed polishing. The student still didn't understand. I 'polished' the first six pages for him. Then he understood.

Polishing involves aspects of both proofing (spelling, punctuation, tense agreement, etc.) and minor rewriting (restructuring sentences and paragraphs, making vocabulary substations, reorganization materiel within a chapter . . .).

As the writer, you know what you intend and it is no small task to view your own work through the eyes of your potential readers – folks who don't know what you intend until they read it. The writer doing polishing must maintain that perspective and modify the piece accordingly. Writers are typically verbal rather than visual people so it is easy for us to make inappropriate substitutions of homonyms (hear, here; there, their; its, it's, and the like.) Those are big no nos to editors at publishing houses, however.

A manuscript that has been well polished retains the tone and style of the original. One that has undergone rewriting may look and feel quite differently. Remember, a piece that needs rewriting doesn’t look and feel right to begin with, hence the rewrite. A piece only needing polishing or proof reading generally looks and feels fine but aspects of the minor mechanics need fixing.

A closely guarded secret of may successful authors is that they regularly have expert polishers 'touch up' their final drafts. Some authors would rather spend their time on the creative side of writing and leave things such as proof reading and polishing to those who specialize in such services.

Although I do proof reading and polishing of dozens of manuscripts each year for others, I always have someone else do proof reading of my own original work.

So, having proof reading done on your pieces is never a put down; it just demonstrates your keen savvy about building a great manuscript. I recently completed rewriting a celebrities autobiographical manuscript. I then had proof reading and polishing done for me by a colleague.

Why have your manuscripts polished? To move them up from great but rejected to great and accepted.

By: Tom Gnagey

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Tom Gnagey is a successful, long time, writer with more than 100 original books and 350 stories in his personally published bibliography (seven pen names). He has rewritten dozens manuscripts for others. His education includes degrees in psychology, education, and philosophy. Tom is a nationally known speaker and creative writing teacher. For FREE SAMPLES of his stories and information about his Writing Rx services go to www.TomsBookNook.com now.