• Member Since 23rd May, 2012
  • offline last seen Mar 5th, 2015

DicePony


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Sep
29th
2012

2nd Strike for Jewel - Disheartening · 10:11am Sep 29th, 2012

Bah.

For the last few weeks I've spent a considerable amount of time trying to edit and revise my story The Jewel of Reinsburg.

It's the story I am most proud of, my personal little bundle of self-indulgent joy that makes me smile. I really wanted to share it as I think it's a fun, cheesy, happy little story that even nonshippers can enjoy.

Sadly it's becoming obvious that I just don't "get" the technical rules of writing.

Despite spending weeks on editing, going through each chapter several times to fix problems (grammatical and narrative) I just can't seem to get it. I just don't *see* the errors, either my understanding is wrong or I'm just missing them. I really thought these latest edits polished the story off and brought it up to standard.

The feedback I received was; Cannot recommend this for posting, look for errors in the following areas:

- Compound word hyphenation
- Comma splices
- Hyphen/dash confusion
- Comma use
- Dialogue punctuation
- Ellipsis use
- Capitalization
- Semicolon use

I tried to fix those issues in my last extensive editing, it's obvious I just don't get it.

I know a lot of people use proofreaders and editors but because this is a *complete* story rather than just a 4-5k chapter, I honestly don't feel I can ask somebody to read 45,000 words and edit it for me because I'm an idiot.

It's silly to feel miserable because of this. I love the story anyway... But I don't like to do things half-hearted. I like to accomplish and achieve. I honestly thought my writing was to a good standard. XD

Whine, whine, whine, moan, moan, moan.

I should probably just put Jewel on the shelf and leave it there now.

Shame, I honestly don't think I'll do anything better.

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Comments ( 4 )

Frankly Dice, that's a foreign idea for a writer not to ask for another opinion/proof-reader. You can't look through a story by yourself because your mind knows what the story means; someone else will not know what you might have said or if a comma doesn't sound right. In all honesty, forty five thousand words is not that large of a task. Yes, it is a sizeable amount and shouldn't be tackled lightly by anyone worth their salt in editing, but it can be done.

Bonus: If they enjoy the story, they'll be more than happy to spruce it up. I say, since you have one last chance for Equestria Daily, grab three different editors interested in the job. You will be surprised what they will find. If after that you don't make it on there

who cares. At the end of the day they are a (count: one) blog focusing on everything pony. This site is here for writing and your story is great.

That's my two cents, spend them wisely.
~Cosmic

391836

Thanks buddy, I know you're right. I think it just stung today because I had tried very hard to edit it and thought I had done a really good job

You're absolutely right, EQD is only one blog after all. To be honest it wasn't even getting the strike that bothered me, it was more the fact that I had tried really hard and still missed things.

I'll see if I can round up a few pre-readers from the pre-readers group and ask them to have a crack at Jewel. It is a lot and I appreciate that, but Id like to get it as polished as possible.

Good man, thanks for the pep-talk. :twilightsmile:

Dice, no matter how many times you go through a story, it's your story. You're gonna miss stuff. You always want a second opinion, especially when the first opinion is your own :derpytongue2:. Now, don't get me wrong, Jewel is one of my favorite stories. It got me to like a ship I didn't even think was plausible, so trust me when I say it's a fantastic piece of literature. Can you improve it? Sure, no writing is perfect. Hell, I find mistakes in mass printed books all the time. Don't be afraid to ask for help. A different set of eyes can find things that even the most studious of us can miss and there are people on here who do nothing but edit, and they're damned good at it. So trust 'em yo, they know what they're doing and believe you me, you'll find more than a couple who will love this story.

Now, SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY TO PAY THEM OFF. Cause I would love to see this revised.

391890

Awww broheim! Really appreciate the comment dude, has helped pick me up! Like I said to Cosmic, I know it's just me being daft. I guess I just don't want to trouble somebody with reading my silly cheesy story (all 45,000 words of it!) when they have loads of people bugging them for proofing/editing!

I'll wrap up the final revisions and politely ask some editors to go through it. :pinkiesmile:

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