This is a comics society, but I figure there's enough novel writers hanging out for me to throw out a call for help/several questions. I've completed my first novel(cheers) but since it took over six years to write its in an 'antique' language: Appleworks 4.0. I'm unsure what direction to jump now. I could covert it to Rich Text...then what? Where can I find someone to vet a 400 page science fiction?
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Thanks for the thoughtful response, Kevin. I'll check it out!
- Brien
Oh, and just FYI speaking of re-saving to Word, Open Office, etc. -- If you'd rather do this "in the cloud" instead of installing another program to your computer, you can get the same basic file storage/editing/format conversion options by using a free online service like Google Docs, Microsoft Web Apps, or Zoho.com. When you sign up for a free account with any of those, they provide several gigs of storage to back up your documents on their servers, and let you view/edit/share the documents with a browser-based word processor interface.
(Personally, I use a combination of everything. I write with Microsoft Word and save my copies locally to the hard drive, but I also keep backups of my documents online at all the various services listed above. I'm paranoid about losing my work, so the more redundant copies the better as far as I'm concerned!)
The writers over at the "Writing Excuses" podcast had an episode on how to find "alpha readers" -- that is, people to give feedback on a first draft before it's polished up enough to send out to professional agents/editors. A lot will depend on whether you're just looking for help with typos, spelling and grammar, or if you're wanting feedback on the details of the plot, characterization and dialog of the story itself.
Thanks Martin!
Martin Murtonen said:
Matt, Thanks for the advice!
Brien, my recommendation first is to do at least one round yourself of editing. After that, there are tons and tons of freelance editors you can find online who are looking for work. The trick is finding one who is legit and matches your style and the way you tell a story. They will cost you, so you have to be prepared for that.
What I did on my military conspiracy thriller, HONOR, was to hire three different editors to edit the first chapter. I read all their remarks/changes, and there was one who clearly told a story the way that I do. The funny thing is, she was the one who bled the most on the pages, making the most changes with red ink everywhere. But what she did with the story was exactly how I would go about making changes, so I knew we would see eye to eye. I agreed with about 95% of her changes.
So be prepared to spend a little bit of money, but take your time and try and find the right editor to go over it for you. It'll pay off in the end.
Convert to RTF or .doc - (Word is ubiquitous). If you don't have Word you can always get Open Office and then save it to a word file.
Thanks for the reply, Buzz! By "vet" I meant edit; sorry for the confusion.
Thanks for the link to the SFWA and their writersBeware blog. It was informative and a bit scary.