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Writers wanted – worried about spelling and grammar

Writers wanted – worried about spelling and grammar

Are you so worried about your spelling or grammar that you simply won’t commit your thoughts to the written page? If so, now’s the time to place your fears behind you and dive in at the deep end.

There’s no escaping that a book that is filled with spelling and grammar mistakes goes to be hard for its buyers to read. You can’t dress it up the other way. But don’t necessarily let this concern prevent you from responding to the Writers Wanted campaign that we’re currently running.

Let’s explain what’s meant by this statement with some suggestions.

Other than ‘give up altogether, what are the choices for a frustrated writer whose spelling and grammar leave tons to be desired?

  • They can:
  • Take lessons
  • Say to publishers ‘take me as I am
  • Get somebody else to correct it

While signing up with an English tutor or avoiding nighttime school is extremely laudable, it’s a route that’s getting to take you an extended time and doubtless cost you a substantial amount of money to travel down. There’s not even a guarantee of success at the top.

Expecting publishers or agents or us at Any Subject Books to ‘take me as I am and do all the corrections unpaid on your behalf is additionally a non-starter. Sure, if you’ve just spent the last 6 months being adopted by a family of polar bears or you’ve been one of the primary astronauts on Mars, the expenditure in time and energy for the publisher to correct your work is well worthwhile. for everybody else – it isn’t getting to happen.

If you’re worried about your spelling and grammar, the likelihood is that that you simply ’ve already made personal efforts that haven’t taken you to the quality you realize that you got to be at. There’s no shame – English may be a complex language, filled with traps and tricks. It doesn’t even have consistent meanings and spellings among its principal speakers.

Thus:

  • US: does one realize your pants are on fire?
  • UK: does one realize your trousers are on fire?
  • AU: does one know your strides are burning mate?
  • That’s enough negativity, let’s be positive now.

The first thing to try to do is to modify off that pesky spell-check. it’s going to appear to be a lifeline but it isn’t because it just gives a false sense of security. No spell-check can decide whether:

  • Weather should be whether
  • They’re should be their
  • Here should be hear
  • The heir should be air
  • Need should be knead

… and the other way around, of course. you simply find yourself reinforcing errors in your spelling. We’ve seen it happen numerous times.

A good tip if you don’t skills to punctuate speech (a common problem) is to write down it like this:

he said passionately

Apart from making it easier for you to proofread, these marks also leave subsequent searching and replacing with the right punctuation.

When you’ve finished your book, get as many of us as you’ll to read it, both from some extent of view of assessing the content (of course) but also set them on the lookout for errors. Unless you recognize that one among these contacts is especially good at spelling and punctuation, note what they assert but compare it with what others say, too. Correct the mistakes which you’re confident actually are mistaken.

You still need the knowledgeable eye to seem at your writing, though. Yes, which will cost but it’s worthwhile. By following the recommendation here, you’ll have minimized the work that they need to try to and this may help keep the value down. Alternatively, Any Subject Books is offering anyone responding to the Writers Wanted campaign the choice of engaging professional editing help.

If the rationale for your spelling and grammar issues is because English isn’t your mother tongue, it’s nearly always better to write down the book in your native tongue than pay to urge it translated by an English speaker.

Always engage a native English speaker and never make a false economy by choosing someone who claims their English is sweet – it won’t be ok. Their use of vocabulary, idioms, syntax, etc are going to be discrepant with how the language is really spoken and your translation will stick out sort of a sore thumb.

No, there’s no band-aid to having poor spelling and grammar but the matter isn’t insurmountable if you accept it for what it’s and work with it, not against it.

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