Wednesday, May 27,

1992 - North Shore News - 53

N. Shore women set up a novel enterprise

Manuscript evaluation

helps would-be writers

“SOME PEOPLE think that
list they can write a novel.”

And Lois Richardson is quali-
fied and more than willing to tell
you when your novel reads like a
grocery list.

The West Vancouver freelance
book editor and her partner,
Carol Anne Graves, have just
begun their own Manuscript
Evaluation Service to help
would-be novelists avoid the most
treacherous of writing pitfalls.

The idea is to fix the mistakes
before your cherished work hits
the publisher’s desk.

With 15 years of book editing
experience, Richardson knows the
kinds of traps writers can fall in-
to.

A common one is repetition.
Being redundant. Saying the same
thing over and over.

Then there’s organization.

“A lot of people tend to start in
the middle instead of at the
beginning,’’ observes Richardson.
“Very often there’s no introduc-
tion or ending. Sometimes the plot
just disappears altogether.’’

Other crimes include assuming
the reader knows what you mean.

“Computer and how-to man-
uals are notorious for making
assumptions about what we really
know,’” and attempting to docu-
ment everything you’ve ever
known all in one book.

Richardson says she has seen
some pretty awful manuscripis,
but she won't tell anyone that he
or she will never be published.

if they can write a grocery

By Eveiyn Jacob
News Reporter

What she does is a line-by-line
reading of the work and from
there, prepares a written critique.

So don’t expect to find editing
marks on your work,

The reason: paying someone to
edit your work by the hour can be
extremely expensive, because
editing can take longer than the
writing of the book.

Accepting criticism of your
work may be hard on the ego, but
in the fong run it could prove to
be easy on your pocketbook,
because Richardsen will help im-
prove your chances of being
published.

And along the way you'll get an
honest, objective opinion.

As she points out, ‘‘People send
off their manuscripts to publishers
and get the standard form letter
of rejection, but they don’t know
why their work was rejected.”

And the only way to improve
your work, she says, is by getting
criticism.

But even polished work can
meet the same fate as a flop. Just
because somcthing is good doesn’t
guarantee it will get published.

“What publishers are fooking
for changes every year. Most are
looking forward ahead
three years to figure out what will

two to:

'

a i

NEWS photo Cindy Goodman

HAS YOUR work been rejected by a publisher? Lois Richardson (right) and Carol Anne Graves are

here to help tell you why.

be hot then.

“In fact, probably some of the
best books written never get
published. Most publishers have a
fimited number of books they can
publish — some only put out
three a year." .

Richardson, who holds a master
of journalism degree from
Syracuse University, has worked
for such local publishers as Self

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She's targeting novice writers
seeking feedback on their manu-
scripts, writers whose work has

been rejected by a publisher, peo-

TT

ple hesitant about submitting their *
work for publication and ‘‘closet
writers’? with novels in their
drawers.

If this sounds like you, you can
reach Richardson at 922-4338.

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