We know, it's only a few days to go. No need to panic, we're here to help with those last few tweaks and touches to your entry. What better way to learn than from the competition founders themselves? (Which is us, in case you hadn't heard). Top Tip #1 Get somebody else to look at your work. Peer reviewing your writing is vital, and other people notice mistakes that you might have missed. Grammatically, this is important. Agents and Publishers aren’t going to respond well to a piece that is riddled with technical and grammatical errors. Peer reviewing also helps you retain clarity in your writing; you know what things are meant to say, but a prospective reader doesn’t. If that doesn’t come across in your work; if it’s vague, unclear or confusing to follow, then people aren’t going to want to read it. Most of all, peer reviewing can let you know what you’re doing well. What do readers want more of? Which characters do they really like? Is the narrative style working? You won’t know this unless you put yourself out there. Top Tip #2 Read your work out loud. It's amazing how reading your piece aloud can force you to pick up on grammar errors, sentences that are too long, or phrases that frankly don't work, that otherwise, you might miss. This is because reading aloud physically accesses a different part of your brain, we process auditory and visual information differently. Equally, reading aloud can help you pick up on sentences that are awkward but not grammatically incorrect. It can feel embarrassing at first, so find a quiet, private space where you can work on your writing on your own. Alternatively, there are pieces of text-to-speech software that can do this for you so you can sit peacefully with headphones in and listen. Take your time and read at a moderate pace, so you have time to make the changes as you go. Top Tip #3 ‘Kill your darlings.’ I have repeated this so much, but it’s absolutely true. A lot of your work, while wonderfully poetic and beautifully constructed, will be a load of old ramblings. You need to learn to cut things down and be brutal about it. I’m a hypocrite because I hate doing this myself, but with 40 lines and 2000 words to play with, there’s not a lot of room for tangents. Cut your piece down to the bare bones of what it’s saying; you can always add things back in later. Examples of Peer-ReviewingTo give you a hand, we've added some examples of our own peer reviewing on our own work! Lara's Piece Ruth's Piece We hope these tips and examples have been helpful.
Remember there is still time to get your entries in for this Friday! Head to our submissions area for all the details. Ruth and Lara x
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