Young Writers Society

Every so often you come across stories, poems or anything, that have mistakes growing right out of them. Silly little typo's that even a ten year old could spot. It's something that I've been noticing lately. Some people, when making posts don't seem to bother even skimming over. It's almost like they've just pressed the submit button without taking a glance at the finished product.

I'm not saying it happens often but when it does, it bothers me.

When people make posts, I think it's essential that they edit, not only to improve their writing but to boost their chances at getting decent reviews! If something looks unkempt, messy and as though the author hasn't really bothered then the chances of getting a helpful review will be slim. It's simple; If you don't put in the effort, no one else will.

A piece of work that is presented well, edited well and formatted in a way that's easy to read but isn't exciting will be garaunteed to get more happy readers then a messy, untidy piece with a lot of mistakes yet a really action packed plot. So many people understate the importance of editing. And it doesn't mean spending hours looking up the dictionary for new exotic words to replace your old ones, it could be simply skimming over for typo's and grammar errors. All of these little corrections are what really polish a piece and show it off. Not only does it look better but you feel a lot better when you know you're posting something you've worked hard at. Something you care enough about to revise.

An increase in reviews to that particular edited piece is certain! Everyone loves putting effort into a review once they know that effort has been put into the post.

In saying all of that, remember that no piece can be edited to perfection or to the point where it has no mistakes. Everyone has points to improve on no matter how hard or long you edited. So don't be disappointed if you get a lot of corrections through the reviews you recieve. No piece can be perfect or as good as you want it to be but it will get better. Editing will improve anything. Anything.

So, next time you post keep in mind that editing and effort make all the difference to your writing but also, the quality of reviews you recieve.

If you need help editing, I get all my editing advice from here and here.

Good luck YWSer's!

Any reasons why "typos" and "YWSers" is possessive with the apostrophe?

I'd just like to point out that some people honestly don't know how to catch errors or format a work properly. I proofread my early stories three/five times and still had a bunch of mistakes because I just didn't know they were mistakes. I still get a few typos and homophone switches, although I am better.

So if you see somebody with a bunch of mistakes in their work, from formatting to spelling to grammar, take the time to post and explain what they're doing wrong so they can edit. You help a writer out, and gain a review.

Oh definitely. I was just stressing that you have higher chances of getting reviews when you edit. Of course you'll never catch all the mistakes. Maybe I didn't make that clear.

I clearly made a mistake of my own in that very post so if I didn't make myself clear, Rosie's 100% right.

Thanks!
Kagi xoxo

It was rather clear, but I just wanted to restate it. ^^

Also, once somebody's pointed out your mistakes, use the edit button to fix them so other readers don't feel they have to repeat everything. Great way to retroactively get a few more reviews.

Oh I know, you see I'm on my iPhone at the minute so it's rather hard to edit with such a small key-pad and screen.

But I'll surely edit as soon as I reach a nearby computer.

Thanks.

I didn't mean you directly. Just in general.