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A sunpenny novel of note |
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One of our delightful children's books |
2. Check your facts. If your fiction refers to historical events or even recent times, make sure you've done your homework. For example, don't have people watching a TV show that wasn't running at the time. There's always someone out there who knows and will pick you up on it. Added to that, if you're describing a real life place or town, make sure your descriptions are accurate. If you get them wrong, someone will notice that you haven't done your research properly.
3. As far as your plot goes, check your continuity and make sure you don't have characters suddenly doing things they've never done before, or that you've given no suggestion of in previous chapters. Your heroine can't suddenly develop a passion for animals half way through the story if there's been no indication of her fondness for furries before. Every action needs to be logical and believable so if you haven’t prepared the ground for what your characters do, you'll lose credibility with your readers. As a film-maker once told me, every action needs to be properly set up or it will flop.
4. Assuming your book has been accepted based on the first few chapters, complete your draft, and then put it aside before you check it through for grammar and spelling. Do your best to send the best you can do! Editors and proofreaders are human and can get both distracted and irritated if the author hasn't done any spelling or grammar checks and the book is littered with errors. There will always be some; never doubt that. We never see all our own mistakes and you will be amazed at how many you miss. However, it's your job first to get it as good as you possibly can before delivering it to your editor.
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Jo Holloway, managing editor |
Sunpenny staff and authors at the London Book Fair 2016 |