I have been thrilled to hear of several of you writing stories over the summer. If you have completed a first draft, that is a great achievement – well done!

But you mustn’t stop there!

Step 5 – Edit your story

As you will know if you have read my post How I Write a Book – Part 2, the next step is to edit your first draft. That means working though it again and making sure it is easy to read and doesn’t include any mistakes. If you are a young writer, this might be easier to do with the help of an adult.

If you haven’t done so already, this could also be a good time to type it your story up on a computer. You will have to do this at some point if you want to print it out and it makes editing much easier! I like to print what I have written, make a cup of tea and go through it carefully with a pen (what I have written, not the cup of tea!)

If you haven’t typed something on a computer before, ask an adult to show you how.

Step 6 – Get feedback

As writers, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking our writing is perfect just as it is – but the truth is that other people will see things that aren’t as good as they could be. At the end of the day we are writing for an audience and it is more important that other people like our books than that we do!

So, think of a couple of people who haven’t read your story yet and ask them to give you some feedback. It is best to ask people who are from the age group that you are aiming your story at, though if it is a kids book, you want adults to enjoy it too! I’d be happy to read and comment on your book if you would like me to – ask an adult to send it to me at the email address on the about page.

Don’t ask questions that have a “yes” or “no” answer – like, did you like it? Ask, what they liked about it – and what they didn’t like or were confused by… You will learn much more that way!

Of course, once you get feedback, you need to decide whether or not to act on it. This can be challenging, especially if it means re-writing parts of the book. You need to decide whether you think the improvements are worth the effort required to make them…

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In the next post I’ll give you some pointers for the last “production” stages of making a book, including illustrating it, laying it out and setting it up for printing.