It’s funny, you know. You work on draft after draft of a novel, rewriting and editing. You check syntax, clarity, pacing, your over-used words, and so on. Finally, your novel is polished and ready to submit. If you’re really lucky, you’ll find a publisher which will result in more editing and polishing and rethinking segments that you thought were fine. Sounds a bit daunting, doesn’t it? It can be, but all of that work is broken down into months, or even years, of practice. It’s part of the process and extremely satisfying. Still, one part of the process that was tougher than I thought it would be was the dedication and acknowledgements pages.
These two pages might not sound like much and, to many, are not as important as the text, but they are to me. I knew who I wanted to dedicate the book to right away, but I wanted to say something without being overly sentimental. I had to think this through a fair bit before I put the words on paper. The acknowledgements page should have been fairly straight forward. After all, it’s about thank yous and facts, yet when it came down to it, finding the right words for the right people also took some thought and a few drafts.
Dedications and acknowledgements shouldn’t be dashed off at the last second. Like the rest of your book, they require thought, a few drafts, and a final polish.
My amateur sleuth, Vancouver-based, Alex Bellamy mysteries can be purchased at
FATAL ENCRYPTION, http://tinyurl.com/ddzsxl
TAXED TO DEATH, http://tinyurl.com/czsy5n
