Writing and Editing Skills: How do you hyphenate your career?
How can someone effectively combine writing and editing skills? By establishing what I call a “hyphenated career,” precisely that of a Writer-Editor!
Combine Writing and Editing Skills – Become a Writer-Editor
In my book The Business of Storytelling, I talk about how to create a writer-editor career, where you use what you learn as a writer to reinforce the editing side of your career and vice versa.
For those of us who enjoy taking on a variety of projects in our work, a hyphenated career can be a source of fulfillment and growth (both personal and career-related). I’ve always said I’m a better editor because I’m a writer, and I’m a better writer because I’m an editor.
The other day, a reader contacted me and said she was a different kind of hyphen: a bookseller-writer. I loved that! Her deep understanding of what readers enjoy reading makes her a better writer, and her understanding of writing and literature makes her a better bookseller.
A friend of mine is a great beta reader/big-picture editor because she’s also a visual artist (“Even painters info-dump,” she says.) I love the idea of there being all kinds of hyphenated careers possible for writers and editors.
If you’re considering extending your editing (or your writing) career in a new direction, you might enjoy exploring book doctoring and ghostwriting, and I have just the class for that starting October 7: Editorial Toolkit: Book Doctoring and Ghostwriting!
Tips for Editors & Writers
Book Editing Tip: Less Is More
My best book editing tip is just three words: Less is more. The deliverables for a developmental edit are (1) an edited manuscript and (2) a revision letter. It doesn’t get any more basic than that! A Simple Book Editing Tip – Less is More That’s it. Sometimes newer editors also add charts, spreadsheets, color…
Writing and Editing Skills: How do you hyphenate your career?
How can someone effectively combine writing and editing skills? By establishing what I call a “hyphenated career,” precisely that of a Writer-Editor! Combine Writing and Editing Skills – Become a Writer-Editor In my book The Business of Storytelling, I talk about how to create a writer-editor career, where you use what you learn as a…
Eliminating or Reducing Flashbacks in Stories
Eliminating or reducing flashbacks in stories may be necessary to help with the narrative flow and keep readers interested in what’s ahead. Tips for Eliminating or Reducing Flashbacks in Stories Authors like to use flashbacks to show backstory. Unfortunately, flashbacks can stop the narrative flow in its tracks. Rather than increasing dramatic tension, flashbacks tend…
