Adding Line Editing to Your Services
If you’re a copy editor who knows how to copyedit dialogue, a line like this:
“I would never let you go.” She said.
. . . probably causes you physical pain.
So you’d fix it. But as a copy editor, you typically don’t make a lot of content changes, especially in fiction. If you’re tired of punctuating trite and boring dialogue correctly and really wish you could elevate the prose you encounter, you might want to explore line editing.
Line editing is a highly in-demand skill for indie authors, where you can help them sharpen their prose to make their story more engaging and rewarding for the reader.
How Line Editing Is Different from Copyediting
A fundamental difference between CE and LE is that in LE, we’re not just correcting errors and untangling awkwardly stated sentences. We’re looking for ways to help the author’s vision for their novel emerge. We’re saying, “If you remove these three sentences of info-dumping, the pacing in the scene will improve” and “If you trim back this bit of overwriting, the scene will have more impact.”
Thus, line editing requires a solid understanding of how the prose itself contributes to a story. Because of that, it makes a great entre into developmental editing, too.
