One of a book editor’s services is editing for timeline consistency, a common developmental concern. Here are some tips for tracking story timelines! Problems with Editing for Timeline Consistency A common developmental concern is a problem or error in the timeline of a story. Usually the copy editor is expected to track the timeline very…
Do you struggle with not taking rejection personally? Let me share some thoughts… An online writers’ group I belong to recently had a discussion about saying no – how to do it, how to mean it, how to deal with people who try to negotiate after you’ve already said no, and so on. That got me…
What is line editing from a character’s viewpoint? A line editor has to learn to look at what is happening in a scene from the viewpoint character’s perspective in order to catch errors in how the story is conveyed. Here’s an example. Lois, the narrator (“I”), is hiding in a bathroom at an urgent care…
Need ideas for additional services for a book editing business? Freelance editors often want to expand their services to meet client needs or just to add some variety to their day. I sympathize completely! I started out as a copy editor and while I enjoyed applying a specific style guide consistently across 80,000 words, it…
Are you dealing with creative burnout? I know the feeling and have some thoughts to share. A writer sent me an email saying she felt creatively drained. She said, “My book is good. How can I convince others?” Reading between the lines, I figured she’d written a book she felt was excellent but agents/editors were…
Knowing the different types of editing will help you understand how they can often be fused together in a freelance editor’s project. The 3 Different Types of Editing Developmental editing (abbreviated DE or dev) looks at the big-picture concerns of a manuscript (ms). For nonfiction, we would ask: Is the structure logical? Is the argument…
Writers need to know how to grab readers’ attention, and I have a few thoughts on this. Give your novel its best shot. Few readers will read beyond ten or fifteen pages if a novel doesn’t engage them. Agents and editors—even if interested in the manuscript—almost never go beyond thirty or forty pages before finding…
Have you used the “here’s how I would write it” editorial query? In making editorial suggestions, editors sometimes drift into “here’s how I would write it” territory, which is something I discourage. Authors don’t care what you would have done. They want to learn what they can do that will make their manuscript better. What…
To help editors struggling with the overlap in different types of editing, we need to revisit line editing vs developmental editing. From my inbox: “I’m a little confused about how much line editing is expected during a developmental edit. Are we expected to smooth over all of the tics in the author’s writing that might…
Writers’ Topic: Character Inspiration Can writers get character inspiration from other writers? Using an existing character can be a good jumping off point to a new character. A student once asked, “I often find B characters in novels more interesting than the leads, yet they’re never fully developed (hence the B aspect). I wonder if…