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Novels Aren’t Movies – Book Editing for Dramatic Omniscience

Omniscience for writers. Writers sometimes understand omniscience only as it is shown in television and movies, which is dramatic omniscience. It is not narrative omniscience. Dramatic omniscience really, really sucks when applied to narrative.  That’s because dramatic omniscience lingers on the surface of things. It cannot penetrate below the surface unless some clunky device like…

happy birthday club ed
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Club Ed Turns Six!

I established Club Ed on a bleak winter day on the Kansas prairies, dreaming of blue skies and sunshine. That was in 2018, and now it’s 2024, and I’m about to celebrate Club Ed’s sixth birthday. Pretty spectacular for something I wasn’t sure would last out the winter. The following year, I packed up The Chicago…

how to start a freelance business
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10 reasons to start your freelance business in 2024

Ever wondered if you should start a freelance business? If you’ve ever thought of chucking your day job, I’m here to encourage you! 10 reasons to start a freelance business in 2024 1. You’re tired of being laid off every four months. 2. You’re fed up with having to ask permission to be sick, see…

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Editing as a Second Act Career

Who chooses editing as a second act career? Most of the students who come to Club Ed to explore editing as a career are leaving other careers so are choosing editing as a second act career. Some of them are teachers who are burned out from low budgets, unhelpful administrators, and parents and school boards…

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The Stages of Book Editing

What are the stages of book editing? Book editing can be broken down into multiple pieces, so what exactly are the stages of book editing? Recently I came across this request (paraphrased): “A potential client has written a science fiction novel (350,000 words) and is asking me to proofread the manuscript, offer inline fact-checking on…

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Creating a compelling conflict

Often people who want to write a story start with a character or a general situation in mind: “A female superhero with a lasso of truth!” “Terrorists take the president hostage!” And these are certainly perfectly good places to start. But it’s hard to create much narrative drive from situations and characters. Look at those…

Coaching for Accountability

Coaching for Accountability Coaching for accountability is a great fit for coaches working with writers, even new coaches! One concern that often holds newer editors back from offering coaching to writers is that they don’t know everything. And of course, that’s true! No one knows everything. But as I described in this post, coaching isn’t…