The Concierge (Blog)

My daughter likes the idea of dogs more than she actually likes the reality of them, sort of like me and home ownership. So we both enjoy these things safely at a distance. “What a cute house!” I say as I walk on by. “What a cute dog!” she says as she walks on by….

As editors, we need to understand the connection between character and plot and how to support authors in developing this relationship effectively. Causes of Implausible Plot Events A common problem you’ll come across when editing fiction is a situation where characters are shoved around like chess pieces. Margie the protagonist winds up slapping her best…

If you’re trying to build your freelance business, you’d probably like to know how to make more money as an editor. One way to do that is to offer a wider variety of services to meet client needs. Expanding the services you offer is also a great way to add some variety to your day….

I’ve heard developmental editors talk about “sensing” that a story isn’t working, even going so far to say that “sensing” problems is their job. And sensing that something is going wrong is a useful skill for a developmental editor to have—all of us do, to one degree or another. But developmental editing isn’t about “sensing”…

Authors often struggle to create compelling plots. They try to hit plot points (“turning point” “black moment” and so on) but without a solid sense of how structure works, their stories can feel formulaic and lifeless. It helps if you understand story patterns so that you can see where the story might be getting off…

As freelancers, we have a tendency to think that we’re in competition with all other editors and (especially if you’re active on social media and see how many other editors there are in the world) that can feel overwhelming. But we’re actually not in competition with everyone else who calls themselves an editor. Case in…

A common structural problem you’ll encounter in fiction development is ineffective scene construction: A good scene includes the meat of a plot event – whether that event is an emotional discussion over coffee, a decision to take a certain action, or a foot chase across town – but not a whole lot more. Problems with…

Book development editors don’t read books the way readers do. To sharpen your developmental editing skills, you need to learn to read like an editor does (instead of the way a reader does). When you’re a reader, you enter the author’s world. You willingly suspend your disbelief in order to experience this world. That doesn’t…

When I teach developmental editing classes, I get a lot of students transitioning from other careers. They’re often lawyers, social workers, and teachers – though I’ve also taught actors, accountants, and engineers, among others. What they have in common is that they love stories and want to explore whether book editing (story editing/developmental editing) is…