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Help me tell my story

17th March 2016 by 2 Comments

“ I’ve got a story in me that’s important to tell. I want to write a story but I don’t know how to start. Help me tell my story ”

Does this sound like you?

Whimsical 3D book

Great ideas for writers

I’ve spoken with many people who have an important book inside them. Some people in their 70s, 80s and 90s may never have told their family about the ‘real you’, because the past holds painful memories. But one day, you decide it’s important to tell your story. As an older person, the era you lived in and the way life used to be is fascinating for younger generations. Your history could well have relevance outside your family. History is lost once people who lived in a certain era ‘move on’. There is great value in recording these memories for posterity.

Whatever your story may be, and whether you’re ten or a hundred and ten, if it’s important to you, then these suggestions may help get you started.

Common hurdles

Some of the most common obstacles to would-be writers seem to be:

1. ‘It seems too overwhelming to write a whole book’
2. ‘I don’t have the writing skills’
3. ‘My story’s in my head.’ ‘I don’t own a computer but I have handwritten notes.’ ‘I can’t type.’

The hardest step is usually the first step.

Make it manageable. Simplify.

Start with a table of contents

Type (or write) up a structure for your book, a table of contents. You may find a chronological structure (e.g. divided into years) works for you. A table of contents will give a starting point to any type of book, and may be particularly helpful if you’re writing your memoir, or a non-fiction book about historical events.

You can always add to or take away from the contents as the writing progresses – and you will probably want to.

It doesn’t matter if it takes you a few minutes or a few days to come up with a structure that you’re happy with. But one thing is certain: working to a structure will make writing the book much easier. You’ll be amazed at how the ideas begin to flow once you have a starting point.

You might want to number the chapters – Chapter 1, Chapter 2… or you may prefer to have chapter titles – Growing Up in Adelaide; First Boyfriend…

Don’t get fancy at first. Just come up with the major headings.

Ancient table of contentsThen, when you have your top-level structure worked out, think about the topics or themes you want to cover under each chapter heading. Then you can begin to flesh out your table of contents.

For a non-fiction book, it may be easiest to have several sub-headings for the topics you want to cover in each chapter, in the order you want to cover them.

For a fiction book, write a brief description under each chapter of what you want to cover – a chapter-by-chapter synopsis.

Again, it’s quite okay for your initial structure to be fluid. As you begin writing and as your book progresses, you may decide to reorder, add or remove chapters.

Help me tell my story! I don’t have the writing skills

Join a writer’s group

Joining a local writer’s group or writer’s centre is a great way to get help and support while you are writing your book.

If transportation is an issue or you are housebound, ask a writer friend to come over so you can write together. It’s amazing how having another writer in the room inspires and motivates.

Look for a writing mentor online.

Join a writing Meetup group.

Hire a ghostwriter

If you are adamant that you don’t have a writer’s bone in your body, and you can afford this option, a ghostwriter will write your book for you. To find out more about it, click on the link to read my ghostwriting blog.

My story’s in my head, I don’t have a computer and I don’t type

Free classes

Take free classes through your local library to learn how to use a computer. Libraries offer free use of computers for specified periods, usually a couple of hours at a time, so once you build up the skills, you don’t even need to buy a computer to write your story if you don’t want to.

Ask a friend

You may not be interested in learning how to use a computer for any number of reasons. You may have transportation or health issues, or you may be sight impaired. So ask a friend to help you type up your story.

Arrange with your friend to come over to your place once or twice a week. Set aside one-hour-long sessions and work to that diligently. Don’t try to spend longer or you both may become overwhelmed. Focus on only one topic each session, and get down as much as possible. Avoid becoming side-tracked – don’t chat about the weather, that can come later! You will make much faster progress this way, and both you and your friend will feel a sense of accomplishment after each session if you are disciplined. Reward yourselves with wine afterwards!

If you have any handwritten notes or letters for inclusion, your friend can type them up for you and slot them into the relevant chapters.

What is your story?

Graveyard on a dark and stormy night

There’s no age limit to writing.

You will find a way.

Let me know how I can help with getting your book started, no matter where you are with your manuscript or what editorial service you need. If you’re not sure, it’s free to ask. I’m approachable and always happy to help new writers.

Commonly Confused English Words

17th January 2016 by Leave a Comment

It’s been a while since we’ve posted an English grammar blog, so here is another on commonly confused English words. We also recommend you read the previous grammar blogs, Cool Writing Tips, Commonly Confused Word Pairs, and Desert or Dessert? More Commonly Confused Word Pairs.

When revising the draft of your book, it helps to know some of the grammar basics, and this knowledge can also save you editing fees. (If you’d like to find out how to save on editing fees with some simple formatting tips, we invite you to download our concise, to the point guide, How to Format your MS for Editing and Save.)

Commonly Confused English Words

Signposts showing confusion and a blue sky

Commonly Confused English Words

Perspective and Prospective

Perspective is a noun that deals with sight or view, including point of view. Some synonyms are ‘viewpoint’, ‘standpoint’, ‘perception’.

Example: From your perspective, there’s nothing to worry about but I’m the one who’ll cop it if anything goes wrong.

Prospective is an adjective relating to the future. Some synonyms are ‘potential’, ‘future’, ‘likely’.

Example: The prospective employee was called back for a second interview.

Since and Because

Since refers to time.

Example: Since I quit drinking, I’ve married and had two children.

Because refers to causation.

Example: Because I quit drinking, I no longer wake up with a hangover.

Stationery and Stationary

Stationery is a noun referring to writing materials such as papers, pens and notebooks.

Example: He bought his kids’ stationery for the school year at the local newsagent.

Stationary is an adjective that means not moving.

Example: The car was stationary while it waited at the level crossing for the train to pass.

Subject and Verb Agreement (and possessive pronoun agreement)

This grammar rule may seem counter-intuitive given that in English, many nouns become plural with the addition of ‘s’ (e.g. snail, snails).

With verbs, on the other hand, most plural subjects – such as ‘we’, ‘they’, ‘John and Mary’ – take verbs without an ‘s’.

Example: They type letters but She types letters

With possessive pronoun agreement, you add a possessive element to these sentences.

Example: She types on her computer, and They type on their computers.

Their, They’re and There

Their is a possessive pronoun.

Example: The students turned in their papers.

They’re is a contraction for ‘they are’. A contraction is when two words are contracted or joined together by dropping a letter (or more than one letter) and replacing the missing letter/s with an apostrophe.

Example: I thought Jen and Steve were coming but they’re (they are) studying all day.

There is an adverb of place (it has parts of speech other than as an adverb, but this is what we’ll cover here).

Example: I can’t see the baby anywhere…oh, she’s over there under the sofa.

Then and Than

To distinguish between these two words, think ‘then’ when discussing time, and use ‘than’ when comparing one thing (or person) to another thing (or person).

Example: We had a meeting and then we went to lunch.

Example: This meeting was more productive than the last one.

We’re and Were

We’re is a contraction (see above) of ‘we are’.

Example: Today, we’re (we are) going to learn about English grammar.

Were is the plural past tense of the verb ‘to be’.

Example: We were going to attend the party but we changed our minds.

Whether and If

Whether expresses a situation where there are two or more alternatives.

Example: Whether I go on that overseas trip or stay home depends on finding someone to look after the dog.

If implies a condition where no alternatives are expressed.

Example: If I find someone to look after the dog I’ll go on that overseas trip.

Who’s and Whose

Who’s is a contraction (see above) of ‘who is’ or ‘who has’.

Examples: Who’s (who is) attending the auction tonight? Who’s (who has) taken my jacket?

Whose is the possessive form of ‘who’.

Example: Whose notebooks are these? (to whom do they belong? or who do they belong to?)

Your and You’re

Your is a possessive pronoun.

Example: That is your pen.

You’re is a contraction (see above) of ‘you are’.

Example: You’re (you are) planning to take me to the dance tonight, aren’t you?

 

Like help with your manuscript? Not sure which pre-publishing service you need? By viewing your manuscript or a sample from your manuscript, we can advise whether an edit, a manuscript appraisal, mentoring, or other service best suits your manuscript. Unsure of the difference between structural editing, copy editing and proofreading? Send us a no-obligation enquiry and we guarantee a same-day response, often within the hour!

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Show Don’t Tell and Point of View

5th March 2015 by 7 Comments

 Show Don’t Tell and Point of View

I often come across these two issues – ‘show don’t tell’ and ‘point of view’ – in fiction writers’ technique, when helping fiction writers develop their writing, and when editing their manuscripts.

Two Common Errors in Fiction Writing

We often see the terms show don’t tell and point of view bandied around, but what do they mean?

What does ‘show don’t tell’ mean?

Show Don't Tell and Point of View, common errors in fiction writing, chekhov, anton chekhov

Show don’t tell

This is one of the most common issues with writing technique, yet its meaning is elusive. Put simply, it means that as the writer, you need to strive to evoke feelings in readers with your writing rather than tell them how things are.

In the words of E.L. Doctorow, a New York City writer (b.1931) and winner of multiple awards, “Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader. Not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.”

Anton Chekhov (1860—1904), Russian author, dramaturge, and physician, (1860 – 1904), eloquently expresses the difference between ‘telling’ and ‘showing’: “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass”.

Examples of Telling and Showing

EXAMPLE 1

Here, the writer both tells and then shows in the same sentence that the character Jenna is excited.

ORIGINAL

He was back. Unable to contain her excitement [writer is telling], Jenna spun around the room, dancing and skipping like a young girl [writer is showing].

It’s unnecessary to tell the reader that she was ‘unable to contain her excitement’, and anyway, it becomes clear in the next phrase when the writer shows us through the words ‘spun around dancing and skipping like a young girl’.

REWRITE

He was back. Jenna spun around the room, dancing and skipping like a young girl.

EXAMPLE 2

Writers often tend to tell as well as show the reader in the same paragraph, as we saw in the example above. Below, the writer tells us that the character ‘realised’ something, whereas we want her to show us how the character was feeling in her moment of intense emotion.

ORIGINAL

It was only a kiss but I realised [writer is telling] we were made for each other. With that one kiss, the truth emerged from the shadows and everything became clear [writer is showing].

REWRITE

It was only a kiss but with that one kiss, the truth emerged from the shadows and everything was clear. We were made for each other.

EXAMPLE 3

ORIGINAL

He kisses me. I feel as if I have come home after a long journey and I now feel safe and familiar.

By removing the two instances of ‘I feel’, the writer can then simply show the reader how the character feels.

REWRITE

He kisses me. I have come home after a long journey to somewhere safe and familiar.

EXAMPLE 4

ORIGINAL

My husband Albert was sincere and compassionate. Regardless of how trivial an issue was, or how tired he may have felt, he was always genuine towards me.

REWRITE

Albert looked at me tenderly and caressed my cheek. “Darling, what’s wrong?” I knew he was exhausted; he’d been working eighteen-hour days for the past fortnight. But that was one of the reasons I loved Albert so much: no matter how tired he was, or whether my anxiety was caused by a broken nail before a photo shoot, or serious issues at work, he always had time for me and always responded to me kindly.

What does point of view (POV) mean?

Show Don't Tell and Point of View, common errors in fiction writing, POV, point of view, narrative point of view, editors gold coast, editors australia, editors queensland

Narrative Point of View

Point of view, often abbreviated to POV, refers to the perspective (or point of view) from which a passage of writing is written. Some books just have one point of view; the entire book is written from the same POV. Two common POVs are:

1. Omniscient third person narrator POV. Omniscient means ‘all knowing’. It is as if the narrator is looking down and observing everything and is privy to the thoughts of every character in the book. It is like being a fly on the wall. The omniscient third person POV is the easiest to use in writing, and arguably the most common.

EXAMPLE

Colin drove the pick-up down to the lake edge, the tyres crunching over the stones. He had been compelled to visit the lake once more before he left this place forever. He switched off the ignition. The only sounds were the lapping of the water against the shore, and the occasional cry of a bird from the nearby trees. Colin checked his watch. May would be at home, waiting for him. If he was going to do it, he needed to leave now, before his courage failed him. Again.

Colin would have liked May to be at home waiting for him; indeed he had no reason to believe otherwise. May, however, was not at home, and she was not waiting for Colin anywhere. At the very moment Colin was checking his watch, May was halfway to her friend’s house – a friend that Colin didn’t even know existed – two states away. Colin didn’t know it yet, but he would never see May again.

You can see that the narrator knows the characters, and their thoughts. The narrator can be everywhere at the same time: down at the lake edge with Colin, and on a journey with May to another state. The narrator knows Colin has dark plans in mind, and also that May has picked up on his thoughts, that she has anticipated trouble and left Colin. The omniscient third person narrator is a very useful POV to use because the narrator knows everything.

2. First person POV. The first person narrator may be the singular ‘I’ narrator, or the plural ‘we’. In the example, we’ll use the ‘I’ narrator.

EXAMPLE

Using the same example as above, we’ll now narrate from Colin’s first person POV.

I drove the pick-up down to the lake edge, the tyres crunching over the stones. I’d been compelled to visit the lake once more before I left this place forever. I switched off the ignition. The only sounds were the lapping of the water against the shore, and the occasional cry of a bird from the nearby trees. I checked my watch. May would be at home, waiting for me. If I was going to do it, I needed to leave now, before my courage failed me. Again.

You can probably tell that the second paragraph will be trickier to write from the first person POV. Unlike the omniscient narrator, Colin cannot read May’s mind, and under the circumstances, he cannot know with certainty where she will be at a particular time. To resolve this, the writer has a few choices:

To continue writing from the first person POV, the writer will need to rewrite paragraph two.

I drove home, wondering if May would notice my nervousness. She was pretty perceptive. She always used to say she was intuitive. Just one of the things I couldn’t stand about her any more. Another way of showing she was superior to me. I drove up the driveway and noticed there were no lights on in the house. Strange. I drove into the garage. May’s car was not there. I parked my car and dialled May’s number. The call went to voicemail. May was always home when I got home. She always answered her phone on the first ring when it was me phoning her. She knew the consequences. I knew that she’d gone. If she knew what was good for her, she’d never come back. She’d saved me from myself. In a perverse way, I was grateful to her.

Some manuscripts contain several POVs: different chapters of the book are written from the perspective of different characters, to give a different view of events depending on who is narrating the chapter. When writing from various POVs, the writer needs to indicate the change in some way.

  • The book may be divided into different chapters, with each chapter written from a particular POV
  • There may be different POVs within the same chapter. These sections need to be clearly delineated – e.g. by inserting an extra space between paragraphs, or by using a separator symbol such as an asterisk – so that it is clear from whose perspective (POV) the narration is from.

While there’s no strict rule about how many POVs there can be in a manuscript, a general guideline is not to have too many as the book may become confusing to read. You don’t want to lose your reader among multiple POVs.

What I often see is writers mixing POVs in the same chapter. See the example below. The writer intends this chapter to be narrated from the POV of a character called Amber who narrates in the first person. The whole chapter therefore needs to be written from Amber’s first person POV.

I was driving through town when Mr Gallagher drove straight into my car. I could barely speak from shock. It had only been two days since he had done the same thing to my father. Was this deliberate? I wondered.

Mr Gallagher stopped, got out of his car, and inspected the damage. He had deliberately driven into Amber’s car, but he wanted to make it look as though it had been an accident.

Okay, see the problem? The chapter began from Amber’s POV, but in the next paragraph it switches to Mr Gallagher’s POV.

OPTION 1 – Let’s rewrite the second paragraph so that it remains from Amber’s POV.

Mr Gallagher stopped, got out of his car, and inspected the damage. I still couldn’t tell if he had deliberately driven into me. He seemed to be genuinely inspecting the damage and concerned at the inconvenience he had caused me, but I just couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that he was being insincere.

OPTION 2 – Rewrite the book from the POV of the omniscient third person narrator. This may be the best option when it becomes too hard to sustain the narrative from Amber’s first person POV:

They were driving through town when Mr Gallagher drove straight into Amber’s car. She could barely speak from shock. It had only been two days since he had done the same thing to her father. Was this deliberate? she wondered.

Mr Gallagher stopped, got out of his car, and inspected the damage. He had deliberately driven into Amber’s car, but he wanted to make it look like an accident.

The key is to be consistent with the POV and not to mix different POVs within the sections of your book. When you have chosen a POV, stick with it – whether you choose one, two, or multiple POVs.

 

I hope you have found this article helpful. Please contact me if there is any part of it you would like me to clarify.

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The Writer-Editor Relationship

28th July 2014 by Leave a Comment
The writer-editor relationship

The writer-editor relationship (acknowledgement below)

The Writer-Editor Relationship: a Case Study

I am currently working with a first-time writer, Robyn (not her real name), as mentor and developmental editor on her fiction manuscript in the ‘chick lit’ genre. I thought it would be helpful for other writers to read about the writer-editor relationship in this context.

Mini appraisal

We began with a mini appraisal on the first few chapters of Robyn’s book. She had finished writing the manuscript – about 75,000 words – but she was not confident enough about her writing to consider submission to a publisher yet. She realised that she needed professional guidance and sought it out.

As I read some sample chapters from her manuscript in order to do the mini appraisal, I saw potential in her writing – despite her lack of confidence, which is a common issue with new writers. I work with many new writers, and I respect them for seeking professional guidance. It’s a big step to leave the comfort of anonymity behind and put their hard-earned manuscript into anyone’s hands, let alone those of a professional editor when they really don’t know whether they will be applauded or crucified! Yes, I have heard some horror stories from various clients!

What next?

Having completed the mini appraisal, Robyn and I then discussed various options for moving forward. In brief, one of these included Robyn making changes to the whole manuscript by applying the suggestions from the mini appraisal, and then having me edit the complete manuscript. Another option was having me work through her manuscript in ‘chapter chunks’ so that by the end of the process, she would have a strong second or third draft that would probably only need a copy edit. I provided some additional options, and combinations thereof, but what Robyn decided was to send me her work in ‘chapter chunks’, initially three chapters at a time and more as she grew in confidence, and I would give her feedback to apply not only to the reviewed chapters, but also to the rest of the manuscript as well. This is because individual writers tend to make similar errors throughout their manuscript. For example, some writers overuse the passive voice; others consistently make errors in punctuation – and when this interferes with the flow of the story, it becomes a distraction to the reader; others have trouble correctly formatting their manuscript.

In Robyn’s manuscript, some of the areas that required work were:

  • Overuse of clichés
  • Not rounding out her principal characters, which made the read confusing
  • Using too much argot (the vernacular) in dialogue without any explanation. While the vernacular is great for characterisation, if readers didn’t understand some of the expressions the characters used, she was going to alienate potential readers. This narrows down the audience of the book, which needs to be as broad as possible so that potentially any reader of the genre is ‘on board’ with it
  • Making assumptions that her readers would be familiar with the location of her book, when she needed to add a little extra detail for the benefit of ‘out-of-town’ readers.
writer-editor relationship

An editor is…

Whenever I send a writer an appraisal or a sample edit on their work, I explain that it is important to the writer-editor relationship that they not feel discouraged by what may seem to be many comments and changes on the returned manuscript. Referring to the ‘track changes’ feature of MS Word, I let them know that many of the marks relate to formatting, or to some very minor editing changes. The edited manuscript always looks worse than it is.

The editor’s role

Changes and comments should always be helpful and encouraging, never critical or cruel. The job of a professional editor is to critique a writer’s work, that is, to provide the writer with constructive criticism, not to criticise it.

In that spirit, with Robyn’s manuscript, I brought to her attention some suggestions that would make the story tighter, make it flow better, and improve her characterisation, all of which would create a strong foundation for the rest of the book. These included the areas mentioned above, as well as:

  • Moving information around to make her story flow more smoothly. She had many changes of location and time within chapters, which were distracting and interrupted the flow of the chapter
  • Bringing in detailed character descriptions when she introduced each character.
The writer-editor relationship

Introduce your characters

Because Robyn had completed writing the first draft of her manuscript, she already had the raw material to work with, and the ideas. She also had the natural ability as a writer to improve upon her first draft.

Key to the writer-editor relationship is that the writer feel encouraged by the editor’s comments and suggestions and maintains the enthusiasm and drive to keep on writing, and so I ended the mini appraisal by suggesting to Robyn:

  • Always remember to keep your readers engaged
  • Begin and end each chapter on a ‘high’ note, which encourages the reader to keep on reading
  • Remember that every word, every sentence, every paragraph needs to count. The aim always is to move your story forward.

Robyn made the suggested changes to her first three chapters, and returned them to me for a second review. I was so encouraged by the improvement in her writing that I felt like doing a little dance!

Subsequently, Robyn has completed a couple more iterations of these three chapters and she has recently sent me the next three chapters. We have only been working together for a couple of months, but during this time I have seen her confidence grow from that of a newbie ‘apologetic’ writer, to someone who now believes in her ability as a writer. She is shortly to attend a national writers’ conference where attendees take along their writing and their prepared query letter. The latter will be submitted to every literary agent who attends the conference.

Robyn has definitively come out of the ‘writer’s closet’ and is striding towards writer’s success.

writer-editor relationship

You can do it! Come out of the writer’s closet

If you have written your manuscript and you would like a full manuscript appraisal or a mini appraisal, or a sample edit, or you would simply like to make a no-obligation enquiry, please send me your contact details and let’s talk about your work.

Quotation from beginning of post acknowledged to “Embrace Your Editor (but Not in a Weird Way)” by Erin Browne. (Note update March 2018: the link to this article no longer works and I can’t find the article elsewhere. However, I’ve kept the original url for acknowledgement purposes – http://www.authormagazine.org/articles/brown_erin_2011_10_14.htm) 

Four Things Writers Need to Know about Book Editors

31st March 2014 by Leave a Comment
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Four things writers need to know about book editors

The relationship between a writer and their editor is crucial to the success of every book. Ideally, writers and editors should work collaboratively, sharing the same ideas and goals. But of course, partnerships are only successful if both partners understand each other’s roles.

The professional book editor’s role is to understand what it takes to be a writer, and how writers work. The editor’s reputation depends on it after all! Writers who have never worked with an editor often don’t understand what editors do, and what they can expect.

Four things writers need to know about book editors

Following are four of the most common misconceptions that writers have about working with an editor.

‘Good writers don’t need book editors’

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Mark Twain: a formidable writer with a formidable moustache

Even Mark Twain, who had an ambiguous relationship with proofreaders and book editors, realised that his work was not perfect and that he needed the input of a professional book editor. The best, most well-known authors always have their work professionally edited. Their publishers insist.

What Stephen King says…

Here’s what Stephen King had to say in his book, On Writing (2000): “… I go back to Elmore Leonard, who explained it so perfectly by saying he just left out the boring parts. This suggests cutting to speed the pace, and that’s what most of us end up having to do (‘kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings’)… I got a scribbled comment that changed the way I rewrote my fiction once and forever. Jotted below the machine-generated signature of the editor was this mot: ‘Not bad, but PUFFY. You need to revise for length. Formula: 2nd Draft = 1st Draft – 10%. Good luck.’” (By the way, a ‘mot’ is a pithy or witty remark.)

Revise, revise, revise

Books take a long time to write, and the longer authors work on them, the more deeply invested they become in their manuscripts. This is especially true of first works. It is easy to think that by the time the manuscript is finished, it’s perfect and ready for publication. This is never the case; manuscripts can always be improved. It is a serious mistake to submit a draft manuscript to a publisher without having had it professionally edited. If the publisher rejects the manuscript, it’s almost impossible to resubmit it to that publisher.

Take a step back…

A trap for new writers is that they become so close to their stories that they do not have the distance to see the work as a whole. Creating a complex narrative and then spending hours revising means that a writer will be intimately familiar with all elements of their work (concepts, arguments, plots, themes, and characters) but might not realise their ideas are not translating seamlessly into words. Book editors have the perspective to help writers ensure that the words they write are what they mean and want to convey to the reader. It is the book editor’s role to tie the story ideas together with the words so that the whole book ‘works’.

‘My friends and family have read my manuscript, and they all say it’s great!’

Asking your partner/parent/neighbour/English teacher to read your manuscript can be beneficial. Their feedback may provide you with a fresh perspective on your story, or help develop your confidence in your story, even if your writing still needs work. They may offer useful suggestions. But there is a reason why these people offer their services free, and professional editors charge for their services. Qualifications and expertise aside, the focus of anyone you have a close relationship with will be on you, while the focus of a professional editor will be on the manuscript. Friends and family are great for support (sometimes not, I’ve heard!), but they won’t be able to critically deconstruct your book like a professional book editor can. Authors need this objective feedback to improve their work.

‘All editors are the same’

There are as many different types of editors as there are different people. It is also true that the term ‘editor’ can be used loosely; pretty much anyone can call themselves an editor, regardless of whether they have any qualifications or even experience.

The formal accreditation available to editors since 2008 through IPEd – Accredited Editor (AE), has greatly improved the editing profession. It is beneficial to authors – who now have a benchmark to guide them, and for the editors involved – whose professional credibility is justifiably enhanced.

Questions to ask editors

Editors all have different styles, practices, work ethics, strengths, and weaknesses. To ensure a quality experience with an editor, it is important to find one who is best suited to working with you and your manuscript. Here are some general questions you can ask an editor before deciding to work with them:

• What qualifications do you have? Are you an Accredited Editor?

• Do you have an English degree?

• How many years’ experience do you have as a professional book editor?

• How long will the edit take?

• Can you give me a quotation? (Beware of an editor who is not prepared to give you a quotation.)

• Do you offer a sample edit? If so, is there a charge for this?

Look at the editor’s website and read what writers who have worked with them say.

Different types of editing

Just as there are different kinds of editors, there are different types of editing. Copy editing corrects basic errors such as typographical, spelling and punctuation. It aims to improve the style, flow and clarity of the book without making big changes.

With structural editing, the editor works closely with the author to make significant changes and improve the overall manuscript. Changes may include moving passages of text around for better flow, introducing dialogue where narrative is too dense, and improving the flow, readability and appeal of the manuscript.

Proofreading is the final step after the edit is complete. The editor proofreads the manuscript line by line and checks spelling, grammar and punctuation to pick up any remaining errors.

Sample edit or manuscript appraisal

The editor is best qualified to decide what type of edit your book needs. This is why a sample edit is a good idea before proceeding. Any editor worth their salt will give you their professional opinion about the type of edit best suited to your writing.

Consider asking for a manuscript appraisal if you don’t have a clear idea of what your story needs.

Building a relationship with a book editor will result in a coherent manuscript with one voice – yours. If the editor you are working with offers several different kinds of editing services, it can be a good idea to work with them for all your editing needs.

‘My manuscript is covered in red – my story must be terrible!’

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Waaaah!

Having your book edited for the first time can be daunting. When your draft is returned covered in corrections, it is easy to become discouraged. But it is very important to remember that your editor is not your high school English teacher. Red lines don’t mean you have done something wrong. Comments in the margins don’t mean that the book is bad. One of the most common concerns writers have is that their editor will change everything about their story that makes it unique and ‘theirs’. This truly is the opposite of what a good book editor does.

The editor’s role

Editors correct errors and help develop the story, they do not change the author’s voice or make changes that the author does not feel comfortable about. The editor and the writer have a collaborative relationship. It is not an editor’s role to change the basic ideas of a story, or to rewrite it in their style. Look for an editor who is a professional in all ways.

Not every change is a problem

Not every change that your editor makes is about ‘fixing a problem’. Many changes are simple corrections that improve clarity. The editor is making sure your style is consistent throughout the book. Many editing comments are simply queries.

Your editor is your first reader

An author needs to consider that their editor is their potential reader. If the editor cannot follow, your readers will not be able to follow either. Editors who are good at their jobs don’t make changes without a valid reason. If they are unsure about something, they will query you first rather than make an unnecessary change. Remember at the beginning of this post about the ideas in the writer’s head not always matching the words? An editor’s queries will help draw your attention to the parts of your manuscript where what you are trying to say isn’t clear enough for the reader to fully understand.

 

We hope that by clarifying these common misconceptions about the role of book editors you better understand your editor and can build a great professional relationship.

If you looking for an editor now or for the future, send us an enquiry. You might like to ask for a sample edit.

This post is a collaboration between editors4you.com and Rhiannon Raphael,  a student from Bond University who undertook an internship with editors4you.com in 2014.