Tag: Editing

How to Stick with a Project (Past the First Draft)

How to Stick with a Project (Past the First Draft)

While I’ve previously written on the topic of sticking with a project–and the principles from that post do apply beyond the first draft into revisions, edits, etc.–it was recently brought to my attention that I don’t have a post addressing some of the obstacles that can arise specifically after the first draft is complete, so that is what I will be discussing today!

Obstacle #1: Feeling Inadequate

As you shift from the writing process into the process of identifying problems and rewriting to remedy those problems, it’s easy to feel unequal to the task at first–especially if this is your first time stepping into the rewriting stage. It can be daunting. I get it!

It’s important to remember that even Continue reading “How to Stick with a Project (Past the First Draft)”

How to Choose a Good Editor

How to Choose a Good Editor

If you’re an indie author, in particular, you likely know that a professional editor is part of the investment. But it can be hard to know which editor to choose. How do you know who is going to be a high-quality editor, and how do you know they’ll be the right fit for your book? This post will address both the traits of a good editor, as well as how to assess whether or not an editor has these qualities and whether or not s/he is a good fit for you specifically.

Traits of a good editor

Timeliness

Especially if you’re working with a particular schedule for a given project–whether you’ve announced a release date, plan to submit a project somewhere by a certain date, etc.–it is important to have an editor who can and will get your project scheduled and edited in a timely manner. Many editors will have an average turnaround time posted Continue reading “How to Choose a Good Editor”

How I Became an Editor (and What I’ve Learned)

How I Became an Editor (and What I’ve Learned)

As I open my freelance editing services for the year, I wanted to talk a bit about how that branch of my business got started, some of the things I’ve learned along the way, and my values as an editor.

Over the years, I’ve had people ask me about how I got started because they’re interested in starting freelance editing businesses of their own, so I thought it would be helpful to put all of that information together in one place and touch on some details I haven’t always brought up in those discussions.

I’ve also talked to authors who don’t have much experience in finding editors who are a good fit for their work (and I’ve been that author, myself), and I hope that this post gives insight into what to look for (and what to avoid).

So without further ado, let’s get into it.

Reading with an Editor’s Eye

I’ve been asked whether Continue reading “How I Became an Editor (and What I’ve Learned)”

Crafting Emotional Resonance – Example Critique

In my series on crafting your stories to resonate with your readers’ emotions, I asked for excerpt submissions that I could take and apply those concepts to in order to provide an example of what I’ve been talking about. So today I’ll be showing you a piece of Grace A. Johnson‘s writing which she submitted, along with my commentary!

In case you missed it:

Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 1 – Character-Driven Description

Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 2 – Character Reactions

Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 3 – Repressed Emotion

Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 4 – Precise Prose

Critique Structure

I’ve never done a critique for a blog post before, so you’ll have to bear with me as I develop a layout for it.

First, I want to lay out Continue reading “Crafting Emotional Resonance – Example Critique”

Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 4 – Precise Prose

Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 4 – Precise Prose

Today marks the end of this series on writing emotionally resonant scenes and stories! There will be one more related post in a few weeks that covers writing effective dialogue—plus a critique post next week that provides insight into how all of these tips can be applied—but this will be the last how-to post that’s officially part of the series. Today I want to talk about how your prose can make or break the tone and emotion of your writing.

I’ve talked about why I love classic literature before, and one of the reasons is that classic authors took word choice very seriously. They made a point to choose exactly the right words to convey their meaning, connect to their themes, and highlight the emotion they wanted to resonate with readers. Mark Twain said well that,

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”

As authors, we know that words have power. This is certainly as true on the micro level as it is true of story as a whole! Yet our specific word choice within stories, within scenes, within sentences is often less careful than it could be, and our stories—and their impact on readers, by extension—suffer for it.

The question is: How do we fix it? Continue reading “Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 4 – Precise Prose”