Welcome back to this three-part series on investing in novel edits! Last week we talked about what developmental editing is and why it’s important, and this week we get to talk about my favorite type of edits: line edits.
Line edits are edits that more-or-less focus on the sentence-level. These are edits that will Continue reading “Why to Invest in Line Edits”
It’s the new year, the time when many authors set goals for their writing projects and may look toward future steps for their books. So today, for any of you looking into editing and/or publishing in the coming year, I want to offer some insight into the three primary types of editing and why each one is important to not overlook.
We’re going to start with the edits that cover the most large-scale problems in a manuscript: Developmental Edits. Continue reading “Why to Invest in Developmental Edits”
Something I’ve always found fascinating, as a Christian with an interest in story, is how so many mythologies have points in which they reflect the truth of how the world was made, how it flooded, and even sometimes how it was saved and how it will end. When something is true, it is impossible to completely obscure that truth. Which is why I think it’s important for authors to lay out the groundwork for their fictional worlds fairly early on; the foundational truth of your world will shine through in many different areas. Continue reading “Deciding the Foundational Truth of Your World”
Religions have a significant hand in shaping the cultures around them, and developing them can be a powerful tool both in developing those cultures and in exploring worldview. While I’ve talked before about the basics of creating a fantasy religion, today I want to talk about some of the complexities and details that will deepen that religion (or really any organization or culture) and make it feel more organic and complete. Continue reading “How to Deepen a Fantasy Religion”
Authors tend to fall into approximately four camps when it comes to description in early drafts.
1) Too little description; everything is dialogue or action.
2) Too much description; we’re overwhelmed by the detail of every blade of grass.
3) There’s the right amount of description… but it just sits there and looks pretty.
4) The magical people who can actually write fantastically vivid descriptions on pretty much the first try. (Believe it or not, I know people who fall into this category.)
I usually fall somewhere between too little description and flat description… which is really frustrating since I know the principles for description and when I’m editing description is one of my strong points. But what are those principles? Continue reading “5 Tips for Writing Vivid Descriptions”