My Editing Process

I'm sure the idea of working with an editor on your baby is a bit daunting. You don't want to hand your precious art to someone and let them rip it apart with their jagged teeth. But don't worry, it's not that bad. I promise.

I'll give you a little insight into how I work, maybe that will put you at ease.

The First Read Through

Once your manuscript has passed through acquisitions and is finally assigned to me, I'll take it on my e-reader and do a complete read through for the overall concept, getting a taste. I'll write notes as I go and then pass on a letter to you. During this read, I'm contemplating character arc, timeline and pacing, and the big picture. I like to gnaw on the thing as a whole before I start to digest. We'll delve into the little stuff later.

The Second Edit

This time around, after I've received your updates from the first read through, I'll go through with a fine tooth comb and rip to shreds…sorry, I mean carefully fine tune your work. This means I look at the arc in each scene as well as spelling and grammar mistakes as I go. This is when it gets bloody. We might need to cut a character or change who they are. I particularly enjoy when I get to delete line after line after…I'm sorry, where was I?

The Final Read

This third time, after we have carefully polished your manuscript, I'm pretty much just checking the changes you made after the second edit. Then I'll send it off to copy editing, who will proofread it. See? Not that bad after all. *licks blood from her fingers*

This blog post was originally posted on my publisher's blog, WiDo Publishing. Go check out the other stuff we are posting there!

Confusion as a Writer

Be prepared, this is kind of a vent session on my writing. I've been struggling since November with my inner editor. I participated in NaNoWriMo and wrote 50,000 words in a month. (Yay!) It is my first finished manuscript. Typically I get about 10,000 words in, reread it, and scrap it. This time I wrote all the way through refusing to reread what I wrote until I finished. I'm in the first edit of the manuscript and still working out the kinks. But I've gone back to writing the beginnings of novels and stopping short just a few chapters in. (That or short stories, a whole different animal considering I can finish them and have tons stored on my computer.)

Problem #1 - I can't finish a manuscript.

Now we come to my second problem. I am dying to write a fantasy or science fiction young adult novel. Every time I attempt it, it comes out childish. I could consider the possibility of writing a middle-grade book instead and then this wouldn't be a problem, but for some reason I can't. So now I've spent the last few weeks trying to come up with the right idea. I'm sure I'm a bit out of it in my preoccupation with book ideas because my husband keeps waving his hand in front of my face.

Problem #2 - Waiting for the right idea has taken weeks.

Today I had a break through. I was rereading Eclipse to get ready for the movie, and a line Bella said caused an idea to just pop in my head. I've never had that experience; it was exhilarating. All afternoon I've let this idea sit in the back of my mind. I'm not really touching it yet, just considering it. I don't want to scare it away. And I don't want to ruin it by writing 10,000 words and getting stuck. For now I'm leaving it alone. Anybody have any advice for me? I'll let you know how it goes.