One Nearly Done, Four More to Go

On Saturday I met with my editor Colleen Robbins to review her notes on the BryonySeries prequel Before the Blood.

The novel is unfinished on purpose and consists of five parts, also unfinished on purpose, that will be published in 2019 in five separate installments.

She had typed up her comments on each of the five parts, which we reviewed. She had also edited the first manuscript, which she felt only needed a light copyedit.

You know the meeting will go well when the open line is, "First of all: well done," and the last one is "an excellent read."

So I spent Saturday making the changes, formatting the manuscript,and then sending it Rebekah to scroll through my formatting.

Sue Midlock had already made and sent the covers.

Topher Gleason has created three of the five frontispieces.

Once Rebekah assembles the cover pieces, she can upload the manuscript to KDP and order a proof.

The goal is to release the volumes one every two months starting in January.

None of this will shake up the world, I know. Nor will these books have tremendous readership.

But to see the most complicated writing project I've undertaken finally come together after eight years of work is, well, satisfying.

And the books will always be there, just waiting for the right readers to discover them.

I hope they do.

Cover by Sue Mydliak. For more information, visit theunbeatenheart.blogspot.com.

Editing, Defined

Often when writers talk about "editing," they really mean, "proofreading" or catching and correcting typos and minor errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

In actuallity, proofreading is the last step, after all the editing is complete. The process of editing has several components. They are:

Manuscript assessment: Okay, so maybe an assessment is not a the same as editing. But an assessment gives  an author a good first glimpse of how much editing - including self-editing - may be required. An assessment also provides a wide critique of the manuscript's strengths and weaknesses, along with overall suggestions for improvement.

Developmental editing: This type of editing targets content and structure: plot, pacing, dialogue, characterization, inconsistences, wordiness, and over-writing.

Line editing: the The editor literally examines the manuscript line by line. Paragraphs may be rearanged, and sentences may be rewritten to ensure smooth transitions and prose.

Copy editing: Corrects word choices, spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

And finally, proofreading.

For authors that choose to self-publish, I cannot stress enough the importance of editing, and that should be where authors spend the most money.

Yes, self-editing is important. Self-editing involves setting the completed manuscript aside for a month or two and then moving through the above steps. That, too, is a process.

Rigorous self-editing will cut down your editing expense. But authors are too close to their works to be the final eyes.

By "too close," I don't mean "emotionally attached."

You see, when one constructs an entire manuscript word by word, it becomes impossible to notice every flaw. The brain simply cannot see them anymore. A pair of fresh expert eyes notices them instantly.