Feedback for Writers I’ve been an Indiana Jones fan since Raiders of the Lost Ark. So I went to see The Dial of Destiny. When the opening credits showed four screenwriters, I knew the movie was going to be a mess even before . . . well. When you see more than two people with…
This case study is courtesy of Kat Thomas, a book editor I’ve known for many years. She agreed to share her experience of building her freelance business. She is the author of this post. – JL The Road to a Freelance Book Editing Career I’m a freelance book editor with experience in developmental editing, line…
Omniscience for writers. Writers sometimes understand omniscience only as it is shown in television and movies, which is dramatic omniscience. It is not narrative omniscience. Dramatic omniscience really, really sucks when applied to narrative. That’s because dramatic omniscience lingers on the surface of things. It cannot penetrate below the surface unless some clunky device like…
I established Club Ed on a bleak winter day on the Kansas prairies, dreaming of blue skies and sunshine. That was in 2018, and now it’s 2024, and I’m about to celebrate Club Ed’s sixth birthday. Pretty spectacular for something I wasn’t sure would last out the winter. The following year, I packed up The Chicago…
The plot twist editorial query From time to time, world events occur that make fiction editors look at each other and say, “We can never again tell our authors their plot events are implausible!” And I smile along with everyone else. But of course it’s not true. “It really happened” has never been a measure…
Ever wondered if you should start a freelance business? If you’ve ever thought of chucking your day job, I’m here to encourage you! 10 reasons to start a freelance business in 2024 1. You’re tired of being laid off every four months. 2. You’re fed up with having to ask permission to be sick, see…
In addition to my full-time job as an editor/owner of Club Ed Freelancers, I also write novels. Since I do not make fistfuls of money from the novels, writing them can take a backseat to other work. Sound familiar? If you’re a writer with a day job, I bet you can relate. For a long…
Who chooses editing as a second act career? Most of the students who come to Club Ed to explore editing as a career are leaving other careers so are choosing editing as a second act career. Some of them are teachers who are burned out from low budgets, unhelpful administrators, and parents and school boards…
What are the stages of book editing? Book editing can be broken down into multiple pieces, so what exactly are the stages of book editing? Recently I came across this request (paraphrased): “A potential client has written a science fiction novel (350,000 words) and is asking me to proofread the manuscript, offer inline fact-checking on…
Often people who want to write a story start with a character or a general situation in mind: “A female superhero with a lasso of truth!” “Terrorists take the president hostage!” And these are certainly perfectly good places to start. But it’s hard to create much narrative drive from situations and characters. Look at those…