How to Edit: Less Is More
My best book editing tip is just three words: Less is more. The deliverables for a developmental edit are (1) an edited manuscript and (2) a revision letter. It doesn’t get any more basic than that!
Basics of Book Editing
Deliver an edited manuscript and a revision letter. That’s it.
Sometimes newer editors also add charts, spreadsheets, color coding, and map keys, which can feel unintegrated and overwhelming to the author receiving them. If you do the work of integrating your information into your edit, then the author doesn’t have to. The author can focus on revising according to your recommendations.
Certainly, some editors can have success with this scattershot approach, but usually, less is more. You don’t have to pile on graphics, spreadsheets, ancillary documents, and tables (and I would argue you generally shouldn’t) to perform an effective edit that the author can use to guide their revision.
If you are going to add spreadsheets and treasure maps, at least be sure your client understands you’re going to do it. When you deliver it, make sure the author understands how the moving parts work together.
But you’re probably overcomplicating it and making the author’s process harder rather than easier. The reason is simple: to produce a cohesive edit that doesn’t require more than an edited manuscript and a revision letter, you have to do a lot of work! You have to connect many dots and do a lot of thinking.
So when you add a lot of supplemental materials to an edit, sometimes, even (I would argue) often, this means you’re not creating a cohesive edit – you’re shifting at least some of the editorial burden back to the author.
“But I’m using the spreadsheet to show the author what to do in each chapter!” such editors sometimes say. But that’s what the editorial queries are for and what the overall revision letter describes. Don’t needlessly complicate the end product.
Over the years of teaching editing, I’ve learned to appreciate the beauty of a revision that runs six or seven pages (I used to say this was far too long for a revision letter). Now, I see how adding more examples and fuller explanations of problems helps my authors create excellent revisions. So sometimes, more is more!
But be sure that anything you add to an edit serves the author instead of yourself.
Tips for Editors & Writers
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Helping Authors Strengthen Story Settings
The setting of a novel consists of multiple elements, big and small, that nest inside each other like those little Russian dolls. We might show this hierarchy of settings like so: If you think about it, the micro setting of “the living room of 601 San Mateo Road Apartment 16” implies the existence of all…
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World-building Without Info-Dumping
World-building is often seen as the province of science fiction and fantasy writers who have to convey new-to-us settings and cultures, and occasionally by historical writers who have to convey the feel of an era that a reader may not know much about. But every story takes place somewhere. Even stories set in a contemporary…
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The Connection Between Character and Setting
Authors have a tendency to prefer focusing on character and/or plot at the expense of setting/world-building. (The exception is some SFF writers, who focus on setting and forget about plot and character.) So as editors we will often call that out and say something like, “Add a little description here. Otherwise it’s like Miles and…
