Get the Support You Need
How do you get the support you need as a writer? Well, here’s how to know when it’s not the support you need.
Get the Support You Need: A Little Horror Story
When I was an acquisitions editor, I heard from an author who wanted to pull her book from publication because her friends had found a bunch of errors in the ARC (that’s the Advanced Reading Copy of a book, which is sent out to reviewers before the book is published).
Of course, I was concerned, as I had seen nothing but a handful of typos typical of an ARC and asked if the friends could provide further information about what they’d seen.
They couldn’t because it was just a joke—a little prank they were playing on the author, who was absolutely devastated by what they did.
This story still haunts me years later.
If you can’t be happy for your friend’s success, then just STFU.
If your friends can’t be happy for your success, and they can’t STFU, then you need new friends.
Tips for Editors & Writers
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Effective Scene Construction
A common structural problem you’ll encounter in fiction development is ineffective scene construction: A good scene includes the meat of a plot event – whether that event is an emotional discussion over coffee, a decision to take a certain action, or a foot chase across town – but not a whole lot more. Problems with…
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How to Read Like an Editor
Book development editors don’t read books the way readers do. To sharpen your developmental editing skills, you need to learn to read like an editor does (instead of the way a reader does). When you’re a reader, you enter the author’s world. You willingly suspend your disbelief in order to experience this world. That doesn’t…
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Story Editing as a Second Career
When I teach developmental editing classes, I get a lot of students transitioning from other careers. They’re often lawyers, social workers, and teachers – though I’ve also taught actors, accountants, and engineers, among others. What they have in common is that they love stories and want to explore whether book editing (story editing/developmental editing) is…
