A little editors secret from Liz Pelletier, Sr. Editor, Co-Owner of Entangled Publishing:
How many times have you heard that you need to polish your manuscript until it's gleaming before sending it out the door? Armed with an almost infinite supply of caffeine, you toil over your baby for hours, cutting a few words here, changing a few words there. You diligently run spell and grammar checker over and over. You may even use a macro that points out you used the word "that" 16 times per page and smack yourself in the head. You argue with your critique partner over appropriate comma usage and dialogue tags until neither one of you can remember when to use a comma. And finally… Finally, you deem your baby ready for public consumption and send it off to your dream agent or editor.
After what seems like an eternity, you get a polite rejection in the mail claiming she just didn't "connect with your characters" or she felt your "plot was too passive" (my personal favorite) or he "didn't think your story started in the right place" or any number of things. I betno one mentioned a single thing about comma usage or redundant word choice, did they? And yet, every time we sit down to edit our manuscripts, those are the things we tend to focus on.
I'm going to share a little secret with you... Editors typically consider the mechanics of your writing only if they're truly horrible, but that's only after they decide if they can sell your story, if they love your voice. In the history of publishing, I don't think anyone has ever lost a book deal due to a missing comma or over-usage of adverbs. If you can write a story that a reader can't put down, even despite grammatical errors… Now that's a bestseller.
After what seems like an eternity, you get a polite rejection in the mail claiming she just didn't "connect with your characters" or she felt your "plot was too passive" (my personal favorite) or he "didn't think your story started in the right place" or any number of things. I betno one mentioned a single thing about comma usage or redundant word choice, did they? And yet, every time we sit down to edit our manuscripts, those are the things we tend to focus on.
I'm going to share a little secret with you... Editors typically consider the mechanics of your writing only if they're truly horrible, but that's only after they decide if they can sell your story, if they love your voice. In the history of publishing, I don't think anyone has ever lost a book deal due to a missing comma or over-usage of adverbs. If you can write a story that a reader can't put down, even despite grammatical errors… Now that's a bestseller.
With that in mind, during this workshop we're going to focus on both the big picture and line edits, but we'll be focusing on concepts that will help you craft a bestseller: How to review your book through the standard three pass editing structure used by professionals, how to evaluate character growth arcs and story structure, how to peel away those bad writing habits to reveal your voice, and how to refine your writing style so a fluid and engaging story emerges.
By the end of the day, I hope everyone will have the tools they'll need to "Edit a Bestseller Like A Pro"!
Join us near New Orleans, LA. as we learn from Entangled Publishing co-founder and editor Liz Pelletier. Registration information is here. Early registration prices have been extended until June 10th. Class is on June 22, 2013... (if the links above don't work try this one below) http://solawriters.org/2013/06/03/self-editing-workshop-why-should-you-join-us-liz-pelletier-lets-you-in-on-a-secret/ I hope to see you there!
~ Dawn Chartier
