Book Editing Essentials

Oh boy are you right about telling a good story. That is what it is all about right? I definitely agree with you about how important editing is. Just wish I had someone who could edit my hubs. Luckily my daughter helps me choose the photos. Another extremely useful hub Bill.

I was really going to focus on non-fiction books, but nevertheless, I wanted to read your hubs on fiction. It's just over the years, my brain seems to be less creative! However, since I have insomnia, I typically lay in bed for hours before dosing off. As I do, I have been pondering what kind of fiction novel I could write.

This article gave me lots of inspiration and ideas of how to go about doing this. I don't have a solid idea yet, but if I do come up with an original theme, I now have lots of notes on the best way to establish characters in novels and the roller-coaster of a plot.

I previously knew some basics to writing fiction, but I didn't quite have the insight the hub talked about. There is so much to learn still. Making the language rich, making the book a page-turner, making the reader feel like he is "in the book" - and I could go on. I took good notes.

While I don't read a lot, when I first read the first Harry Potter book, I felt the way you describe fiction writing. Great hub! Thanks for sharing! Michele Jones

Good morning, Bill! Thanks for another hub filled with good advice and tips. I do not even know how many of your hubs I have bookmarked for various reasons. Take care!

Fantastic advice, as always. Thanks again for all the help.

I am grateful for all the wisdom you share with writers. The world will always need new books with uniqueness. I am pinning this one and hopefully it will get you a cient over time.

You said it so well in this one sentence, Bill: 'a good editor trims the fat and leaves you with a lean, mean book.' Amen!

Bill, your advice is always a big help.

Billy, my friend, I don't think you even have time to sleep, do you? You must be the fastest penman in the west! I am blown away by all that an editor must do.

You edit, you write novels, you blog, you pen articles, etc., etc., etc. How do you do it all? You must have kryptonite in your blood or something! And you always have time to share your knowledge and help out an aspiring writer as well. I'm exhausted just thinking about what your day must be like ;) Pearl

Voted Up Across the Board and added to my Official Billybuc Writer's Handbook

This article gives me the insight and direction I have needed. It's alot to process for a non-teacher yet creative soul. I have always said, I need an editor yet have not yet been serious enough or confident enough to move forward.

So appreciate this writing; I even had to look up some terms in order to wrap my mind around some of the instruction. ;)

I'm going to share this here and on my writer's facebook page (Mekenzie's World.)

Thank you for another A+ helpful Hub! I value your experience and example.

Mekenzie

Another dead on assessment of what it takes to be a writer. I really enjoyed how you stated that a writer must hook their reader in ten seconds; make the people interesting and such. I try, but the problem is they are interesting to me, and I know that I am too close to see if others would enjoy them as I do. I will sit back and read, re-read, let it lie for a while, then look it over again. I always see errors, improvements, other ways to say something, other areas to develop my characters; so it ends up being a permanent work in progress; a never ending story.

Bill, you are who I look to for inspiration, for guidance. I truly appreciate your friendship and thoughts.

Thank you for being you, my friend. Take care and blessings to you and Bev.

Mike

Since i have no desire to write a book, i probably shouldn't comment, but i admire your teachings and helpful attitude. I wish you would write a short story with heart, i know it would be terrific. Thank's for all you do my friend....

Superb advice. You certainly have to make sure your editor is good at the job or you'll end up worse off than you were when you started! All writers should take a step back from their writing, a bit like standing back from a painting to get the overall effect.

I have more idea of the 'steps' for writing-publishing now; it's always the technicalities that are the minefield in most processes and writing is no different. Your clear 'map' of the journey through is so helpful and supportive, as always! Ann

Phenomenal advice! i also agree that a good editor can make or break your story. And yes even the best writer needs an editor

My pleasure- glad to make you laugh! :)

This hub says it all. You have a knack for explaining things so that your point is crystal clear and yes, helpful as always. You provide a wealth of information to your readers, Bill and I for one appreciate your advice!! BTW- I'm glad that my books aren't boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. They are more like-boy stalks girl (in my thrillers), or boy adopts girl dog (in my dog books)! LOL. Have an awesome night and thanks for sharing these tips!

As always, I appreciate your very useful advice for writers and your kindness in sharing this advice, Bill. Good luck with your writing services business!

You continue to write what I need to learn. (And that amounts to a heck of a lot.) After all this time I have finished the table of contents :) This is in reference to my book about singing. My goal was to have my book completed by my birthday in February. Right! I'd better hop off of the moon I've been living on and get back to earth.

Thanks Bill - my teacher, mentor, inspiration and friend ~ love, Audrey

Excellent words of advice. You have to grab them up front...and then are faced with the task of keeping them there. You do this exceedingly well with everything you write, Billy. I am currently struggling with the second chapter “dip.” But I am going to work through this before it goes to the editor. (There are good editors, and editors who would do well to seek another career.) This hub helped...thank you!

I may need to send you my first couple of paragraphs of my novel and see what you think ... yikes! Since I work in the real world of government ethics, I see a lot and actually base my characters on a variety of real persons but I combine them together for more interest. It is sort of along the lines of "The Pelican Brief" but not really, with a nowadays twist.

Up and more and sharing

Blessings to you and yours (your pic is lovely),

Faith Reaper

So, so true! Editing is much more than just correcting grammar. In fact, I think people--even writers!--believe that editing and proofreading are the same thing. Not even close. Voted up and shared!

This is one of my new favorite lines: "Let your imagination smoke some crack and turn the literary world upside down." For that, you get a "Funny" vote in addition to up, etc. Awesome imagery. If I didn't have a young teenager who would be horrified at me, I'd put that quote up on my desk somewhere for inspiration.

Very enlightening hub! I just wasted a year and a half working with an editor who did everything the opposite of what you describe here. It was such a nightmare! I think I may forward your piece to her!

"Take your readers on a thrill ride." I always doubt myself here. I can see how valuable your editorial service can be. Thank you for enlightening us.

I love the way Sally (the agent in the video) says she fell in love with her work and her passion for it and isn't that why we write!! And that she said the best books are written from the heart and is written because a writer has to get a book out of them! Oh my gosh I'm learning that there is so much involved in writing a book and getting it out there & found this video really interesting..thank you for finding these resources and writing about them, they really help..will tweet this one..Cheers

Hi Bill. It's amazing how much I have to learn about writing. I can certainly see how an unbiased editing can be a very good thing. I do agree that we are probably too close to what we write to edit our work effectively.

A novel to me seems like Mt Everest. I can't even fathom attempting something like that at this point. But, you never know. Thank again for all the great tips and advice. There are many people here who are benefitting from your knowledge. Have a great week.

All of these are good points that an editor can clear up for a writer. But I would say that even a great editor can't do much for an author who produces a cookie-cutter plot - one which has been done time and time again. All they can do is suggest the author add some spice, but I know a lot of authors will refuse to change a thing.

MizBejabbers: I'm more into crime fiction, but I've also seen some of what you mentioned when reading new or independent authors. They add things which really don't need to be there and it disrupts the flow of the story. But so far, those have been few. I'd have to say most of the novels I've read have had good character and plot development. Unfortunately, it's the writer's who don't even try to get things right who give the rest of us a bad name.

You've made some find points here, Billy.

Stephen King wrote a great essay about when he learned about the relationship between editing and good writing. You can find it online by searching for this: "Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully - in Ten Minutes".

There isn't a best seller on the market today in any genre which didn't pass through the critical eye of an editor.

Voted up!

Bill, I, too, had a HP friend ask me to review his book. He wanted to submit it to me chapter by chapter as he wrote it. I read the first chapter, but it was so amateurish and needed a complete rewrite that I bowed out. I would prefer that HP friends not put us on the spot.

Thanks for this informative and detailed article. Writers always want to know what people (editors, publishing houses) are looking for and want. Having a true editor's perspective is indeed and immensely helpful.

This is a great hub, Bill. I've found I love editing. I think I'd like to switch my freelance business up to that and concentrate on my short stories/creative writing. One thing writers need to know is the editor makes suggestions in addition to corrections. They should be taken to heart but not taken personally. As you say, most often it takes someone on the outside looking in to see where inconsistencies are and to find what's missing (or superfluous) in a story.

This is useful information -- I hope many of the people who need it, see it.

Numerous writers have approached me to ask for editing. I found quickly that what they meant was "correcting punctuation" - not even correcting grammar, let alone substantive editing. Some felt that editing means only "correcting spelling."

Some folks that ask for resume updates have the same misperceptions and editing. Preparing a fact sheet that explains the elements of editing nd how they differ from proff reading has helped markedly.

I agree that is it important for writers to be willing to pay a fair price for editing work.

Rated Up and I hope the whole world sees this one.

Bill, I am greatly inspired by your latest hubs. I have one finished manuscript and one not-so-finished manuscript and I am ready to take action! One of the most difficult parts so far has been trying to clear a path through the jungle of confusion in the world of publication. Thank you for sharing.

Another awesome hub! Keep up the good work. Rated interesting and helpful. Misslong123

Dear friend Bill, everything you have said is true, especially that the author is too close to his own work. The author can’t see the trees for the forest, at least I know that is true for me, and I am a professional editor.

I decided to give some new authors of ebooks a try (mainly because they are either free or cheap on my Kindlefire) and so far my experience is that none of them will be a new Steinbeck or Heinlein because they are poorly edited. I usually read from the scifi-fantasy genre, and I’m seeing some really innovative stories. Great ideas. They have good development and good subplots, but they are so full of yada yada details that the reader loses track. By yada yada I mean pages of ficticious techo details or fantasy witchcraft that add nothing to the story, and as a result, their character development suffers. In addition, their product contains many typo and spacing errors, and their readers complain loudly in their online comments. Some go so far as to point out specific errors.

These new authors are trying to keep close to their public, and I admire that, but the trend is to ask readers to notify them of typos and even errors in story details. I would call that “too cheap to hire an editor.” I did give one book a short editing critique, but when I discovered it is a trend, I decided that I’m not going to give away my professional product free.

Have you noticed this trend, and what do you think of it? Voted up ++

Book Editing Essentials has very useful tips with such ways one can be well guided in this process.

I have a ton of rewrites to go before I am to the stage where I will need an editor on my next novel. I will definitely keep this hub in mind and create from it a check list of what I need to do before I send it to an editor who will do the same. As always, Bill, another great hub.

Very interesting hub as always.

I realize that when I am reading a book I often think about some of the point you mentioned like how the characters are being developed in the story, the richness of the plot, etc. It's a little bit like taking a step away from just the pleasure of reading and thinking about it at another level.

Thanks for sharing and have a great week!

Bill,

I believe having had the experience as a teacher, editor and writer, I know how incredibly important the information is that you are providing all of us. The teacher/me finds herself editing everything.

There is a billboard that drives me crazy. I keep threatening to "correct" the typo?! The editor/me gained most of my experience working for local newspapers which is a very different experience from the editing of a novel I recently completed for a friend. Finally, the writer/me takes huge leaps of faith when I push that "Publish Now" button because there are ALWAYS things I see later that I should have composed differently.

And yet, here you are putting all of it in great context with just the right perspective.

Finally, I love the "lean and mean look pic" you provided. Smiles.

A definite share.

Kim

Thank you. Editors always hurt my feelings. How dare they change my creation.

Who would really expect all that from an editor? To the uninitiated (first book writer) an editor would be JUST an editor but, you have pointed out that an editor is really an EDITOR!

There'll be lots of authors spreading their wings after reading yet another wonderful guidance hub from you my friend.

Voted up, useful, funny, awesome, and interesting. Oh, pinned and shared too.

Good morning! I am reading The Notebook and my mind will not stop editing. Have you read it? I keep wondering if you would be editing too. Then here this is. I bet you would, or did if you read it. Great story, but...

If you don't slow down you might turn out a few true authors here. Or editors...^+

I just pinned another great one from you on book writing. Am I surprised? Now way! Seriously, I love when you give this kid of advice and seriously can't thank you enough. Totally will be referring back to one day soon when I get my editing hat on. Thanks as always Bill and wishing you a wonderful Monday now!