A professional editor has been trained (or certified) on story craft as well as language mechanics. There are different levels of editors. People may specialize or be better in one aspect of the writing craft than others. For example, a really strong copyeditor may not be the best person to look at the larger elements within a novel.
A critique partner is generally providing feedback based on their own experiences as a writer and feedback they have received themselves.
A proofreader is an entry level type of editor. They are looking for the final cleanup items rather than providing recommendations on story or language usage mechanics.
Working with Indie authors is the most direct in the way of communication. Working with publishers, an editor must balance multiple managers, and sometimes the publisher and the author aren't in agreement as to the direction of the story.
This depends on the service the client requires. All services require a discussion with the client about expectations and goals.
DEVELOPMENTAL EDIT
This can require genre research prior to the edit. With that understanding, it will generally require a full read of the manuscript and then a second pass to pick out places where prose should be reorganized, character development should be bolstered or changed, worldbuilding should be enhanced, etc.
>Most clients will need different feedback based on their unique voice and goals, so how it is documented varies.
>Commonly, with experienced authors, a developmental edit can result in a letter to the author (analysis essay) and simple comments within the manuscript to give examples to support the points in the manuscript.
>Some authors will require restructuring of chapters, complete sections of prose, and recommendations for additions and deletions. I've had manuscripts where the entire flow changed after the dev. edit.
>This type of edit also identifies where the complete story has gaps, has been too summarized, or too much information has been dumped to the reader.
LINE or COPY EDIT
These can vary greatly depending on the client's proficiency in language usage and grammar, the genre expectations, and the client's goals. They also can require the most level of attention to detail.
1) My first step is to assess the full manuscript and format it per the chosen style guide's instruction. (When allowed to pick for myself, I generally go with the Chicago Manual of Style, because that's where my most experience is.) During this process, I'm usually able to see trends within the author's writing to watch out for. I have some automated scripts I run to resolve common formatting issues (e.g. removing extra spaces and changing straight quotation marks to curly quotation marks). I'll usually keep a list of to-dos at this point too.
2) Next, since a line edit or copyedit assumes the story development is complete, I start from the beginning of the manuscript with the line-level analysis. This process can vary slightly depending on genre expectations. For example, I strive to omit common modern colloquialisms from epic fantasy novels.
>>>I keep a notes document with all the names, places, and world-building terminology. (A Style Sheet that is shared with the author at the completion)
>>>I have the dictionary open and look up any questionable words or when one word should be two and vice versa.
>>>I have the style manual open to reference for grammar and style requirements.
>>>I also have Google Ngram Viewer open to verify commonly used phrases.
>>>As I notice patterns in the manuscript, I'll usually scan the document and make those edits all at once before returning to the sequential analysis.
>>>All changes in this step are tracked for the author to accept or reject.
>>>Comments as to the reasons for change recommendations are added in the margins.
>>>I also look for POV shifts, showing vs. telling (which an editor calls scene vs. summary), passive voice usage, and other common issues of this sort.
3) When the first pass of #2 is complete, I do a quick pass to review my edits and verify I'm still good with them.
4) After reviewing my edits, I hide all the tracked changes and read the manuscript from start to finish to make sure everything flows as I would expect.
5) When I'm good with the edit, I'll compose a letter to the author from my notes.
6) Finally, I'll send the following to the author:
>>>The letter
>>>The style sheet
>>>The edited manuscript with all tracked changes (This is the document for the author to work through)
>>>The edited manuscript document with tracked changes accepted and comments still in the margin. (For reference / clean reading only)
>>>If they need instructions on managing tracked changes, I have a short video I share with them.
A PROOFREAD
Though I've been trained on this, I generally don't offer this service.
What are your interests and hobbies outside editing?
Writing, reading, digital art, and crafting.
I love spending time at our lake land north of where we live.
Food and wine pairing.
A MS Critique (as a professional editor) is a mini developmental edit. It will generally provide similar feedback but will not go to the extent of making suggestions on where prose could be rearranged. The thoroughness of this service might depend on who performs it. As a professional editor, mine touches on all the areas a developmental edit would.
See my answer for editing. My favorite project to date was a new Mafia Romance author to boost her usage of the tropes and genre expectations.
A MS Critique is a lot like a development edit. It results in a letter to the author (analysis essay) and simple comments within the manuscript to give examples to support the points in the manuscript.
Thank you so much for giving us your insights. If you would like to reachout Susan Stradiotto you can find all of her information at
https://susanstradiotto.com/
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.