It’s always fascinating to see what goes into the rewrite process. I’m delighted to welcome Amber Lambda, who shares five changes she made to her YA fantasy novel, Halos. Below, Amber, describes the fiction editing techniques she used when revising her book.
***
Rewriting and revising a novel takes a lot of patience and willpowerâespecially to change and cut away from your beloved, original ideas! But once you get past that bittersweet feeling, itâs so worth it to see your story grow into something you love even better. Here are five of the biggest changes I made to Halos and canât imagine it without those changes now!
First Chapter Rewrites
As Iâm sure most authors would agree, one of the hardest parts of writing a book is getting the first chapter to work right. I started with the list of things that a first chapter needed and checked it all off. I included the storyâs theme about chasing dreams, my main character, her goals, conflict with her best friend that helped set up the stakes, and a strong hook at the end to pique the readerâs interest and start the story… but something just wasnât clicking. After several readers, and just as many rewrites, I realized I had the answer all along. The elements were all thereâbut they indeed werenât clicking. Instead of being parts of a complete story coming together, they seemed unrelated. With that magical realization, I rewrote it once more, pulling everything together to fit the overall story and genre, and it did the trick. My beta readers loved it, and so did I!
Added POV
When drafting Halos the first time, I wrote from the limited POV of my protagonist, Faye. During my read-through to start revisions, however, part of the story appeared to be missing. I could fill in the details as the author, but it hadnât made it to the page for readers to experience. This inspired me to include the love interestâs POV on the next draft. Adding Icarusâs side of the story not only gave insight into the world and plot where Fayeâs POV didnât cover, but it made Icarusâs character arc much richer, paralleling Fayeâs arc in a way that wasnât shown before.
Expanding A Characterâs Role
Another element that I changed to make more sense for the reader was bringing Fayeâs friend Andrew back into the story at an earlier stage than intended. After relating to Fayeâs main internal conflict in the first chapter, he didnât come up again in person until closer to the end of the story. At first, I brought him back earlier because he reappeared without enough foreshadowing. But his presence also acted as a catalyst for tension throughout the middle of the story, making for a better plot and character motivations.
Removing Characters Who Didnât Serve The Story
On an opposite note, I cut two characters out from the original story. They added drama and complexityâbut that isnât always whatâs best. I found it difficult to layer them into the plot naturally, and they took away from the themes and effect I was aiming for. It was a tough choice, but once I took them out, the message of the story became much clearer and gave more room to emphasize the pieces that highlighted it instead.
Added Connecting Scenes
Have you ever read a book where it almost seemed like you missed something, so you went back to look, and you hadnât? My early drafts had a few places like that, where readers needed a little more shown about what happened between scenes. In some areas, it worked better to summarize instead of adding an entire scene that would feel like filler. But in most places, I fleshed out new scenes to show what happened, while simultaneously showing character interaction and growth, especially for side characters.
In the end, between the added POV, deeper themes, and the extra connecting scenes, my 36-chapter outline turned into a 43-chapter novel, at just the recommended word count for my genre. And my story transformed into a creation I loved more than ever!
More About Halos
Daydreamer Faye Wallace believes her recurring dreams of flying ships have a purpose beyond fantasy. And when Icarusâher swoon-worthy dream boyâknocks on the door, reality is swept away with her heart. Charged with saving the sky world of Halos from a destiny of prophesied doom, Faye embarks on a journey to relive her whimsical visions. Except for one problem: nothing about Halos matches what she remembers. Including Icarus.
Faye must sift truth from imagination and become the girl who saves her dreamsâbefore they create a nightmare she canât return from.
Amber Lambda is a YA romance, fantasy, and soft sci-fi author from the dreamy Midwest plains. Her mission is to write stories clean enough for the younger range of the YA crowd, but laced with themes and ideas that older teens (and adults!) will relate to and love just the same.
Are you an author interested in writing a Behind the Rewrite guest blog post? Get the guidelines here.
Check out Shortcuts for Writers Freebies including a 5-day line editing course, Facebook group, and resource for naming your characters.
Check out Shortcuts for Writers affordable courses including Book Editing Blueprint: A Step by Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable, Time Management Blueprint for Writers, and the Energize Your Writing Toolkit: Cheat Sheets for Character Emotions.
Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Join her Facebook group for writers and download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb. Also be sure to sign up for her free 5-day line editing course!
As a freelance developmental editor, I often send long editorial letters and suggest major rewrites. When clients are discouraged, I remind them that I’m an author, too, and can relate to difficult rewrites. However, I’m not entirely sure they believe me! So, I’m going to prove it in two Behind the Rewrite posts, starting with this one focusing on rewriting an old manuscriptâmy young adult ice hockey novel, Offsides. Watch for another post on rewriting my chick lit novel, Fooling Around With Cinderella.These books are about as opposite as you can get, but they share one thing in common.
Heavy rewrites!
I wrote the original version of Offsides, the sequel to my YA hockey novel Face-Off, back in 1992 when I was a teenager. Although Face-Off had been published with great success when I was eighteen, garnering positive reviews in Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, and School Library Journal, Offsides was rejected by my publisher. There had been a lot of turnover at the company, and all the editors I knew had left. Even though I was receiving fan mail from kids begging for a sequel, the book got rejected with a form letter. At the time, I was incredibly disappointed.
In hindsight, I’m relieved as that story wasn’t ready to be told back then. Twenty-five years later, I rewrote my original draft and published it. The hard copy had been buried in a drawer and I paid someone to scan it so that I could work with it digitally. The published version of Offsides is so much better than the manuscript penned by my 19-year-old self. Part of Face-Off‘s charm is that it was written by a teenager for teenagers. The characters grow quite a bit in the sequel, and I’m glad that I was able to bring a different level of maturity to the story, a maturity that I wasn’t capable of conveying as a teenager. It was also fun updating the book with references to texting and social media.
But more importantly, over the decades, I’ve grown as a writer and editor. My self-editing skills in 1992 and my self-editing skills now aren’t even comparable. Below is an unedited scene from my original draft of Offsides. I’ll let you read it, and then I’ll give you my editorial assessment before sharing the published version. The scene is between two of “my McKendrick boys,” twin hockey players Brad and T.J., the protagonists. They tell the story in alternating viewpoints for each chapter.
Unedited Version From 1992
That night, Brad turned on his side, the moonlight pouring through the window. In the bottom bunk, T.J. shifted. âYou awake?â T.J. asked. âYep.â âCan I tell you something?â âWhat?â âI’m going to BCâ âEven if you get accepted at Harvard?â âI’m not gonna get accepted,â T.J. said.âHow do you know?â âI didn’t apply.â It was quiet except for a car passing outside. Its lights flickered against the wall. âWhat do you mean? You told everyone you did.â âI didn’t want Dad to find out.â âBut he keeps asking you about it. What are you gonna do?â âSay I didn’t.â âAnd let him think you weren’t good enough? T.J., you should tell him the truth,â Brad said. âDo you know how ticked off he’ll be?â âSo let him be. It’s your decision, T.J. You’ve got to take a stand.â âI guess you’re right.â Brad rolled over. âHow come you’re still awake?â T.J. asked. âI’ve been thinking about college, and if I’d still be going if I didn’t have hockey.â âSure you would. I told you, your grades have improved a lot.â âI wouldn’t have a chance at BU.â âYou don’t know that,â T.J. replied. âIt doesn’t matter how you get there, Brad, just as long as you get there.â âI guess. Now do me a favor and shut up. I’m exhausted.â âIf you’d tell Dad about Harvard for me I could get to sleep.â âForget it. I want to reach my eighteenth birthday,â Brad said, and T.J. pushed up on his bunk.
Editorial Notes To Myself
First, the scene is a bit choppy. There’s a lot of dialogue and not much description or internal thought to balance it out. By just reading this passage, it’s not clear whose head we’re supposed to be in. Probably Brad’s, since he is mentioned first, but we never get in his thoughts. Dialogue was always one of my strengths, but I didn’t master deep point of view until my thirties.
Another issue is that the boys, who are high school seniors, are talking about going straight to college to play Division 1 ice hockey. Nowadays, that’s not the typical route. Before joining a D1 men’s hockey team, most players need to delay college and spend time developing their skills in a high-level junior league. I’m not sure how it worked in 1992âwhether thing have changed since then, or whether I just didn’t research it enough and got it all wrong. There was no Internet back then, so research wasn’t as easy as it is today.
The scene also lacks conflict and tension. Below is my final version. I’ll put some notes in bold so you can see why I made these changes.
Final VersionÂ
That night, Brad lay awake in the top bunk, staring at the ceiling. A night light glimmered in the corner and shadows bathed the small television, TV stand, and student desk. All the discussion about junior and college reminded him how drastically his life was changing. His parents splitting up last December with no reconciliation in sight. Playing his final season of high school hockey with friends heâd known for years. And even though Brad believed he had a chance of making the NHL, the long winding road ahead scared the hell out of him. (Note the setting details and internal thought. These additions help us to visualize the room better and clearly establish that Brad is the viewpoint character of this scene.)
What if he didnât like his host family? Even though they got on his nerves, Brad would miss his own boisterous family. What if he didnât click with his new coaches or had a difficult time adjusting to a higher level of play? Then there was Sherry. His friends thought their relationship was a high school thing. Brad thought it was more. If he joined a junior team in the Northeast rather than the Midwest, could he talk her out of Florida? (Note that there is even more internal thought here to help us get deep into Brad’s head. The host family and junior team references were rewrites to reflect a more believable path to D1 hockey.)
In the bottom bunk, T.J. shifted, and the mattress creaked. âYou awake?â
âYeah,â Brad said.
âThanks for trying with Dad. Iâm so sick of him pushing me about college. Itâs probably better Iâm not going next fall. Iâd have no clue what to major in.â
âWhat happened to management and leadership?â
âThatâs just what Iâve been telling scouts. Youâre lucky to have your major picked out.â
Having an interest in broadcasting didnât mean Brad would excel at it. As their father stated, academics wasnât his strength, and college was harder than high school. Brad sighed, his stomach clenching in a knot. (More internal thought to keep the scene in Brad’s POV.)
âWhatâs wrong?â T.J. asked.
It was quiet except for a car driving into the resident parking lot. Brad didnât know how much to admit. What was he supposed to say? That he feared getting homesick and not fitting in? That despite his big talk, he worried that he wouldnât be good enough? (More internal thought. I have gotten much better at deep POV since writing the original draft as a teen.)
âIs it Sherry and the Florida thing?â
âYeah. Itâs Sherry.â Might as well confess that much since T.J. suspected it was bothering him. âIâm wondering whether sheâd stay if I played junior locally.â
âYou mean in the NCDC?â
The National Collegiate Development Conference was a tuition-free junior league in the Northeast, making it an attractive opportunity for players throughout the region. Brad rolled onto his side and peered over the edge of his bed though he couldnât see T.J.âs face in the darkness. (Here I added some more authenticity about junior hockey and a little description.)
âItâs a good league. A lot of their guys are getting commitments. Trey wants to get on one of those teams.â
âYeah, but I thought we were both going for the USHL,â T.J. said.
Theyâd selected the more established USHL as a first choice because so many D1 players and NHL draft picks had ties to the league. Brad and T.J. met some scouts at camp and had been corresponding with several over email. They might not get on the same team, but theyâd agreed this was their ideal steppingstone. (Note how the dialogue in the rewrite has more tension than the original and hints at more problems.)
âWhat, I canât change my mind?â Brad leaned up on his elbow, glaring down at the lower bunk.
âBecause of a girl?â T.J. asked sharply. âYouâre seventeen.â
âSherryâs not just some girl. You have a new girlfriend every other week, so donât go giving me relationship advice.â Brad and Sherry disagreed over how long it would take his brother to dump Kayla. Sherry expected them to attend Prom together. Brad gave it till mid-January before T.J. claimed she was too clingy and moved on to someone else. (This gets us into Brad’s head and also gives insight into T.J.)
Swearing under his breath, T.J. got up and crossed the room. He switched on the light, and Brad winced. âDamn it, T.J.â
T.J. paced in his Bayview T-shirt and sweatpants. They both wore exercise clothes to bed and worked out when they woke up. âEven if you two stayed in New England, how often do you think youâd see her? Your life will revolve around hockey. Youâll have games on weekends, a lot of them away games. Sheâll be busy with school. I donât get the logic here.â
âIâd see her a lot more than if sheâs in Florida and Iâm in freakinâ Nebraska,â Brad growled. (This dialogue is more interesting than in the original as it shows conflict between them.)
âAll Iâm saying is youâll be wrapped up in the team. Do you really think itâs fair to pressure her to give up Florida? I get that youâll miss her. But youâll both come home sometimes. In between, you can FaceTime and text.â (I added the FaceTiming and texting to make it more current for today’s readers.)
Brad flopped onto his back, the fight seeping out of him. âYou think Iâm being selfish?â
âYouâre just not thinking this through.â
âBut long-distance is hard. It might not work.â
âDude, itâs your high school girlfriend. Stop stressing over this. Who knows if youâll even be together next year?â T.J. flicked off the light. (This is a much stronger ending for the scene.)
Want To Read The Book?
Face-Offâs McKendrick brothers return in this explosive sequel, an action-packed hockey book for teens and tweens.
Twin hockey stars T.J. and Brad have finally resolved their differences and forged a friendship on and off the ice. Now high school seniors, they focus on landing a commitment to a D1 school.
What should have been the best year ever takes a nasty hit when the boysâ parents announce their divorce, and Brad makes a mistake that could impact his game eligibility. Meanwhile, T.J. faces off against their father, who opposes his decision to delay college and pursue junior hockey.
Adding to the tension are a rebellious kid brother, girlfriend trouble, and recruiting pressure. The turmoil threatens to drive the twins apart just when they need to work together the most. With a championship title and their futures at stake, T.J. and Brad must fight to keep from going offsides.
I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek into my writing and editing process! Maybe it will inspire some of you to rewrite an old manuscript. There are some manuscripts in my drawer that will remain there, but Offsides was one that I knew had potential.
You’re probably aware that I’m a freelance editor and creator of online courses for writers. (If you don’t know that, then feel free to explore my website!)
I’ve also written books about theme park princesses, teen psychics, U.S. flag etiquette for kids, and determined women sleuths. I’ve had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. You can learn more about my books on my other websites.
Are you an author interested in writing a Behind the Rewrite guest blog post? Get the guidelines here.
Check out Shortcuts for Writers Freebies including a 5-day line editing course, Facebook group, and resource for naming your characters.
Check out Shortcuts for Writers affordable courses including Book Editing Blueprint: A Step by Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable, the Energize Your Writing Toolkit: Cheat Sheets for Character Emotions, and Time Management Blueprint: Transform Your Life and Finish Your Book.
Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Join her Facebook group for writers and download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb. Also be sure to sign up for her free 5-day line editing course!
Do you know you need editing, but are worried about how you’re going to afford it? Would you love to do a lot of it yourself, but know you have blinders on when it comes to your own work and that self-editing may not be your strong suit? Never fear! Recently, my friend Liesel Hill interviewed me on The Prolific Author Podcast. The topic was self-editing tips for the indie author. You can also find the interview at the bottom of this post.
I’m an author herself, and as someone who also does a lot of editing for other indie authors and has created a self-editing online course, I have a unique perspective. Give the interview a listen to learn some self-editing tips and find out how you can improve your revision and rewriting skills. You just might save yourself tons of time and expense on editing!
If you haven’t listened to The Prolific Author Podcast before, you’re in for a treat. Liesel is a USA bestselling author and Story Clarity Coach, and her podcast is a wealth of information on everything from story craft to book marketing tips. Here is her description of the podcast:
Do you dream of making your living writing fiction, but donât know where to start? Believe me, I understand. I worried and struggled over my writing for years, afraid it was cheesy and amateurish, and not TRULY resonating with readers. Meanwhile, at every turn, I was told I couldnât make money this way. It takes too much time and hard work. Itâs not a ârealâ job. I bet you can relate, right?
Well, Iâm gonna let you in on a secret the traditional publishing industryâand letâs face itâmost of society at large, donât want you to know: itâs VERY possible to become a career author. To make your living writing stories full emotion, passion and morality.
With all the upheaval and negativity in our world, people NEED your stories more than ever before. Stories only you can bring to them. I created this podcast to show you how. And I promise it will take less time than you think. So, join the revolution of authors following their passion and changing lives, both their own, and those of their readers. WEâĤare prolific authors!
Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Join her Facebook group for writers and download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb. Also be sure to sign up for her free 5-day line editing course!
Take a tour of the online course BOOK EDITING BLUEPRINT: A STEP-BY-STEP PLAN TO MAKING YOUR NOVELS PUBLISHABLE.
In Book Editing Blueprint, your mission is to learn how to do a thorough developmental, line edit, and copyedit and to create a solid action plan. By the end of this 10-module, self-paced course, youâll have prepared a detailed editorial report and will be armed with a simple self-editing checklist to guide you through your revisions. Itâs a proven system that outlines what every fiction and creative nonfiction author should do before approaching an editor. That way when youâre ready to hire a freelance editor, youâll get much more value for your money and should receive a high level edit rather than one filled with general beginner advice.
In this video, I’ll show you what the classroom looks like and give a quick overview of each lesson.
Please SUBSCRIBE and click the bell to get notifications.
**** I’m a fiction author, award-winning journalist, freelance developmental editor, and the founder of Shortcuts for Writers. My motto is “Let’s make editing simple,” and my signature course is Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable. I’ve taught workshops for organizations including Savvy Authors, RWA, and Sisters in Crime.
Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Join her Facebook group for writers and download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb. Also be sure to sign up for her free 5-day line editing course!
This video was originally created for the Shortcuts for Writers Facebook group and shares the results of a survey I did. In that survey, I asked writers what editing issues gave them the most trouble and what MUST be included in my course Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable.
Want to know what your fellow writers think about editing? Watch this 14-minute video for a fascinating look at what writers are struggling with in their manuscripts. We talk about expense, common technique pitfalls, time management, and more. If you think you’re alone with your writing and editing struggles, you’re not!
I used the results of this survey to help me create my online course BOOK EDITING BLUEPRINT: A STEP-BY-STEP PLAN TO MAKING YOUR NOVELS PUBLISHABLE.
In Book Editing Blueprint, your mission is to learn how to do a thorough developmental, line edit, and copyedit and to create a solid action plan. By the end of this 10-module, self-paced course, youâll have prepared a detailed editorial report and will be armed with a simple self-editing checklist to guide you through your revisions. Itâs a proven system that outlines what every fiction and creative nonfiction author should do before approaching an editor. That way when youâre ready to hire a freelance editor, youâll get much more value for your money and should receive a high level edit rather than one filled with general beginner advice.
Please SUBSCRIBE and click the bell to get notifications.
**** I’m a fiction author, award-winning journalist, freelance developmental editor, and the founder of Shortcuts for Writers. My motto is “Let’s make editing simple,” and my signature course is Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable. I’ve taught workshops for organizations including Savvy Authors, RWA, and Sisters in Crime.
Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Join her Facebook group for writers and download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb. Also be sure to sign up for her free 5-day line editing course!
In this video, I’m going to show you what flaws jump out at me on the first couple pages of an unpublished manuscript. You’ll get a glimpse of how editors will evaluate your writing and why it’s so important to your wallet that your submission is polished. I haven’t read these pagesâ these are just observations that caught my attention as I glanced over them.
Agents and acquisitions editors can tell a lot about your novel in the first two pages. Your opening pages can entice them to keep reading or elicit an instant rejection.
What if you’re hiring a freelance editor to help you get the book ready for indie publishing or for submitting to agents? Giving you editorial feedback and/or making corrections is their job, right?
Yes, for a price. And that price is most likely hundreds of dollars per editing pass. It may even be over a thousand dollars: FOR ONE ROUND OF EDITING. Most beginner and intermediate writers need multiple rounds of editing.
Some freelance editors charge by the hour. According to the Editorial Freelancers Assocation, the average cost of hiring a developmental editor is $45-$55 an hour, which is for about 1-5 pages per hour.
Many editors will ask for a sample and give you a price or an estimate. They often charge more for a less experienced writer as the edit will take more time.
Did you know they can assess your writing and editing skills in just a couple pages? They’ll probably skim through more just to make sure, but editors don’t need to read many pages to determine your skills and come up with a price.
Learn how to self-edit your work so that you can make your manuscript as strong as possible BEFORE investing in a freelance editor or submitting to agents and publishers. It will save you money and you will look much more professional.
Watch how I assess two pages in this video. This is an example of the issues that I see in many clients’ manuscripts. Then check out my free self-editing course Line Editing Made Simple: 5 Days to More Polished Pages. Sign up here.Â
If you want to really learn how to think like an editor to save time and money, check out my online course Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable. This course demystifies the editing process, giving you a practical, step-by-step blueprint for evaluating, rewriting, and polishing your manuscript. Find out more here.Â
Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Join her Facebook group for writers and download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb. Also be sure to sign up for her free 5-day line editing course!
Many beginner and intermediate writers find the book editing process overwhelming. That’s where I come in. I was recently asked on a podcast why Iâm so passionate about teaching self-editing skills to authors. The thing is, Iâm not just an editor. Iâm an author who has received crushing editorial letters, letters that outlined everything I was doing wrong. Iâd thought those manuscripts were pretty darn close to being publishable, but nope! Evidently not.
Those letters got my heart pounding, my blood pressure rising, and my eyes prickling with tears. Donât get me wrong. The editors said encouraging things, too, but all I could focus on at first was the overwhelming list of problems to fix.
For example:
âI think in order to make us eager to get back to this place in future installments, you may want to dial it up even more to make the park a true character in the story.â
âWe donât know enough about what your characters want to allow us to get really invested in their story and the outcome.â
âIâm going to make a bold suggestion here. What if there was no Danielle?â
In that letter, I discovered my setting needed to become a character (huh?), my real characters were flat, and I should consider cutting the bitchy ex-girlfriend who drove most of the conflict. And trust me, there was more. Much more!
Good editors also focus on the positives during the book editing process, and this was an excellent editor whose suggestions helped me a great deal. She included paragraphs like this one: âI know these seem like a lot of notes, and I hope Iâm not overwhelming you. I really think you have nailed the more critical elements that canât be fixed as easily. You have a fluid writing style and a good sense of pacing, and most importantly, you write with voice.â
In the beginning though, all I felt was overwhelm. Of course, I thanked her and gushed over how much I appreciated her insightful editorial feedback, because I did appreciate it. Sheâd saved me from publishing a book that wasnât ready. Thanks to her, I realized the book editing process wasn’t done yet. That didnât make the truth any easier to swallow, though. I wasnât almost finished with the book after all. In fact, I wasnât even close to being finished.
I survived the rewrite just as Iâd powered through the other tough rewrites over the decades. With a leap of faith, discipline, and peanut M&Ms. Plenty of peanut M&Ms!Â
Eventually, I became a developmental editor, coaching other authors through the book editing process, and found myself writing these kinds of distressing letters. Iâd echo the words of my mentors, incorporating lines like, âPLEASEÂ donât be discouraged. Youâre a talented writer and this story has so much potential.â Iâd nervously await a reply, praying I hadnât crushed a new writerâs dreams with my editing feedback.
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that every manuscript has potential, but it takes good editing to transform it into the book it deserves to be.
I wished I had a fairy godmother to transform this early draft of Fooling Around With Cinderella, the book described in the above editorial letter.
And I really wished I could wave a wand and make things easier for my clients.
They were jumping from Point A (finishing their draft and revising as best as they could) to Point C (hiring a freelance editor) with no transition in between.
What they needed was a stop at Point B, which in my world stands for Blueprint. Everything I put into the course and the step-by-step guide that accompanies it comes from thousands of hours spent editing my own manuscripts and my clientsâ projects. If you’d like to learn more about how Book Editing Blueprint can transform your writing and editing, watch the above trailer and then visit the course home page for more information. Hope to see you inside the course!
Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Join her Facebook group for writers and download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb. Also be sure to sign up for her free 5-day line editing course!
This course demystifies the editing process, giving you a practical, step-by-step blueprint for evaluating, rewriting, and polishing your manuscript. Itâs like having a professional editor standing over your shoulder while youâre editing the novel. The course will give you a solid foundation while also being something you can reasonably finish.
In Book Editing Blueprint, your mission is to learn how to do a thorough developmental and line edit and to create a solid action plan. By the end of this course, youâll have prepared a detailed editorial report outlining your bookâs strengths, weaknesses, and strategies to fix the problems, and will be armed with a simple self-editing checklist to guide you through your revisions.
Itâs a proven system that outlines what every fiction and creative nonfiction author should do BEFORE approaching an editor. That way when youâre ready to hire a professional book editor, youâll get much more value for your money and should receive a high level edit rather than one filled with general beginner advice.
A typical editing fee is $45-$55 an hour for a developmental edit, and that could be for less than 5 pages an hour. Most books by beginner and intermediate writers need MULTIPLE rounds of developmental editing. This doesn’t include copyediting or proofreading expenses. Before you invest hundreds to a thousand or more in editing services, make sure your book is ready.
Want to learn more about Book Editing Blueprint? Watch the trailer and then head over to the course home page.
Please like and share this video with any writers who might be interested!
Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Join her Facebook group for writers and download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb. Also be sure to sign up for her free 5-day line editing course!
Does the thought of revising your novel seem overwhelming? If your manuscript could use self-editing, sign up for my free email course on revising and editing strategies: Line Editing Made Simple – 5 Days to More Polished Pages. It features bite-sized self-editing tips and assignments to help you kick-start your line editing, even if you feel as if you’ve been getting nowhere.
Here’s what you’ll learn inside this revision course, aimed at fiction and creatiive nonfiction writers:
* Lesson 1: The one thing that will jump-start your editing. * Lesson 2: Three mistakes you may be making and what to do instead. * Lesson 3: Five little words you need to start cutting now. * Lesson 4: The truth about editing. * Lesson 5: Struggling with wordy sentences? This will help. Bonus: The ten-step checklist you need in your editing arsenal.
I’m a fiction author, award-winning journalist, freelance developmental editor, and the founder of Shortcuts for Writers. My motto is “Let’s make editing simple,” and my signature course is Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable. I’ve taught workshops for organizations including Savvy Authors, RWA, and Sisters in Crime.
Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Join her Facebook group for writers and download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb. Also be sure to sign up for her free 5-day line editing course!