The most successful writers will try to find as many people as they can to read their work and seek out their opinions. The more the better. Friends are ok but strangers are better because they're the ones who'll tell you the truth.
A good writer, who thinks s/he is a good writer, will be proud to show off their work and happy to get the criticism. Very few writers can sit down and write a book that's basically a first draft that's any good. I've never seen it.
It took Charles Frazer, who has a Ph.D. in English, and his editor over 10 years to do Cold Mountain. I've read an interview where he says 6-7 year and his editor says over 10 years.
Working with an editor typically takes a year - working full time at it - and that's after the writer thinks the book is done. New writers are shocked when told that. They think an editor comes in and corrects spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Here's a blurb I send to writers who are looking for an editor:
It's not always apparent what kind of editing a writer needs without first seeing what s/he has.
There's a story editor, a copy editor and a line editor, and there's a book doctor.
If the story is good, people might overlook a missing comma. But conversely, all the grammatical edits in the world will not bring a story alive, without using various developmental and structural techniques.
A good story editor can make a book work. However, a copy editor can follow behind a story editor and improve any manuscript.
A line edit can discover holes in the story, which further tightens up the book. Usually a copy editor cannot make the characters leap off the page (in fiction).
Then there is a book doctor who can read the final product as a whole and determine if the story, including the ending, works. They will also tell you if you have an interesting enough subject that can sustain a reader's attention for 300 pages plus.
The 5 Cs summarize the copy editor's job: make the copy clear, correct, concise, comprehensible and consistent; that is: make it say what it means, and mean what it says. Typically, copy editing ensures the use of correct spelling, consistently used terminology, accurate punctuation, consistent style and formatting, correct grammatical and semantic errors.
Bottom line is this. A copy edit is very necessary to a manuscript, but it cannot save a book with a flat narrative. However, a good content edit can resuscitate a story by rerouting the tracks of the book. An author would benefit to go through both levels of editing as they complement one another.
In that first level of editing, these are just some of the things a good story edit can bring to your book.
1. A good story edit will develop the different nuances, contradictions, and core values. By the same token, it will also show the other characters' opposing values, which will deepen the conflict among the characters.
2. A good story edit will help develop the back-story of your protagonist.
3. A good story edit will help you develop your antagonists, so that they are not all bad or your stereotypical villains.
4. A good story edit will help you tie up all the subplots and story questions.
5. A good story edit will clean up your prose.
6. A good story edit will make the setting so strong it will stand out like a character.
7. A good story edit will make your details so crisp and clear that the readers feel like they are sitting right in the middle of the scene.
8. A good story edit will point out inconsistencies and conflicts
9. A good story edit will sort out chronologies and keep things in the proper sequence.
10. It will show if the dramatic tension is there.
11. It will show what scenes are missing, what's too much, what's too little. |
