Lexicon: Editor

Editor: is usually divided into two types Content & Story Editor versus a Line Editor.

A Content & Story Editor examines each part of your story to make sure it feels complete and that it fits into a genre. These parts include, but are not limited to: audience, characters, descriptions, dialogue, genre, main story arc, minor story arcs, pacing, plot, point of view, setting, tension, and theme. It is important to use a Content and Story Editor before seeking publication in order to make sure your work is polished enough to impress Agents and Publishers.

A Line Editor focuses on grammar and punctuation. You should consider using a Line Editor before mailing out your manuscript to Agents and Publishers to avoid getting dumped in the slush pile.

What is their motivation?

Money. Out of the three sides of the editorial triangle this is the only one you usually have to pay for (unless you’ve got a friend on the inside). Yes, editors enjoy being appreciated for their hard work and seeing their clients go on to be published electronically and in brick and mortar stores, but at the end of the day editors have gone to school to learn the tricks of the trade and it is a job.

Editors are just one side of the editorial triangle (along with critique partners and beta readers). In the normal flow of events your critique partners will work with you as you write, a content and story editor will help you shape your narrative, then beta readers allow you to get a glimpse at how your audience will react. After that you’ll need a line editor, an agent, and a publisher, but try to focus on the important part first: write your novel.

After you work with each editor you'll need to revise before sending your manuscript on to agents and publishers. If you're not ready for an editor just yet remember to focus on the most important part first: write your novel.

Suggestion: Constructive Day Dreams

Do you have a boring commute to work? Are you unable to read while you exercise? Do you hate singing in the shower? Don’t worry about wasting this time any more – use it for Constructive Day Dreams.

Constructive day dreaming is when you let yourself relax while doing a repetitive chore and think of all the crazy what if’s that could be in your novel.

The key is to pick a topic before you start day dreaming:

• Filling in a character profile (back story, habits, dialogue peculiarities).
• Setting description (every setting needs at least one unique characteristic to set it apart from every other bar, house, castle, forest, field).
• Plot speed (you know from your re-reads the parts you want to skim over – think about why that is and how you might change it).
• Genre expectations (after you’ve plotted the whole novel or done your first draft, look back and ask yourself whether you have too many items expected in your genre [which might start to look cliché] or so little that your genre is undefined [publisher’s want to know what shelf to put you on]).

All of these will need constructive day dreaming time. Do not think of it as being lazy to schedule it into your plans – just make sure that it is a planned topic to think through instead of random stream of consciousness.

This differs from brainstorming in one way: constructive day dreaming is about filling in the blank rooms and undefined details – brainstorming is about figuring out if the choices you’ve made are the right ones.

In short: day dreaming is not being lazy, when you use your time constructively.

Lexicon: Show, Don't Tell

Show, Don’t Tell: is a phrase that reminds writers to give the reader evidence so that they come to the concluding thought with the protagonist of the story instead of the reader being told what to think.

Let’s look at two statements:

She was a raven haired beauty from the gods.

Her black hair curled into delicate ringlets to frame a pale face with the barest touch of eyeliner and lipstick.

First line: Telling, Second line: Showing. Why does someone not wear much makeup? Because they are beautiful enough without it.

Showing always takes longer than telling, but it gives the reader so much more to consider. Who would concentrate on curled hair and makeup to decide if someone was beautiful? 

• A man or a woman? 
• Young or old? 
• A hair stylist or an up and coming actor? 

When you know Who is thinking, you’ll know exactly What they would be thinking about.

Whatever style you’re narrating in (first or third) this will help the reader sink into the mind of the current protagonist. 

• A fashion designer will always look at clothes, 
• an art student will notice every picture during a shopping excursion,
• a perfume seller will notice the natural scents on a hike and other hikers. 

Know your character and what to show will be easy.

How do you know when to Tell vs. when to Show? Gear your brain for Showing everything that is important to the novel and you’ll find yourself telling the readers less. Yes, there will be some instances throughout the novel where telling is necessary, but make it short, and make the protagonist desperate to hear about the new information so that the reader will also be excited to finally know the answers.

Genre is definitely important – Sci-fi gets away with telling because they have to explain how different technologies work, but a romance will drag if given the same treatment. Pick up a good book you’ve already read in your genre, flip to a random page, and try to identify how much telling vs. showing is going on.