How to incorporate the five senses into your writing by Marie Valentine, Editor See, taste, touch, smell, hear. I wrote these words on a sticky note and put it on my writing desk until I absorbed them. The five senses are how we perceive the world, and through them writers translate experience to a reader. Without the senses, …
By Theodora O’Brien Developmental copy editor / Manuscript evaluations-critiques It’s true you can’t edit your own work, but you can be the first to evaluate your manuscript to find out if all the working parts are there. If you’re like most writers, you’ve studied a dozen or more experts on what should and shouldn’t be …
On Releasing Your Inner Critic by Marie Valentine, Editor I am anxiously awaiting a writer’s new manuscript draft. In hopes he would send it to me sooner, I told him not to overedit on his third pass. I’ve edited two of his works, so I am afraid he will overedit because I know he is …
by Floyd Largent, book editor In my last blog, I discussed some of the basics of what it takes to be a good editor: voracious habits of reading and writing, a thorough grounding in the tropes of the genres one works in, and simple experience—the quality that comes with quantity. But while those factors are …
by Floyd Largent, book editor As a writer, you probably know it’s always best to get at least one unbiased person to review your manuscript before you submit it to a publisher or agent. In fact, that’s probably why you’re checking out this website. And as you wander through these pages, you may be wondering …
by Floyd Largent, Editor To me, the real meat of writing lies in the revision. Sure, it’s crucial to get your story onto the page, because everything else springs from that wellhead. You can’t create your masterpiece without the raw materials to work with. But the editing process is where you cut and polish your …