Another Set of Eyeballs (REBLOGGED)

Hi everyone! How were/are your holidays?

I’ve got things to do and have done things, as well as relaxing. 🙂

A while ago, a piece of goodness landed in my inbox which I now thought I’d share. The EdiMo experiment didn’t quite work out the way I thought it might. One goal for 2016 is to be more disciplined – I need to be better able to direct myself when there’s little to no structure around me. Still, I have started. I’m learning my characters’ quirks more, which is good. Ideas for enriching the story tumble around in my head.

‘EdiMo’ continues, stretched out until completion of this draft novel. Even if that takes another year – though I hope not! 😛

In that light, you’ll be seeing a few more writerly-advice reblogs over the next little while. That’s not really different to last year though. Writerly-advice stuff happens all year round…

The one thing I have learned is that you need another set of eyeballs. I could read my shit over and over and find something to correct/ remove/ adjust/ whatever every time, but eventually, I knew that I would need to pass it off to someone more experienced. Editors really can help you write better and [tag]Mary Jaksch[/tag]’s post, Write Better: How an Editor (or Coach) Can Help You, can tell you why.

Know What You Want. If you’re hiring an editor, it’s a good idea to keep a few things in mind.

1. Self-edit – Do a thorough job of self-editing before you consider turning your work over to a professional editor. I recommend these simple but powerful guidelines.
2. Research– Do your research. Know your editor’s approach and common practices before you hire them.
3. Know your goal – Know what you want, so you hire the right type of editor.
~ Do you want your plot or overall structure evaluated?
~ Do you want a bare-bones copy-edit that only corrects usage (it’s/its), grammar (verb/subject  agreement) and punctuation?
~ How aggressive do you want your editor to be? Slash and burn, or do you want every changed to be queried first?

It’s valuable to get a professional evaluation and/or edit at the beginning of your project. Doing so will help you:
1. Clarify your vision and your purpose.
2. Become aware of, and focus on, your strengths.
3. Get support developing your signature style.
4. Prevent your idiosyncrasies of punctuation, grammar, or sentence structure from becoming bad habits.

Besides an editor, Mary adds that a coach deals in areas of motivation and content guidance, and usually combines them with evaluation and sometimes editing. A good book coach helps an author face self-doubt, get through slumps, and gently kicks butt when called for.

I can honestly say that I’ve never thought about getting a book coach. I knew that required more money than I wanted to spend. However, back in August, I bit the bullet and got a Quick Hit Analysis from book coach, [tag]Larry Brooks,[/tag] and it was the best money I ever spent. You can read all about my experience and the results HERE.

The original post can be found by clicking on this link.