Posted on 8-15-23

Editing Explanations

Many writers/authors are not happy with their editors or have felt as though they were taken in by less-than-stellar editors.

This saddens me as an editor because, as a writer, you’ve worked hard on your story and deserve the best edit possible.

But I’ve found many writers are not sure exactly what they need.

So, I’ve broken down the explanations, in further detail than what I have listed on my site. However, I may just update that.

Let’s start with Developmental Editing.

A read-through of the entire manuscript and looking at the big picture. Are your characters developed? Are your plots believable and developed? Do you have strong motivations or a strong character arc? Do you have tension, interesting themes, or subplots that help move the story forward? Are there boring characters? Is the plot too cliché?

If you chose this – you will not get the copy/line editing or proofreading.

Structural Editing

Are you using Three Act? Are you using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? Is your story action, adventure, thriller, love, romance, coming of age, temptations, moralities, etc.? Could you use flashbacks? Backstory? An epilogue? A prologue?

Many times structural falls into Developmental Editing as they are very similar.

Copy Editing (many times combined with line editing)

Tearing apart your spelling and grammar, POVs, inconsistencies, correct usage of commas, dashes, hyphens, semicolons, typos, word usage or word choice, etc. Looking to make sure things within your story are consistent. Ages, colors, landscapes, etc.

Line Editing (many times combined with copy editing)

Stylistic editing. Focuses on prose from content and flow perspectives. Word choice, sentence structure, tenses, descriptions of persons, places, and things. Making sure you sound consistent throughout the manuscript.

Proofreading (many times combined with copy editing)

The absolute final step. Taking a look at typesetting (although, every set up can be different) Therefore, it may be extra spaces, double spaces, punctuation, misspelled words, page breaks, etc. This is generally the cheapest of checks, but no less important.

I hope this helps clear things up.

Remember, many editors offer a free consultation, like I do. Take advantage of this so you can work out exactly what your needs are for your book.

Thank you for reading and don’t forget to…

Write On!