For Your Fiction

g are two different jobs and they require different attributes. An independent editor provides a writer with fresh eyes to go through their draft-work, giving them thoughtful feedback about problems they can’t see for themselves. As a developmental & line-editor, I work closely with the author to understand the project, target audience, and the story author wants to convey.

1.Developmental editing mainly focuses on:

Story & Plot: Is the story engaging and believable? Does it make sense or are there plot holes? Are there sub-plots that neither resonate with the main plot nor have any subtle impact? Characters: Is your viewpoint character or protagonist engaging? Is there any gap in the character building? Do your characters look real? Is there a scene in which your character talks, or behaves out of his/her character? Are there minor characters who don’t advance the story? Dialogues & Narration: How is your balance between “showing” and “telling”? Are there too many interior monologues or back-stories? Are the dialogues commonplace or clichéd; stiff or flowery; melodramatic or informative? Flow & Pace: Does the story flow effortlessly, or are there irrelevant passages or chapters? Does the book rush ahead too quickly, or get stuck in-between? Is the novel consistently interesting, or are some parts far more gripping than others? Is there a lot of unnecessary back story of the characters, hindering the flow of the story? Point of View: Have you considered the best possible point of view for the story? Are there places where you jump from one head to another? Voice: Is your language suitable for your viewpoint character? Do your characters sound the same? Hook: Do any of your hooks stand on their own? Is it disproportionate in terms of intensity or hyperbole? Fact-checking: Does the book include any real-life incidents, places, concepts? If yes, Is the information intact?

2. Line Editing:

Words or sentences that are extraneous or overused

-ly adverbs used as adjectives for emotions

Authenticity of dialogues – looking out for any clichés, repetition, out of the character dialogues or interior monologues

Dialogue Mechanics – usage of paragraphing, speaker attributions, beats etc. Scenes where the action is confusing or the author’s meaning is unclear due to bad transitions

Any POV and tense switches

Highlighting any confusing or hard to follow sentences or scenes

3. Additional services:
Book blurb
Book launch promotion
Representing the book on different social media platforms, mainly Facebook and Twitter
Building the readership for the author
Connecting authors with bloggers