Sharon Honeycutt, Editor

You write. I edit. You shine.

Category: editing (Page 7 of 8)

Editing My First Novel: Learn from My Mistakes, Part 1

March 1, 2016 /

Back in 2007 I finished my first novel, a time-travel romance set (mostly) in the Smoky Mountains. It’s pretty bad.

I was so excited when I finished it–and I should have been. I’d just written a book. That’s a cause worth celebrating. What I shouldn’t have done, however, was submit it to agents. But I did. I’ve lost count now of how many agents I queried, but I remember only a couple asked to see additional pages. It went nowhere other than into a drawer. Did I mention it was bad?

I thought it would be interesting to dig it out and take a look at it as an editor. Then I thought it would be interesting to share with you the problems I see with it and how I would recommend fixing them if a client had submitted this book to me.

I don’t know how many blog entries it will take to do this, but welcome to the first one.

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Need to Hire an Editor? Write a Thorough RFP (Request for Proposals)

January 27, 2016 /

So you’ve written a book! Woo hoo! That’s truly exciting and something to take pride in. I’m a writer as well as an editor, so I totally get that rush of emotions you feel when you’ve finished this huge thing that has consumed your thoughts and your time and your patience and your caffeine and chocolate (and alcohol?) supply for months and months. It’s an accomplishment. Breathe. Take a walk. Or a jog. Or a nap.

And then think about how you want to approach the next step. You need to hire an editor. Why? I’m sorry to say it, but your book’s not done. You need another pair of eyes. You need someone who can find the plot holes, the inconsistencies, the incorrect grammar.

So where do you find an editor? Well, you’re here on my site, and I’m one, so … you’ve found one! But if you’ve looked at my site and you don’t think we’d be a good match, there are platforms out there that make it easy for you to connect with editors. Google is your friend here.

Regardless, though, of how you go about finding your editor, at some point, in some way, you need to be able to express your needs. Continue reading

Dialogue: Let’s Make it Readable

January 20, 2016 /

When I’m editing fiction, I always pay close attention to dialogue because it’s tricky. I usually see it go one of two ways:

  1. The writer tries to make it too formal.
  2. The writer tries to make it too informal.

Pretty basic, huh?

I’m editing a book right now that falls into the first category. The writer uses no contractions in the the dialogue whatsoever. For example, “I cannot believe you have been to the store already. I did not think you would get it done that fast.” (I’m making these sentences up, but using the writer’s style to make my point.)

Read that dialogue out loud. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

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If You Write, You Should Read

January 7, 2016 /

You might be surprised to know how many times I ask myself, when I’m editing early drafts of books or books written by inexperienced (read “new”) writers, “Does this person read?” And I think you’d be surprised because I’m certain that in most cases, the answer is “Yes, I read. I read a lot!”

Writers need to read, and ideally, they should read a lot and from different genres. The more we read, the more we expose ourselves to different styles, different figures of speech, different ways of building a narrative, and different takes on perspective. Writers should be “forever” learners, and reading consistently is one way to continue learning.

If you’re a writer and you do read a lot, it’s possible I’m still asking myself that question I posed above as I’m working on your book. Why is that? Why isn’t your experience as a reader translating into your efforts to write?

One reason could be that you’re not reading as a writer. You’re reading for pleasure, or you’re reading to learn, but you’re not reading as a writer. You need to train yourself to do that. How, you ask?

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Hiring an Editor: An Investment You Won’t Regret

December 17, 2015 /

Have you ever read a best seller that contained a typo or two? Of course you have. We all have. Usually, that’s the extent of it–a missing word, a missing punctuation mark, a misspelling. Something small here or there that doesn’t really interfere with your reading or enjoyment of the story, but something that reminds you that human beings (who are fallible) put that book together.

Traditionally published books that land on the best-seller list are usually under the imprint of one of the Big 5 publishers. Not always, but usually. Those organizations staff professional editors and proofreaders to ensure their books are clean and free of mistakes, and yet … as we just discussed, they often aren’t. Even after several rounds of editing and proofreading (and I do mean SEVERAL), they often aren’t perfect.

Now, I want you to think about all the time you’ve put into your book. Continue reading

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