Sharon Honeycutt, Editor

You write. I edit. You shine.

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Editing My First Novel: Learn from My Mistakes, Part 3

March 22, 2016 /

If you’ve been following my blog, you know that I’ve started the (painful) process of publicly editing a novel I finished in 2007. If you missed the first two parts, you can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here. In Part 3, I’m going to talk about authenticity.

When I wrote this particular book, I was calling on my personal experience of working as a newspaper reporter for a small daily. I held the job for a little over three years, and I loved it. I worked several different beats, and I think I did a pretty good job of it. I’m sure that’s one of the reasons I made my main character a reporter. I could relate to her that way. (Write what you know and all …)

The problem was that I got lazy. Continue reading

Editing My First Novel: Learn from My Mistakes, Part 2

March 8, 2016 /

Last week I invited you to go along with me as I rip apart the first novel I wrote, which I finished way back in 2007. I’ve become a professional editor in the meantime, and I’ve finished three other novels since then too. I’ve learned a lot and have a lot to offer my clients, so I thought it would be interesting to shine the light on my own first effort. If you missed last week’s introduction to this, click here.

In my previous post, I talked about the perils of a backstory dump. On the third page–the THIRD page–of my book, I throw in a big one:

Continue reading

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.

Continue reading

Client Spotlight: J. Matthew Saunders

February 18, 2016 /

Two of the best parts of being a freelance editor are the number of people I get to work with and the variety of projects they bring to me. I’ve had the pleasure of working with talented writers and amazing human beings. These are people who put a smile on my face each time their name appears in my inbox.

Because of this, I thought it would be fun to feature my clients once in a while and tell you about their projects and why you might be interested in what they’re writing.

J. Matthew Saunders

For this first spotlight, I’m featuring a client who first came to me early in 2015. He had written a vampire book and needed an editor. Was I interested? As soon as I read the opening pages, I knew I wanted to work with this author. These were very different vampire stories, and he was a very gifted writer.

First, let me tell you just a little about the author himself. J. Matthew Saunders isn’t your typical self-published author. He’s got three degrees–history, journalism, and law!–and had already written several short stories before he published his novel. On top of that talent, Matthew’s just a really nice guy and a pro to work with. Want to know more about him? Click here.

Okay, so vampires, huh? Continue reading

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

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