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Fiction Editing
A good editor is a teacher, helping an author not only with the book he or she is writing, but providing lessons that can be used in every book after that. I provide a full range of editing services: developmental editing, line editing, and rewrites. Let’s take a look at what these terms really mean.
The most important thing a fiction editor can do is help authors develop their plots and their characters. This is known as developmental editing. With this type of edit, I provide overall editorial letters that lay out the basic areas in which the novel might be improved. These general notes are backed up by thorough page-specific notes, usually 15-25 pages long, laying out an entire structural road map that can be followed, if the author wishes. Most important, the suggestions are always positive, encouraging authors in what they’re doing right and diplomatically showing them where changes might be made.
Line editing is what it sounds like, sharpening and tightening prose line-by-line so it gains its maximum impact. This means cutting less vivid material, from an unnecessary adverb all the way up to a paragraph that seems to be heading off on a tangent. As part of the service, a full spelling and punctuation check is provided. For more in-depth information on my views on line editing, please see my article in Editors on Editing, Gerald Gross, 3rd ed.
At the author’s option, the line editing can be supplemented by rewriting, helping the story hit the right notes, whether supplying more suspense or making dialogue sound more natural. Although I am not a full ghostwriter, copious rewriting can help a book substantially.
Here is a list of some of the novelists I have worked with, including highlights and/or personal favorites:
African American: Eric Jerome Dickey, ReShonda Tate Billingsley, Christopher Darden, Jacquelin Thomas
Historical: John Jakes, Fred Mustard Stewart, Norman Katkov, Dewey Lambdin, Ann Moore, Bartle Bull
Horror/Occult: Peter Straub, Ira Levin, Bentley Little, Michael Slade, Boris Starling, Whitley Strieber
Legal: Robert K. Tanenbaum, J. F. Freedman, Michael Eberhardt, Lee Gruenfeld
Literary: Jessica Barksdale Inclan, Tanya Barrientos, Richard Wiley, Richard Martin, Jack Zipes
Mystery: Lawrence Block, Jeff Abbott, Jessica Fletcher & Donald Bain, Lydia Adamson, A. W. Gray
Romance: Heather Graham, Catherine Anderson, Cassie Edwards, Sandra Kitt, Patricia Rice
Suspense: Barbara Parker, Leslie Glass, Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Jeannine Kadow, Karen Harper
Thriller: Greg Iles, Stephen Frey, Jack Du Brul, Steve Thayer, Christopher Hyde, Michael Prescott
Women’s Contemporary: Patti Callahan Henry, Judith Gould, Gail R. Fraser, Lisa Wingate
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American Dreams
John Jakes |
Suspicion of Vengeance
Barbara Parker |
Slow Burn
Heather Graham
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The Killing Way
Tony Hays |
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