Category: Editing

When my editor began sending me his edits, he said something that is great advice for all first time authors. “Don’t be put off by all the “red ink.” When you wrote this, you were focusing on what to write. My job is to focus on how you’ve written it.”

The best tool to use for editing is MS Word.  Send your editor a copy of your latest manuscript. When you get it back, I recommend either making the changes to your original or changing the one you get back. You should retain the editor’s copy in your email program.

Your editor should use the Review tab to add comments and make changes (enable the Track Changes button). If you decide to use the same copy, you can Accept or Reject those changes (Review tab) and delete the comments.

There are three times that a hard copy review is beneficial. First is right before sending it to your editor, the second after the editing is complete (right before the final upload to get it printed) and the final is reading through your proof copy.

There is something about reading words on paper that will change your perspective causing things to stand out that were seemingly hidden before. I also think it causes you to slow down and relax while enjoying the first tangible copy of your baby.

Right before sending your manuscript to an editor, print out your entire manuscript, grab a red pen, and read it through cover to cover.

Make corrections as you go, but don’t be tempted to stop for more research or complete rewrites. Mark the section that needs your attention and keep going. Reading all the way through from start to finish will help you to make sure the flow keeps flowing.

Print it out again after all the edits are done. This should go faster than the first read through, but don’t rush. Expect to still catch misspelled words and other small problems.

After uploading you file, order a proof copy. Once you are done accosting the mail carrier and have posted pictures all over social media, grab that red pen again. This time you are going to look at the formatting too.

1. I had not learned about active and passive voice until I attended a military prep school in my early 20’s. However, it was not until my editor worked with me on my book that I fully grasped the idea.
2. Learning about active and passive voice came later for me while attending a military prep school in my early 20’s. However, working with my editor on my book is what finally made me grasp the idea.

The first paragraph is passive voice, while the second is active. Active engages the reader and pulls them into the action. It’s a lot like the picture at the top of the post. Now look at this picture…

It makes you feel ignored right? That what passive voice is. It leaves the reader in the past. Active voice takes a bit more brain power to create, but it will make your readers a part of your story.

I’m far from being an expert at the English language, so I’m going to make this real easy for you.

All you need to do is replace past tense words – “had,” “been,” “was,” “were,” and words that end in “ed” with present tense words – “came,” “is,” and words that end in “ing.”  It’s really that simple.

It is OK to put things in the present although they occurred in the past. For instance, when quoting an author, even though he wrote the book in the past, bring it to the here and now –

Wagner stated, “It is an …..”

Wagner states, “it is an ….”

You will not be able to create active voice 100% of the time, but make an effort to do it whenever possible.

Think about you’re own personal style. Do you always wear jeans? No matter what your job requires, you may never leave your house in anything but a short sleeve shirt. Boots? Sneakers? How about jewelry? Personally, I feel a bit off if I don’t have my rings on.

This is what style is and every author has their own writing style.

A style sheet is a list of things that will help you remember decisions you’ve made about what your book looks like (how it reads). However, just like wearing clothing is pretty much a hard set rule, the same applies to writing. Some of these rules might apply to your book, so it’s good to include these in your style sheet too.

As mentioned in Living Documents, a style sheet evolves as you write.

The purpose of a style sheet is to create consistency in your manuscript. It contains decisions that you have made or have researched that need to be remembered and used as you write.

Here is a list of things that might be in your Style Sheet:

• List of words to capitalize (ie: Bible vs. biblical)
• List of words not to capitalize ( ie: Satan vs. satan)
• Where to use punctuation
• When to use italics (ie: Bible verse highlights, book titles, etc.)
• How to format Bible references (ie: spell out book of the Bible or abbreviate, when to use parenthesis)
• Block quote details (ie: punctuation, capitalization, etc.)
• Numbers – (ie: general rule is to spell out less than 100)
• Characters lists and their attributes

MLA and APA styles will help you make the correct decisions in some of these matters.

You may come across things that are particular only to Christian writing. For these, I recommend you use The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style.

Once you have exhausted your research on an item and have found nothing, it is ultimately up to you to decide what to do.