When should you hire a freelance editor? Part three

Read part two here

Have you read any writing books, gone to any workshops, taken any classes (whether in person or online)?

If the answer is no, then you are not ready to hire a freelance editor.

The reason is similar to my answer in part one. Writing craft books, workshops, and classes can take you from a beginning writer to a strong intermediate one.

You don’t want to waste your good money in hiring a freelance editor who will point out the basic writing mistakes in your manuscript when you could buy a $15 book and learn that for yourself.

What book do you start with? I have a nice list of Books on Writing and a few suggestions in my article, “I want to write a novel and I have no clue what to do!”

If you have a hard time learning from books, go to a class. A writer’s conference can be expensive, but the workshops there are usually worth the investment.

Auditory learners have lots of options--in addition to conference workshops/classes, there are MP3 classes you can listen to. Randy Ingermanson and Donna Fleisher both have audio MP3s that you can buy relatively cheaply that will teach you the basics.

Most writing conferences will also have the workshops available on MP3 to buy after the conference is over. RWA and ACFW both have all their workshops available as MP3s.

There are great online classes you can take through a writing organization. RWA and its chapters often have online classes, and ACFW offers free online classes to members every month.

If you take the time to learn the basics of writing, then when you do hire a freelance editor, she can focus on deeper issues to help you polish your manuscript and bump it up to that next level.

More next time.

Comments

Writing Fight Scenes

I love martial arts movies and action flicks. So naturally I'd write action scenes. I discovered that it takes a slightly different writing style. These are some of the things I learned, although this list isn't exhaustive by any means. Action-Reaction A fight scene is always Action-Reaction. He punches, she staggers back. She kicks, he blocks and swings a fist at her. Watch out for putting your reaction before your action: She staggered back when he slammed his fist into her shoulder. The rule of thumb is to have each action-reaction have its own paragraph, although that’s not always possible. Sometimes the sentences are too short for their own paragraphs and can be combined. It’s up to the writer how to format it: He swung a roundhouse punch. She bent backward and felt his knuckles swish past her nose. versus: He swung a roundhouse punch. She bent backward and felt his knuckles swish past her nose. Short sentences = fast reading flow Use short sentences and phrases to make re...

The 50-word elevator pitch

The 50-word elevator pitch: Basic story elements and a two-sentence novel summary Writing a 50-word summary is good to help you condense your thoughts and themes for your novel. This summary can be used when you pitch to editors or agents, and it can also be used in a query letter to an editor or agent. Swain gives this excellent method to come up with a 2-sentence (or 50-word) summary of your novel. This can be done before you write it or afterward, whichever works best for your writing style. This is similar to steps 1 and 2 of Randy Ingermanson's Snowflake method : https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/ Each novel typically has five basic story elements: Character --Your protagonist or focal character. You can sometimes have two protagonists, but even then, often the story of one character is slightly more dominant than the other. Situation --The troubling situation your character is stuck in that forces him to act. Objective --What y...

How to write a kiss

There was a question on the writer’s Discord server that I’m on where someone asked how to write a kiss. They weren’t specifically asking me, but I was able to give a short answer for how I write kisses. I write and read traditional romances, so my kiss scenes tend to be heavily influenced by the genre and by how my editors critiqued my manuscripts. You basically want to focus on the emotion of the kiss and how the kiss makes the point of view character feel, as opposed to going deep into physical detail. Ideally, the description will show that the kiss is something special and not just them macking. For example the kiss made her feel ___. Or the kiss was ___ which made it seem that he felt ___ for her. “The kiss made her feel as if she were incredibly precious to him.” “His lips were gentle and almost tentative, as if he were afraid of frightening her.” “The kiss surprised her and yet felt as familiar as if they’d kissed a thousand times before. The kiss felt like home.” I...

Story Sensei

Search This Blog