After lots of hard work and all those hours during #NaNoWriMo, you’ve finally finished your story! Hooray!
But maybe you aren’t sure it’s ready to be sent off to a publisher?
Maybe you’re hoping to self-publish?
Maybe your manuscript is still unfinished because you’re having trouble figuring out where you want it to go, and you’re looking for a bit of help?
So you decide to hire an editor.
Well, the internet knows all, so you go online looking for an editing service only to discover that there are a bunch of different kinds of editors.
- Which one would be the best?
- What kind of editing do you need?
- Do you get a copyeditor, line editor, or content editor? Oh my!
For most writers, especially newer writers, a content editor is the way to go.
Copyediting means checking things like spelling, grammar, punctuation and usage. The copyeditor, may make a suggestion here or there about continuity or do some fact checking, but for the most part, they won’t be doing much to really make your story better.
Line editing will also clean your manuscript of errors and also look at clarity, voice, syntax, and continuity but if your story needs more in-depth revisions, let me introduce you to the content editor.
Content editing, also called substantive editing, on the other hand, is about editing the story itself. This means letting you, the author, know when a character feels flat, when a story has major continuity errors or unresolved plot lines, or when something in the story is just down-right boring or confusing. Content editing becomes developmental editing when it’s done chapter-by-chapter as you write the story. In this case, the editor may even help you figure out how to construct your plot, characters and setting as you go.
Here at The Manuscript Doctor, we like to go a step beyond normal content editing. Not only will we let you know when elements of your story aren’t working and give ideas on how to fix them, we’ll also teach you about writing concepts and tools that will help you avoid having the same problems in future writing.
For example, if a character is feeling a bit flat, we’ll make suggestions on how to improve this specific character while also teaching you how to write better characters in general. We’ll teach you about character voice and how to layer in the character’s internal thoughts with the action and exposition. We’ll teach you about characterization and character driven story arcs so your characters become like real people who grow and develop and make choices that feel natural while moving the story along.
For those with unfinished manuscripts, or even those just starting out writing, we recommend our mentoring program, which is a developmental editing service through which your editor becomes like a personal writing coach who will teach writing concepts and give feedback chapter-by-chapter as you go. We can also help you set and meet writing goals and coach you on how to find an agent or publisher and get them interested in your story.
A great content editor is the perfect partner to help you and your NaNo book reach the finish line, line up those plot lines, liven up those characters, and make your story idea shine.