This post written by founder and managing editor Callie Stoker.
There are so many elements to good writing—premise, plot, structure, character development, world-building, clarity, dialogue, prose, the list goes on and on! It is near impossible to be excellent at all these things all the time.
Right?
And in order to win the readers’ heart, you pretty much have to be good at all of these things. One little slip and the reader is knocked out of the narrative, unable to connect with the characters and rapidly losing interest in the story.
But here’s the secret: you don’t have to do it alone.
In fact, no one does it alone. Every writer you’ve ever loved has had a team of people behind them, helping bring their vision to life. And, always, on that team is an editor. Specifically, a content editor. Someone trained to look at the story, not just the grammar and punctuation.
Your content editor is there to reel you in when you got overly excited about the history of Narwhalia and info-dumped about this world of yours for three pages. Your editor is there to catch that wonky passage in chapter seven, when the president and her aide exchanged paragraphs of dialogue without ever saying anything. Your editor is there to notice when Detective Lyu acts on a clue you neglected to reveal to the reader. And when your theme got muddled, and when your character wasn’t internally consistent, and when your plot went off course. And, best of all, your editor is there to help you figure out how to fix all of these issues, so the reader never has an inkling that they were ever not working.
In short, your editor is there to make you look good at everything.
A good editor acts as the liaison between the writer and the reader. They represent the most critical reader you’ll ever have—the one who notices all the plot holes and foibles—but they’re on your side. They love your story nearly as much as you do, and they want very much to elevate what’s on the page to match your vision for your story.
Because that’s what the best editors do for you. They understand your vision, and they see whatever gaps might exist between what your manuscript currently is and what it has the capacity to become. And the best content editors offer tools, techniques, and concrete guidance for getting it there.