Developmental/Content Editing

Developmental/Content Editing

There is an assumed rule in editing that the editor is always right and that you should always do what the editor says. This is incorrect and no writer should blindly follow the suggestions of a developmental or content editor. The author has the final say in all changes and adaptations of the manuscript. So now you ask, “Why do I need an editor then?” Well the answer is very easy, to sell your book.

An author generally writes from their own experiences. They write what is comfortable to them and what has made an impact on their lives. In general, every singular person has felt an impact of magnitude on every level, but their circumstances or details change. A developmental or content editor is the one person who can push you out of your safe box.

To be an effective author, one must step out of their safe box and here are a few reasons why. Although every individual may have an emotional reaction to an incident, these reactions may be vastly different. A writer needs to connect their emotional reaction to their own incident to the reader. An editor brings to the surface that emotional connection, through major suggested changes, such as the order in which the events take place, to the subtle changes, such as a word or phrase. These changes help draw a stronger emotional reaction to the incident that you are describing, and in doing so, will attract more readers who will connect emotionally to your characters; they’ll want to walk beside them and truly experience their lives as you experienced them in writing.

A Developmental or Content editor should know your market. In knowing your market they should know a few simple facts before editing your book:

1.) They should know who your competition is. Not only the local competition but the top selling authors. If you are on the shelf next to Tom Clancy, then Tom Clancy is your competition.

2.) They should know the pace of your competition. The stories change, the characters change, but the pace of a genre stays the same. Thrillers move fast, history is limited and the climax and confrontation mark the end of the book. Chick Lit is more sedate, there is a lot of personal emotion, personal interaction and must contain melancholy and personal character growth. These are things your editor should know.

3.) You are not going to make a ton of money on book sales; most authors make the “big money” by selling their rights to screen, or becoming professional speakers. When you look at the top selling authors, look into their history and find out how long ago they started, and what they did before they ‘made it big’., You will find that many of them have been around and writing for decades and have fought long and hard to attain the ‘bestselling’ status. Your editor should know how to arrange the book to keep it an entertaining read, but also so that it may be easily marketed to screen and other media.

4.) They should have an idea of what you are trying to do. Authors tend to have an outline in their head, and then their characters tend to talk to them and tell them what to do. The result is a manuscript that has strong notions of both sides of the argument with weak connections. Your editor should take the time to talk to you about why you did something, what was its purpose and why you think it is instrumental to forward progression of the story.

In truth, even editors need editors. As I read the first draft of this article I noted that it had all of the key facts and arguments that I wanted to present. I also noticed the arrogant, self-centered and personified use of the pronoun ‘I’ as if ‘I’ was the only authority. My editor, bless her, took the time to fix all of these little details that were beyond my grasp and understanding as I moved from the editor’s chair to the writer’s. Although I know to watch this with my authors, I also know how difficult it is to catch any or all of them in my own writing.

Christine
"People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing." - Andrew Carnegie

H. Christine Lindblom
http://twitter.com/ManuscriptDone
http://www.completethatmanuscript.com