After the elation of signing two book contracts in 30 days, in the middle of COVID, I was brought very resoundingly back to earth when I got the first manuscript back from the editor. Thud. Ouch.
I went through four rounds of edits with my first traditionally published book, An Unsinkable Love, several years ago, so I had some idea of what I would see. But of course, I’m a MUCH better writer now than I was then…
Don’t get me wrong, I am absolutely thrilled with the vast majority (VAST being a key word here) of the comments, suggestions, and corrections. I “grew up” in the age of spelling it e-mail, not email (sorry Jennica!) and know I overuse “that” and so took out waaaaay more than I should have. I could go on (but I won’t because this blog has to stop at some point).
Continuity issues, more descriptive words, too many pronouns at the beginning of sentences, and lots of other craft problems were also in significant numbers. But what really made me sit back in my chair and want to thunk myself in the forehead were things that were so blatant when pointed out I couldn’t believe they had gotten in there in the first place. Fixable things. Not caught by beta reader things. Things that sounded just fine by themselves, but when you focused on a specific scene vs. a prior scene, just didn’t hold up.
And then there was the fact that I’d managed to name my protagonist the same as a REAL, unsolved serial killer, without even trying. When you make things up for a living (well, not exactly a living yet) at least if you’re me, you don’t think that your totally made-up killer’s name could be not-so-made-up after all. I’ve lived along I-70 all my life, and don’t remember ever hearing the name. But the editor checked it. Another thud. Another ouch.
Ah, but the thrill of finding a new (cooler) killer’s moniker, re-writing a scene and having it be better than the original because you looked at it from a different perspective, adding more/different details that flesh out a character… those are things that give you tiny little wings that help you get back up off the floor again (and that’s no Red Bull!).
I often see Tweets or Facebook posts or questions at writing workshops about if you really NEED an editor—after all, they can be a significant cost to someone planning to self-publish. My two cents worth—YES, YES, YES! Critique groups are great, beta readers are great, but an editor is trained to see beyond the story. They don’t get so caught up that they miss those details. They’re not worried about you not being their friend anymore or jealous that you might be one step ahead of them in the fickle game of writing. And, best of all, they want your book to be the best it can be. There’s no hidden agenda behind their comments or remarks.
So, for those of you trying to decide if it’s worth paying for an editor, or who’ve received edit letters or markups and haven’t been able to get over the upset it gave you when you first saw the red ink, stop and think about what you have now vs. what you could have. It’s your book, just like mine will be my books—I will decide what I do and don’t want to change/add/remove/fix. But I can tell you this—during the four days I took to walk through the markup completely for the first time, the number of items I declined, or left for further consideration, are minimal. I know the book is already much better than it was. And it will get even better before it’s done.
I hope like me, you will all continue to WRITE ON!