About Us

Trust us to keep your novel out of the slush pile

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This is NOT a typical editing service. We develop good writing into great writing. We can clean up wordy prose and inspire you to enhance your writing style with suggestions and examples. We have a special flair for descriptive tags; those descriptive phrases that are so skillfully tucked into the dialogue and laced throughout the narrative that the reader isn’t even aware of them. But they’re there. The reader may not see them, but you can bet she feels them. They can spice up your novel and get it ready to publish.

My editors will assess pacing, POV, descriptions, tone, and characterization. We take a more tutorial approach to editing, so you actually learn and improve as a writer as you go through our edits and suggestions. Chapter editing usually involves looking at the line-by-line flow of the story and cleaning up or tightening the sentence structure without making extensive changes. Good writing isn't just telling a story, it’s getting the reader swept up in the narrative as they hurry to turn those pages, it is knowing how to grab the reader and keep them interested until the end. It's learning how to handle point of view, conflict, flesh out a character, make a setting feel real, as well as a hundred other things. Let us assist you by supporting you in creating the very best writing possible.

Fiction writing is a wonderful adventure, allowing writers to create compelling characters, indulge in wild loops of imagination, and satisfy some of their deepest yearnings for pattern, mystery, and coherence in their lives.

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Affordable editing, critique, and mentoring for writers.

 Friendly, supportive approach. 

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Writing Tip 4 from Elle

1. - Does the description of the setting transport you into the fictional world between the pages or are you still sitting in your chair bored to tears?

2. - Do the descriptions amble on for pages or are they interspersed throughout the story, via character's observations or through the effect each setting should have on characters?

3. - Do the characters, their actions and the time period agree or conflict?

4. - Does the order of events remain consistent throughout the story?

5. - Was the main character's hair dyed blue the night before only to have her wake up in the morning with her brown hair miraculously restored?

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Specialize in Horror, Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, and Romantic-Suspense!

Writing Tip 3 From Sherry

Published writers have the fortunate advantage of starting a novel or short story; however, they like. They're an established name with an existing fan base. Their readers, agents, and editors already know that they are more than capable of selling books. But, if you're an unpublished writer, things are not quite so simple, and agents and editors are not quite so tolerant or lenient.

As an unpublished writer, it is absolutely essential that you grab the reader's attention right from the beginning. Metaphorical hands should erupt from the first page, seize your reader by the collar, and yank them, helpless, into the narrative.

This means one thing and one thing only: ACTION.

Don't start your story with description, start it with something actually happening. That means few adjectives and no adverbs. Your opening few paragraphs should be stuffed full of verbs and nouns!

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Sherry Soule is a writer and freelance editor for The Fiction Editor. She can improve your novel with helpful suggestions and edits. She is based in San Francisco, California, but is available worldwide. As a fellow writer, she respects the written word. Sherry specializes in romance, horror, and suspense fiction. Check out her blog for struggling writers: Dark Angel Writing

Writing Tip 2 from Ann

1. - Does the dialogue match the time frame?

2. - Is the dialogue punctuated correctly?

3. - Did the dialogue include unnecessary profanity, too many sentence fragments, clichés, or too heavy a dialect?

4. - Have your characters rambled on, chit-chatting away into banal obscurity?

5. - Does each character have their own manner of speaking, like real people do?

6. - The dialogue should match the conflict that is happening between the characters, whether it's sexual, social, physical or political.

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Andrea Mauro is a published fiction author and a full-time editor who can improve your novel or non-fiction work. She is based in Marin, California, but is available worldwide. As an editor, she will honor your unique writer's voice, and won't change it. She also has a flair for creating professional resumes and cover letters.

Writing Tip 1 from Sam

1. - Who is your protagonist, and what does he or she want?

 

2. - When the story begins, what morally significant actions has he or she already taken towards that goal?

 

3. - What unexpected consequences -- directly related to the protagonist's efforts to achieve the goal -- ramp up the emotional energy of the story?

 

4. - What details from the setting, dialog, and tone help you tell the story?

5. - Things to cut: travel scenes, character A telling character B about something we just saw happening to character A, and phrases like "said happily" -- it's much better to say "bubbled" or "gushed" or "cooed."

6. - What morally significant choice does your protagonist make at the climax of the story?

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Samantha Albright is a professional blogger and marketing editor. She is based in Pleasanton, California, but is available worldwide. Sam has been in publishing since 2001 when she received her first contract to write her own novels. Since then she has served on the editorial staffs of many small publishing companies across the country.

Bad Writing Habits to Avoid

Bad Writing Habits: are overused and misused language. In more direct words: find ‘em, root ‘em out, and look at your prose without the underbrush.

am, is, are, was, were, being, be, been … combined with “by” or with “by … someone” implied but not stated. Such structures are passives. In general, limit passive verb use to one or two per book. The word “by” followed by a person is an easy flag for passives.

am, is, are, was, were, being, be, been … combined with an adjective.

 “He was sad as he walked about the apartment.” “He moped about the apartment.” A single colorful verb is stronger than any was + adjective; but don’t slide to the polar opposite and overuse colorful verbs.

There are writers that vastly overuse the “be” verb; if you are one, fix it. If you aren’t one—don’t, because overfixing it will commit the next error.

florid verbs. “The car grumbled its way to the curb” is on the verge of being so colorful it’s distracting. {Florid fr. Lat. floreo, to flower.}If a manuscript looks as if it’s sprouted leaves and branches, if every verb is “unusual,” if the vocabulary is more interesting than the story … fix it by going to more ordinary verbs. There are vocabulary-addicts who will praise your prose for this but not many who can simultaneously admire your verbs as verbs and follow your story, especially if it has content. The car is not a main actor and not one you necessarily need to make into a character. If its action should be more ordinary and transparent, don’t use an odd expression. This is prose.This statement also goes for unusual descriptions and odd adjectives, nouns, and adverbs.

odd connectives. Some writers overuse “as” and “then” in an attempt to avoid “and” or “but,” which themselves can become a tic. But “as” is only for truly simultaneous action. The common deck of conjunctions available is:

• when (temporal)
• if (conditional)
• since (ambiguous between temporal and causal)
• although (concessive)
• because (causal)
• and (connective)
• but (contrasting)
• as (contemporaneous action or sub for “because”) while (roughly equal to “as”)

These are the ones I can think of. If you use some too much and others practically never, be more even-handed. Then, BTW, is originally more of an adverb than a proper conjunction, although it seems to be drifting toward use as a conjunction. However is really a peculiar conjunction, demanding in most finicky usage to be placed *after* the subject of the clause.

And “so that,” “in order that,” and the far shorter and occasionally merciful infinitive: “to … {verb}something.”

Specializing in Horror, Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, and Romantic-Suspense!

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Samantha Albright is a professional blogger and marketing editor. She is based in Pleasanton, California, but is available worldwide. Sam has been in publishing since 2001 when she received her first contract to write her own novels. Since then she has served on the editorial staffs of many small publishing companies across the country.

Want some valuable writing advice?

Moderate passive voice as much as possible. Should be used sparingly.

Using a Stable Point of View helps cut out any reader confusion.

Don't start your MS in first person and then switch to third.

Avoid pronoun confusion. Use your characters names; they have them for a reason.

Use a proofreader. Another pair of eyes is always a great way to find things you may have overlooked.

The first chapter is your opportunity to grab the reader's attention. Often, people decide to purchase a book or put it back after only a paragraph or two. Increase your odds of success by starting with a strong opening that hooks the reader and makes them want to find out more. I strongly suggest getting a couple of beta readers after you revise your MS.

Action: Get the action going immediately. There's no room for a first chapter where nothing happens. If it's boring, readers won't keep reading. Readers respond to scenes that start in media res. There are a few important things that your first chapter must do:

1. Introduce a Story-Worthy Problem
2. Hook the Reader into Reading Chapter 2
3. Establish the Rules of the Story
4. Introduce Key Themes

 You want to make sure that the first chapter gives the reader an idea of what is to come. Starting off with minor characters can be confusing, so if you choose to do so, have a good reason. It can be a help to introduce your antagonist in the first chapter as well. Your MC should have their own set of motivations and unique characteristics. Begin the story at a moment of change and not long scenes of dialogue. Hopefully, these few pointers can at least minimize some of the mistakes that beginning writers often make. 

Okay, advice over. Now send us your MS and get back to writing. We need a lot more great books to read. (smile)

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Fiction Editor