Editing is the key to unlocking your storytelling magic.
I thought my editing skills were excellent. In fact, ‘Billy Lemonade’ was only a tweak away from being self-published. It had been read through (countless times) redrafted four, five times. I ‘killed my darlings’ and weeded out prolonged (boring) prose and overdone (boring) inner monologues.
Then luck/fate/a levitating turtle, one day saw me hitting the ‘submit’ button to UK based ‘Whisper Publishing’.
On 26th May 2020, they replied advising their desire to publish ‘Billy Lemonade’.
Chief Editor, Wendy Wilson, may love animals and nature. She may be an all-round peace loving ‘good sort’, but she doesn’t pull her punches.
Only under Wendy’s ruthless red pen (track changes), did I fully appreciate how often I said “that”, and “so”, the frequency with which my characters “walked”. How regularly they trailed off … How often they “wondered”, or “just”, or “actually” “seemed to be” (insert irritating adverb here) “sighing”.
And therein is the message of this blog. No matter how proficient you think yourself at editing, a professional, one who understands language and is passionate about it, will make a mockery of your efforts.
Disclaimer: Whisper Publishing were not used in the creation of this blog.
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