Reader Reports
For many new writers, the reader report service is the most useful first stop. It provides written professional feedback on all aspects of a manuscript, so you can see what is working well and where improvements can be made.
Whether you need help with a first novel or on a non-fiction work, my reader report service will provide a full professional overview of your manuscript, highlighting what is already working, and including plenty of suggestions for a fruitful and efficient revision period.
Reader reports can be supported by manuscript annotation, so you can pinpoint exactly where an issue occurs in the text, and get an idea of how your work would be transformed by a professional edit.
I’m sometimes asked what the common issues a professional editor might find are. As every writer and manuscript has different needs, some of these may not apply to you and your book, but these are some of the editing issues I find myself commenting on most often.
Unintentional repetition
Repetition may be a style choice but sometimes (perhaps often) it is unintentional. A favoured phrase or word, a repeated mannerism, information shown in action and then repeated in dialogue. All of these are examples of repetition that may be worth cutting in order to let your stronger material shine.
Low stakes
I often spot a tendency to make things too easy for the characters in a book. Disaster neatly avoided, internal worries that never come to fruition. Or just ongoing low stakes. The prose may be pleasant but the reader feels unmoved as there is little tension. I often recommend some work on comparative texts and strengthening an outline of the narrative before returning to the draft. (My book on editing, ‘52 Dates For Writers’ includes exercises to remedy this.)
Information overload
Sometimes a writer can be so keen to show their workings out that the beginning of a novel in particular can feel like wading through a textbook. So many names, facts and faces to remember.
The reader will feel compelled to read on to ‘solve’ your novel – that is, if you don’t kill their curiosity with information overload. Instead, strip back some of this excess information and allow it to be revealed only when necessary. I often find there is an active scene later in the book, conveying the same information with greater impact.
An exercise I sometimes recommend to my writing mentees is to read the opening 5 chapters of several comparative texts and list the questions they can find. This is often illuminating and a reminder to ration revelation and information for greater impact. Stacking questions big and small can be a good way to ‘hook’ your reader into your story.
Passive characters
I often find a central character has not been positioned central to key scenes. Always look for ways to allow your protagonist to take action, rather than stand at the side-lines as ‘life happens’. Especially one to watch out for when writing children’s fiction, as there can be a tendency to disempower a young character (and by proxy a young reader) by having an older authority figure step in to solve a crisis or dilemma.
Predictability
We read to escape the mundane and thus fiction should always aim to take the reader further than expected. Increase the intensity of a situation, portray the extraordinary. Surprise the reader. Make sure there are different routes through the narrative, paths you have thought through even if not taken. A sniff of the predictable will set your reader on auto-pilot, where the aim is to have an attentive, engaged reader.
Awkward phrasing
In most instances, your writing should be easy to digest – a comfortable read. Too many commas can read awkwardly and suggest a re-organisation of the sentence or section. Many authors who come to prepare an audio version of their book make a further round of edits for their reading comfort. Ideal to try to anticipate this by reading your work aloud to see if it flows well.
Repetitive pace / structure
It can be helpful to thumb through the pages of a few comparative texts. Very likely, you’ll notice a variety of sentence and paragraph lengths. Try to avoid monotony by including some short sentences and paragraphs. Often we say the same thing in several different ways, so spotting this and trimming down your text can help. Watch out too for a repetitive structure – such as a number of chapters beginning with a character waking up in the morning or ending with their retiring to bed.
Inconsistency of point of view or tense
Breaking point of view – showing something that the character whose perspective we are following can’t know / access is a common slip professional editors find. It can take some thought to re-write a section of plot so the character has access to the information or action.
Inconsistent tense – slipping from the past to the present tense to no effect – is also a common mistake professional editors find.
If consistency is something you struggle with, it can help to stick a post-it note detailing your key choices on your computer screen or somewhere else you will see it when you are writing.
Too much internal thought rather than action
If the balance of your text leans heavily towards rumination and too much thinking by your characters, try to translate the narrative arc you have created into true action. It can take a real mindset shift to achieve this so again some comparative text work can be helpful, and this is something I often work on in my writing mentorships.