Stuff Writers Write that Makes Editors Cringe
6 Writing Traps to Avoid Looking Like an Amateur
First-time, and even veteran writers, go down rabbit holes with their writing, and sometimes it’s the editor who helps dig them out of those traps.
As a veteran (or should I say seasoned) nonfiction book editor, I’ve seen it all. Many times. So consider this advice while you’re revising and revising yet again before you even think about hiring an editor.
Revise until You’re Sick of Your Work
Too many well-meaning but naïve authors throw the words down and then call it good. In the best of circumstances what you have is a rough first draft. That shitty first draft that Anne Lamott allows you to have. The draft you write with the door closed, according to Stephen King.
Real writing takes place after you’ve got the bones down because solid, successful writing is rewriting.
Case in point, an author came to me with an 88,000-word manuscript. She was looking for a structural editor. I advised her that this memoir should not begin at the beginning but at a defining moment in her life.
“Oh,” she said, “I thought that’s what an editor would do.”
