Editing for (Near) Perfection

by Carol McClain

Edit.

A four-letter word. And we writers utter it in all its forms: noun, adjective, verb. However, this dirty little word is most vital to our work.

My latest book A New York Yankee on Stinking Creek was heading to IngramSpark. I knew it shone with my authorial brilliance. After all, my two critique partners tore it apart, and I rewrote it according to their suggestions.

I have subscriptions to Grammarly and to my favorite editing software, ProWritingAid. I ran the manuscript through them and dutifully made corrections.

As a final polish, another software program read the work to me.

It wasn’t enough, and I knew it.

The book would be self-published, the reasons would make another blog post. I wanted this book to rise to the top of Amazon and Barnes and Noble’s lists. Millions of other works competed against it. Again and again I read that in order for your book to make it into the ten percent of new releases, a professional editor had to correct its issues.

Breezy. Right?

You read all I did to make this work shine.

My editor, true to my predictions, claimed my work was clean. She found it easy to edit. Then she sent me my edited copy.

Page after page after never-ending page, she marked-up my work like an English teacher on Adderall.

And what did she find? A smattering of examples follow:

1. MINI Cooper not Mini Cooper
2. LEGOS not Legos
3. My ‘ was supposed to go the other way ’ (Can you see the difference? I couldn’t).
4. I spelled Emmett’s name (a minor character appearing seldom) Emmet on one random page somewhere in the middle of the manuscript.
5. Kincade not Kincaid
6. Random single spaces at the end of paragraphs

And I could go on and on and on. Why bore you with my boo-boos?

So many small mistakes all my early editing didn’t catch. So many of my favorite weasel words I never saw. So much.

I almost think I took longer to correct my mistakes than it took to write the story.

However, the result is a professional novel.

I know most of you use traditional publishers and using ProWritingAid sends off a polished manuscript for their editors to critique.

For those who must self-publish, find a trustworthy editor. Check his/her credentials. Send her a few pages for a sample of her work.

How do you find one? Ask your writing groups. Get recommendations from other writers. Mine is a member of ACFW and used to work for the agent Les Stobbe.

Will A New York Yankee on Stinking Creek rise to the top of the NYT Best Seller List? An introductory read of the novel will prove it should.

If it doesn’t, it won’t be because of poor editing.

You can check out more from Carol McClain at CarolMcClain.com.

Check out A New York Yankee on Stinking Creek. You’ll see the above is true.

NOTHING GOOD COMES FROM STINKING CREEK

Alone, again, after the death of her fiancé, abstract artist Kiara Rafferty finds herself on Stinking Creek, Tennessee. She wants out of this hillbilly backwater, where hicks speak an unknown language masquerading as English. Isolated, if she doesn’t count the snakes and termites infesting her cabin, only a one-way ticket home to Manhattan would solve her problems.

Alone in a demanding crowd, Delia Mae McGuffrey lives for God, her husband, her family, and the congregation of her husband’s church. Stifled by rules, this pastor’s wife walks a fine line of perfection, trying to please them all. Now an atheist Yankee, who moved in across the road, needs her, too.

Two women. Two problems. Each holds the key to the other’s freedom.

Author Carol McClain is an eclectic artist and author. Her interests vary as much as the Tennessee weather—running, bassoons, jazz, stained glass and, of course, writing. She’s a transplant from New York who now lives in the hills of East Tennessee with her husband and overactive Springer spaniel.

She is the president of ACFW Knoxville and the secretary of the Authors’ Guild of Tennessee.

The world in East Tennessee intrigues her from the friendly neighbors to the beautiful hiking trails and the myriad wildlife.

Life is good in here.