Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 154

Widening Horizons

Edith here, writing from windy Chicago.

Yes, I’m in the windy city! I flew halfway across the country Friday to attend Murder and Mayhem Chicago, a one day conference put on by Lori Rader-Day and Dana Kaye, supported by Sisters in Crime Chicagoland and the MWA Midwest chapter.

It’s good to head out and meet new readers and writers. I thought I could let midwestern attendees know about my series set two hundred miles to the south in Indiana. And it was a chance to visit with my sister Barbara, a big mystery fan who drove up from central Indiana for the weekend. I got to see Wicked Sherry, too!

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Murder and Mayhem was a well-organized conference with about two hundred fans and aspiring or published writers listening to every session. Sherry and I were on a fun panel called “Kinder Gentler Murder,” with other authors who write either cozy mysteries or gentler ones.

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But the two highlights were the keynote speakers (neither of whose books I have read, I am chagrined to admit): Sophie Hannah and Scott Turow. These rock stars have sold millions of copies, been translated into many languages, and are ongoing thriving working authors.

So it also broadened my horizons to hear what they had to say. Susanna Calkins interviewed Sophie for her keynote, mostly about how the Christie family offered her the chance to continue Agatha’s Poirot mysteries. Then Patricia Skalka, the president of the Chicagoland Sisters in Crime chapter, interviewed Sophie at the SINC lunch.

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Sophie is hugely entertaining and had us all laughing at every turn.

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Scott was more subdued but had a lot to share. To hear how these authors got their starts and persisted until they made it was inspiring. They both admitted to not a little luck in their careers. I believe most of the time luck doesn’t hit you unless you are prepared to make good use of it, and both Sophie and Scott were.

Yesterday I widened my horizons in a different direction – all over downtown Chicago! I’d never toured it, so Barbara and I took a two-hour walking tour with a knowledgeable guide. We started at the Chicago Theater, wandered all over the Loop, checked out several amazing ceilings, and ended up at the “Bean” in Millenium Park, the most amazing bean-shaped piece of reflective public art.

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[image error]Mike, the walking tour guide, with a Picasso sculpture behind. I love the old building reflected in the new one!



[image error]See the little red circle in the reflection? That’s me taking my sister’s picture!

We then sat down with a piece of deep-dish pizza before heading out on an architectural boat tour up and down the Chicago River. Various friends had recommended it and I’m glad we didn’t miss the trip, especially since we had another deep-pockets-of-facts tour guide who kept up his patter for an hour. Fabulous!

[image error]The rain held off until after we returned to our hotel!

After we’d logged 15,000 steps for the day, Barbara drove back to Indiana. I poured a glass of wine, put my feet up, and set in to write this. Today I plan to hit the American Writers Museum and the Chicago Cultural Center, which has the largest Tiffany glass dome in the world, before I head home.

[image error]Picture credit to Daniel X. O’Neil via https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0

All in all, I’ve widened many horizons in four short days. Tomorrow I’ll be ready to send in Nacho Average Murder, my 21st novel, and prepare to launch Charity’s Burden, my 17th. The special giveaway for those US readers who have preordered the book is still open until March 31 – preorder here and enter the contest here!

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Readers, which of your horizons have you widened lately?

Guest- Susanna Calkins!

Jessie: In New Hampshire where a robin has been sighted in the back garden!

I am delighted to welcome fellow historical mystery writer and Sleuths in Time group member , Susanna Calkins to the Wickeds today! I am especially excited to host her as her new series is set in one of my favorite eras, the 1920s. Don’t you just love the cover! Take it away, Susanna!

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It’s been an interesting thing researching my new series—The Speakeasy Murders—which are set in 1920s Chicago. I went about it in a completely differently than I did for my first series—the Lucy Campion mysteries set in 17thcentury England. 

For my first series I had spent years researching the period as part of my doctoral work; for this new series, I was a lot more immersive. I listened to 1920s music, watched silent films from the era, and tried all kinds of Prohibition-era cocktails. Since I live in Chicago now, I’ve been able to walk around the historic parts, take “gangster tours” of the city, and get a feel for how things might have been. 

I also spent a lot of time pouring over newspapers, postcards, advertisements, drug store offerings, ice cream parlor offerings, and similar vintage item to add color to my story. The amazing-ness that is the Sears and Roebuck catalog has completely stunned me. It’s like the original amazon—you could buy anything. Cameras, wedding dresses, a new oven, home study courses, and of course houses. 

What’s fascinating to me, too, is how ‘living’ 1920s history is for the people who grew up in Chicago. Whenever I mention anything about these books, there is always someone excitedly wishing to share how their great-uncle cut Capone’s hair, or their grandmother ran a bootlegging operation out of her kitchen. Even when I was in Toronto, I met a man whose grandfather ran a shipping operation across Lake Michigan, smuggling gin and rum into Chicago’s North Side.

I did specifically set my books in an area of the city that is no longer all there—the University of Illinois at Chicago campus disrupted the Near West Side neighborhoods in the 1960s. This upheaval was terrible for the people who lived there, but for a writer it is helpful that I can put my speakeasy, as well as the different store fronts that mask the illicit operation, anywhere I pleased. 

Gangsters, flappers, rumrunners, temperance workers—definitely a fun world to investigate.  What do youknow about 1920s? Do you have any stories that have been passed down in your own family (or from your friends’ families?)

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Susanna Calkins writes the award-winning Lucy Campion historical mysteries set in 17th century London and the Speakeasy Murders set in 1920s Chicago (Minotaur/St. Martin’s). Her fiction has been nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award, the Agatha, the Bruce Alexander Historical Mystery (Lefty) and the Anthony, and was awarded a Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award (the Macavity). Born and raised in Philadelphia, she lives in the Chicago area now, with her husband and two sons. Check out her website at www.susannacalkins.com. More about her book can be found at https://read.macmillan.com/lp/murder-knocks-twice/

Guest- Nancy Herriman!

Jessie: Enjoying the spring-like sound of birdsong whilst ignoring the snowbanks still blanketing the ground!

I met Nancy Herriman for the first time in real life last year at Malice Domestic. But as such things often go in the mystery community, I felt as though I had already met her ages before. She and I both are members of the Sleuths in Time on Facebook and I have enjoyed getting to know her there. I am absolutely delighted to welcome her back to the Wickeds blog today! She has generously offered a copy of her new book, A Fall of Shadows l , to one lucky U.S. based commenter!

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Thanks to the Wickeds for having me back! It’s always a pleasure to be here.

Why do I write historical mysteries? I’m crazy? I’m trying to escape from modern life?

I know they’re not everyone’s cup of tea. However, I can’t seem to drag myself away from setting my stories in the past. I suppose I believe that it’s important to not forget our history. That those people are not so different from us after all, and their tales still offer lessons that resonate today. 

As for the writing itself, here are just a few discoveries I have made along the way:

First, good research is key. That may be a rather obvious statement. After all, good research is key for crafting any well-written mystery, contemporary or historical. But the farther into the past you go, the harder it is to find reliable sources, especially primary ones (meaning, written at the time). Even highly respected historians have biases that sway their conclusions. I’ve had to learn to be careful and read a variety of resources when researching.



Second, leave preconceived notions behind. We all have ideas of what the Tudor era, for instance, was like. But life in prior centuries was not always as dirty, disgusting, and brutish as it’s been made out to be. And part of the joy of writing historical novels is unearthing facts that challenge our beliefs and offer fresh perspective.



Third, don’t get obsessed. With details. I can spend hours searching for historically accurate trivia. HOURS! I strive to be as authentic as possible in order to bring to life the times during which my books take place. But I also have to remember to not get so lost in my pursuit of details that my characters become mere props or the mystery itself turns into a tangled mess. 



Fourth, don’t get obsessed!With imagining it’s feasible to completely reproduce the lives of people who lived long ago. Frankly, it’s impossible to get inside the head of someone who lived in the 1800s, let alone someone who lived in the 1500s. I try to breathe life into my characters, but I also have to recognize the limits of my ability to do so.

I’ve made more discoveries, but I’ll leave you all with this question: Do you enjoy reading historical mysteries, and why or why not? If so, what time period do you most like?

“With richly detailed settings and quickly moving dialogue…The second in the Bess Ellyott series mixes suspected witchcraft, actors, intrigue, and gossip aplenty in an involving historical mystery. Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Peters and Amanda Quick.”

                                                                                                            —Booklist

A Fall of Shadowsreleases April 9, 2019 and is available for pre-sale wherever books are sold!

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Nancy Herriman retired from an engineering career to take up the pen. She hasn’t looked back. Her work has won the RWA Daphne du Maurier award, and when not writing, she enjoys singing, gabbing about writing, and eating dark chocolate. She currently lives in Central Ohio. For more information visit www.nancyherriman.com.

Wicked Wednesday-Champions of Peace and Nonviolence

Jessie- In NH where even though the calendar begs to differ spring still seems very far away!

After a bit of poking round the internet I discovered the theme of Women’s History Month this year is Visionary Women: Champions of Peace and Nonviolence. As writers of crime fiction featuring female sleuths, mostly amateur ones, does this resonate with you? Do you see your protagonists as champions of peace and nonviolence and, if so, how do you express that in your books?

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Julie: What a great question. My answer: Yes! All three of my main protagonists, Ruth Clagan, Sully Sullivan and Lilly Jayne are all about restoring order. Ruth and Lilly are focused on fixing the issues in their towns. This is the role of the amateur sleuth, so this question resonates so well.

Edith: As a Quaker, Rose Carroll is a particular champion of peace and non violence. It’s important to her to bring justice to the falsely accused and to restore order to her community. And as Julie said, my cozy protagonists – Mac Almeida, Robbie Jordan, and Cam Flaherty – want peace to return to their small towns. Robbie has to resort to a bit of violence to defend her life in a few of the stories, but it’s not the way she normally operates.

Liz: It is a great question! Yes, Stan Connor and Maddie James each have a deep desire to have their worlds in order. And they both love their towns so much – Stan as a newbie finding her place and Maddie coming home – that neither of them can imagine it in turmoil for very long. So they are both committed to doing whatever they can to restore that order.

Barb: The main character in my next book, Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody, is described this way: “In Jane’s opinion, many people sadly lacked the skill to have difficult conversations with acquaintances and neighbors. Given a noisy house party or a car parked blocking a driveway, people stewed in silence—or worse, called the police—when a simple knock on the door and a polite request would have done the job. It was into this breach that Jane had leapt again and again.” The direct and difficult conversation is an important part of building the understanding required to live peacefully and non-violently in a complicated world.

Sherry: Sarah doesn’t think of herself as a person who goes about to be a champion of peace or nonviolence. I had an interesting conversation with Barb Goffman yesterday about Sarah’s motivation for doing something in book nine. I was trying to decide what lengths Sarah would go to save person A or person B. Barb said it didn’t matter, that Sarah has proved herself to be a person who would save either, that she’d save anyone if she could.

Jessie: I love all these responses! In my current series Beryl and Edwina have seen the aftermath of widespread violence caused by the Great War and have they no desire to allow it to take root anywhere near them during the peace. One of the appeals for them of starting a private enquiry agency was the opportunuty to restore order in whatever way they might be able.

Readers, who would you consider to be champions of peace and or nonviolence?

The Detective’s Daughter – The Queen B’s of Baltimore

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Kim, in Baltimore, packing for next week’s retreat in Ligonier, Pennsylvania.

 

Most nights my mom read to me from a book of fairy tales illustrated by Tasha Tudor. My favorite was Cinderella. I loved that story and also enjoyed watching the Rodgers and Hammerstein version on television. Prince Charming was portrayed by Stuart Damon. I was enamored with him and continued to be so even after he left royalty to become a doctor on General Hospital.

I’ve since learned I’m not the only Baltimore girl to become infatuated with a prince. Charm City has a history with royal marriages and those unions could be two of our greatest love stories,  both filled with heartache, high drama and scandal.

Elizabeth Patterson was a great beauty, and in 1803 thought to be the most beautiful woman in America. It was for this very reason Jerome Bonaparte, younger brother of Napoleon,  visited Baltimore. He was determined to meet the “exquisite creature” living here.

[image error]The Pagoda in Patterson Park, Baltimore. The park is named for William Patterson, last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence and father of Betsy Bonaparte.

They fell in love and were married on Christmas Eve 1803, but they were not destined for a happy ending. By the following fall Napoleon insisted that his brother return to France. Napoleon wanted the marriage annulled and for his brother to marry a German princess. Though Jerome promised Elizabeth he would straighten things out with his brother, he never did.

When they docked in France, Elizabeth was not allowed to leave the ship with her husband. She never saw him again. She gave birth to their son in London before returning to Baltimore to live out the rest of her days. Jerome married the German princess, but was not officially divorced from Elizabeth until 1815.

One of Baltimore’s most notorious natives has to be Wallis Simpson. Who has not heard of the King who gave up his throne to be with the woman he loved? Mrs. Simpson grew up in a row house not far from where I live. The stories about her are less than flattering, but no one can deny she lived an exciting life.

[image error]Bessie Wallis Simpson childhood home.

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor were married for 35 years until his death in 1972.  It was intended that both Wallis and her prince be buried here in Baltimore’s Green Mount Cemetery [also the final resting place of Betsy Patterson Bonaparte], but in the 1960’s Queen Elizabeth II agreed they should be laid to rest in England. They are side by side in the Royal Burial Ground near Windsor Castle.

They say well behaved women don’t make history, Betsy Patterson Bonaparte and Bessie Wallis Simpson  make that a true statement. March is Women’s History month. Take time out to read about these and other fascinating women.

Dear Reader, What famous woman from your hometown fascinates you? Is there a famous one in particular you would want to meet?

 

Some Wicked History

Jessie: Cheered by the sound of birsdsong in the mornings.

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Since it is Women’s History I have been thinking a great deal about the past lately. It got me to thinking about my own most treasured memories and of course some of those include my fellow Wickeds. As I was thinking about a post for this month it occurred to me to highlight one of my favorite posts from each of the Wickeds from the more than five years we have been blogging together. I hope you will give them a look and will enjoy the stroll down memory lane as much as I did!

From Barb: The Invidious Comparison

From Edith: Launching History

From Kim: The Detectivie’s Daughter- Hollywood Glamour

From Jane: Leaving the Comfort Zone

From Julie: The Superpower of Fun

From Liz: A Day at the Beach

From Sheila: It’s All in the Details

From Sherry: You Know You’re a Mystery Writer When…

From Jessie:Favorite Things

Readers, do you have a favorite memory from your own life to share? Is there a post from the Wickeds blog you particularly liked?

Guest- Victoria Thompson

Jessie: In New Hampshire happy to have finished my latest round of copy edits!

Our guest today is Victoria Thompson, author of the bestselling Gaslight Mystery Series and the Counterfeit Lady novels. She is one of the authors I really look up to both as a writer and as a person. She knows the business and is truly gracious about sharing her knowledge and experience with others. She encourages, teaches and cheers on the people around her and can be counted on to add wit and wisdom to any conversation she joins. I am delighted to welcome her here to the blog today!

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Her latest Gaslight Mystery,  Murder on Trinity Place , releases on April 30 and is available now for pre-order.  To celebrate, she’ll give away a signed hardcover copy to one commenter here today (US entries only).

Party like it’s 1899!

So I was working on ideas for Murder on Trinity Place, the 23rdbook in the Gaslight Mystery Series. The series started in 1896, and after 22 books, we were approaching the end of 1899, so I thought it would be fun to show the turn of that century. Were people as excited about it as we were in 1999? It turns out they weren’t (which is a different blog post).  Where do I go from there?

Got Milk?

I had an idea for how to start Murder on Trinity Place, even if it wasn’t as interesting as I had hoped. The murder would happen on New Year’s Eve, and I decided the victim would be a man whose legitimate business might be a cover for some sort of illegal activity.  I consulted a few of my writer friends (because it’s always easier to come up with ideas for other people’s books).  My good friend, Susanna Calkins, suggested that milk wagons could be used for all sorts of nefarious purposes when not actually hauling milk. What a perfect idea!  (I ended up dedicating the book to her.)

And then the magic happened. 

            I started researching what milk delivery was like around the turn of the last century, and I discovered all sorts of things about milk that I’d never dreamed of. Did you know that at one point in time in New York City, they had “milk wars”? Did you know that in mid-Nineteenth Century New York City, half of the children died before the age of five?  Half of them! And why? Mostly from drinking contaminated milk. Yikes. This was serious stuff. This is why writers love doing research. Truth is often much more interesting than anything you could make up yourself.

            “Never cry over spilt milk, because it may have been poisoned.” –W.C. Fields

            When the owner of a dairy is found murdered, Frank and Sarah Malloy are asked to solve the case by their very superstitious neighbor, Mrs. Ellsworth, because the victim is the father of her new daughter-in-law. (Can we all take a moment here to lament the fact that the English language has no easy way to describe your relationship to your child’s in-laws? “My daughter-in-law’s parents” is so unwieldy.  But I digress.)  Since Mrs. Ellsworth once saved Sarah’s very life, they cannot refuse, and they begin an investigation that leads them to some very surprising places.

            Milk has long been a staple of the American diet.  What are your memories of drinking it as a child? Do you remember home delivery? Do you like milk? Hate it? Are you allergic?  Are you surprised to learn that at one point it time drinking it could actually be dangerous?

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Murder on Trinity Place

The devil’s in the details when a respected man is found murdered near historic Trinity Church, in the exciting new novel from the national bestselling Gaslight Mystery series…

As 1899 draws to a close, Frank and Sarah Malloy are ready to celebrate the New Year–and century–at Trinity Church when they notice Mr. Pritchard, a neighbor’s relative, behaving oddly and annoying the other revelers. When Frank tries to intervene and convince Pritchard to return home with them, he refuses and Frank loses him in the crowd. The next morning Sarah and Frank are horrified to learn Pritchard was murdered sometime in the night, his body left on Trinity Place, mere steps from the incident. Frank and Sarah must search Pritchard’s past for a link between the new crimes…and old sins.   

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Victoria Thompson is the bestselling author of the Edgar ® and Agatha Award nominated Gaslight Mystery Series and the Counterfeit Lady Series. Her latest books are Murder on Trinity Place and City of Secrets, both from Berkley. She currently teaches in the Master’s Degree program for writing popular fiction at Seton Hill University. She lives in Illinois with her husband and a very spoiled little dog.

The Walk On

by Julie, enjoying moderate weather in Somerville, though still getting used to Daylight Saving Time (which she wished either didn’t happen or was permanent)

I plot my books thoroughly before I start writing them. It can take me up to a month to figure out all of the scenes, the transitions, subplots. I also need to make sure everyone is in the book, and that any story arc that came from a previous book or is moving on to the next has enough juice in it to matter. All of these are the writer activities I employ.

[image error]The importance of that first scene when you character walks on

I’ve begun to think of every scene in my book as a small play, so I show the action rather than describing it, and then I go back an layer in the physicality and the details. Even though I know what I want to happen in the first scene, getting there takes me several tries. I want readers of previous books to think to themselves “hi Lilly”. But I also want folks who are new to the series to be introduced to the town and the people so they are grounded in the story from the beginning. The challenge with that is that I need to set up a scene where Lilly shows that she is a town matriarch, has a strong character and even stronger opinions. Though I had plotted the scene for the beginning of the third as yet untitled Garden Squad book, this one took a few tries to get it right.

My wrestling made me consider other opening scenes, and start to critique them. I’ve been focusing on new to me stories, movies, and television shows and how they introduce the reader or the viewer to the world and to the story. In most stories you have a moment or two of what the world is like before the inciting incident that drives the drama forward.

But there are other stories, and I’m thinking about Russian Doll on Netflix, where the first scene sets you up with the not normal right away. I watched some old Hart to Hart movies, made after the TV show, this week. They introduced the story and the characters as a stand alone, but if you knew the old series you understood another layer. I love watching Columbo opening scenes, because they show you the murder that you can’t imagine anyone would be able to figure out.

So now I’m fascinated with first scenes. How do they set up the story? Do they compel me to keep reading or watching? Do they set up questions that I want answered?

Any preferences out there? Do you like the first scenes in a book or movie to get you right into the action, or do you want a set up first? Do you have expectations when you are reading a book in a series that you are going to catch up with folks first?

Any favorite opening scenes?

Wicked Wednesday-Early Female Crime Writers

Jessie: Feverishly working away on her next novel between trips to take the puppy out at his insistence.

As we continue to mark Women’s History Month I wanted to ask you all about your favorite or most admired female crime writers of the past. How have those women laid a path for each of us to follow? Which of their work ranks amongst your favorite?

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Julie: Need you ask? Agatha Christie. Not only was she an early on favorite of mine, I did a lot of research into her for a thesis I wrote about her use of POV. She was a remarkable woman. She had a tough time when her husband Archie wanted a divorce, and in her autobiography talked about writing The Mystery of the Blue Train (not one of her best), and how she realized she had to make a mindset shift, that it was now up to her to support her family. That was in 1928. And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, the Tommy and Tuppence novels, countless stand alones, and The Mousetrap were to come. A remarkable woman.

Edith: Of course, Christie. Years ago I read through all of Dorothy L. Sayers’ crime fiction and loved it, but it’s been a while, so I am hazy on details. Must be time for a re-read! Let us not forget Carolyn Keene – aka Mildred Wirt Benson for the first eight Nancy Drew books. I was deeply influenced by reading those as a child.

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Mary Roberts Rinehart

Barb: I, too, am a huge fan of Christie, Sayers, and Nancy Drew, and all three influenced me as a crime writer. But since they’ve been mentioned, I want to plump for Mary Roberts Rinehart, often called “The American Agatha Christie.” (Jessie mentioned Rinehart in her original post for Women’s History Month.) Rinehart originated the phrase, “The butler did it,” and invented the Had-I-But-Known structure for mystery writing. Her books sold millions of copies, rescued her family financially after the stock market crash of 1903, and made them rich. She was a war correspondent on the Belgian front during World War I, leaving her husband and children at home. She was a long-term breast cancer survivor who went public about her mastectomy in 1947, when almost no one did. When she was seventy-one, the chef who had worked for her for twenty-five years fired a gun at her and tried to slash her with knives. She was rescued by her other servants. (The chef did it?) I’ve stayed at the inn that now stands on her property in Bar Harbor, Maine and it was a treat.

Jessie: I love Ngaio Marsh! She published between 1934-1982 and was voted a Grans Master by MWA as well as a Dame Commanderof the Order of the British Empire. Her detective Roderick Alleyn is suave yet approachable. Her plotting is solid, her characterizations well-rounded and the period charm of her work has held up delightfully over time.

[image error]Sherry: With a house full of mysteries there were plenty of women writers I loved. But prolific writer Phyllis A. Whitney stands out for a couple of reasons. I loved her books and one of my favorites was Hunter’s Green. My mom found a reprint and gave it to me for Christmas a couple of years ago. Phyllis A. Whitney also  wrote an open letter to MWA pointing out that women weren’t being nominate for awards. That letter, among other things, inspired Sara Paratesky and a group of women to start Sisters in Crime.

Readers, do you have a favorite female crime writer of the past?

Ask the Expert- Editor Lisa J. Jackson

Jessie: In New Hampshire feeling amazed that the temperatures are above freezing!

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I meet Lisa several yars ago at the New England Crime Bake. Julie introduced us and we have been friends ever since. We check in with each other weekly to catch up on goals, accomplishments and life in general. She has an unerring eye for detail and a a deep-seated ability to untangle messes while keeping a cool head. I am delighted to have her visit us here on the Wickeds today to give us her perspective on working with an independent editor!

Editing: It’s More than Accepting Suggestions from a Spelling and Grammar Checker

I’ve been a fan of puzzles since a young age, (thank you Dell Magazines) and mysteries (thank you Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys). Professional editing came along from doing book reviews of ARCs (advanced review copies) of novels. Editing, for me, is fun – I get to read a lot of different writers, help solve mysteries (if there are issues in a manuscript), and help writers present their best work to the world.

Today I’m sharing a few tips and tidbits about how to get the best editing for your manuscript.

As a novelist, you know your story inside and out. You’ve been living with it for months, even years. You know the characters, you know the details, you know their stories as well as your own family’s.

However, because you are so intimate with your characters, and even though you’ve re-read your manuscript several times, you have blind spots. These blind spots come to light when an editor reads your story and asks, “What did you mean here?” and your reaction is, “What do you mean? It says right there.” You search for the details, and… don’t find them. You remember the exact day and minute you wrote a particular paragraph, yet it’s not there. Or you recall one particular line of dialogue… yet it isn’t on the page. But you knowthe details; they do exist!

Where did these details go? It doesn’t matter where they went. They may never have ended up flowing through your fingertips onto the screen at all. Or you may have sliced them in an earlier revision. It doesn’t matter what happened to them. It only matters that an editor has pointed out that they are missing (or inconsistent), and you have a chance to add them (back) in before submitting for publication.

An editor offers a fresh set of eyes to focus on every aspect of your manuscript. Fresh professional eyes that can notice issues that you (the author) cannot; that family and friends won’t mention for fear of hurting your feelings; or that critique group members who are unfamiliar with your genre simply overlook. 

There is a way for you to catch some issues: self-editing.

A few great self-editing actions to practice:

Once your draft is complete, put the novel away for 4-6 weeks and turn to a new project; come back to your manuscript with a fresh perspectiveUse a spelling and grammar checker; accepting or rejecting suggestions as you see fit – no tool is perfectPay attention to words popping up everywhere that can be deleted – words such as: that, just, really, suddenlyWatch for redundant words and phrases and clean them up, such as “stand up” vs “stand”; “sit down” vs “sit”; “shrugged her shoulders” vs “shrugged”; “nodded his head” vs “nodded”Learn the difference between itsand it’s; who’sand whose; there, they’re, and their, etc. – search out those terms in your manuscript (yes, there will be a lotvs alot, and that’s all rightvs alright), but make sure the usage is correctMinimize fancy dialogue tags. Clear writing makes it unnecessary to describe how the character said something – “he said” and “she said” are more than sufficient 99% of the time.Read it out loud – you’ll be amazed what you can discover by hearing the wordsMake a checklist of items you find in your own manuscripts, so you know what to look for automatically in the next manuscriptDo a global search and replace for double spaces to single spaces

Self-editing is akin to simple proofreading help: it can aid you in fixing typos, spelling, and missing punctuation. 

A next step is to have an unbiased reader, or editor, read the manuscript and offer feedback. Critique groups can be helpful, but everyone has an opinion, so you need to be cautious there. A line editor can help you polish the novel to make sure every line expresses exactly what is intended.

A comprehensive content editor does it all, and then some: she proofreads, line edits, and copy edits, as well as questions inconsistencies, plot holes, verifies details, and makes suggestions for improvement. A content editor doesn’t rewrite sentences or paragraphs; but offers suggestions for making the writing better. It’s important that the story remain in your voice – it’s your story – so anyone rewriting your work would change that voice.

Hiring an independent editor can help you fine-tune your novel before submitting to a publisher, or self-publishing. How do you find the right independent or freelance editor? Ask fellow authors. Look in the Acknowledgements sections of novels you’ve enjoyed to see if the writer thanked his/her editor. Ask book reviewers for recommendations. Do a search on writers’ blogs such as this one for ‘editor’ or ‘editing.’ 

When contacting an independent editor, expect to be asked for some sample pages of your manuscript for her to read and do a sample edit on. When submitting to an editor, make sure the document is in the standard format: single space between sentences, double space between sentences; 1” margins all around; 12 point Times New Roman or Courier font. It’s important that you receive the feedback you are seeking (and paying for), so you want to see what she offers. Microsoft Word is a common tool to work in – if you aren’t familiar with the Track Changes feature, mention that to the editor at the start.

Then, when your novel is a polished as possible and you are submitting to a publisher, follow this one golden rule: Always follow the publisher’s guidelines. Always. Do not give a publisher an overt reason to reject your submission.

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Lisa J. Jackson has been helping writers in all genres polish their manuscripts for over 30 years. You can connect with her on LinkedIn , Facebook , Alignable , Instagram , and Twitter. She’s also a fiction writer, author interviewer, member and Programs director for Sisters in Crime – New England, and book reviewer using the pseudonym Lisa Haselton, but those are stories for another time.

Readers and writers, what questions do you have about editing in general, or about seeking out an independent editor?