The Editing Process

I am getting very close to finishing the editing process on Terry Schott's fourth book in his wonderful science fiction series, "The Game," entitled "Virtual Prophet."

As a matter of course, how I handle editing other authors' books is pretty simple: the first time through, I open the manuscript in my word processor and read it. As I go, I make spelling and punctuation corrections as I see them, as well as making word changes and rephrasing things as they occur to me.

The second time through, I watch even more closely for the same set of issues. I also look for problems with overall style and such.

Finally, I do a third readthrough, watching closely for errors but also for formatting issues such as the spacing between sections, the proper page breaks at new chapters, et cetera.

When this is complete, it's ready to be sent back to the author.