Author Voice – Mentoring the Next Generation
I wear several hats in my professional life, one being writer and another editor. And I don’t just mean editing my own work; I am Managing Editor for BigWorldNetwork.com, and read chapters from around 20 stories each week. It’s a dream job really, though it isn’t the one that pays the bills, because I get to experience all of these different novels before they’re even finished and have a bit of my own hand in them as well.
For me there is an automatic sense of mentoring that goes into editing another person’s work, and it doesn’t matter if I’m older or younger, more or less experiences, or have more or less published novels under my belt than the person I’m editing for, because everyone needs an editor. More than anything it’s about expressing the reader experience to the author so they know how to tweak or react accordingly. Is what they’re writing evoking the reactions they wanted? Awesome!
So while copyediting is helpful, as well as comments about plot structure and pacing, the most important thing I can offer other writers is my honest opinion, so they can ask themselves if my reactions are in line with what they want readers to experience.
When I read and edit someone’s work, I always want to err on the side of the author so as not to impose too much of my own voice, or risk changing theirs. It doesn’t matter what POV they write in, whether they overuse passive voice, or over simplify descriptions; it’s about whether or not they are telling an engaging story the way they want. That is always the lesson I want to pass on to writers who give me their work to read.
Besides having to edit many stories for my publisher, I also beta friends’ work, and approach it the same way. I may not always have time to read, but I am always open for queries into how to approach writing and publishing, and adore people who recognize the value of a good critique. One thing I would never do, however, is tell someone how their last book could have been better, but would rather tell them how the current one they’re working on could improve, because that’s something they can still change, while an already published book is set in stone. Besides, no matter how good the book, there will always be enough bad reviews out there to cover that part for me.
Working with BWN gives me opportunity to mentor so many new authors along with making relationships with already successful ones, and over time it has grown out of straight up mentorship into community. The authors, editors, and narrators at BWN have a closed Facebook group where we share ideas, help promote each other’s work, and ask advice all the time. I also point aspiring authors toward valuable Goodreads Groups like Support for Indie Authors.
The most important aspect of mentoring is to listen. Hearing someone talk passionately about their story ideas and then want to share with me their actual writing is half the fun of being an editor (and author). None of us would be in this business if we didn’t love stories. People are always welcome to contact me, and I hope other writers approach mentoring this same way.
For me there is an automatic sense of mentoring that goes into editing another person’s work, and it doesn’t matter if I’m older or younger, more or less experiences, or have more or less published novels under my belt than the person I’m editing for, because everyone needs an editor. More than anything it’s about expressing the reader experience to the author so they know how to tweak or react accordingly. Is what they’re writing evoking the reactions they wanted? Awesome!
So while copyediting is helpful, as well as comments about plot structure and pacing, the most important thing I can offer other writers is my honest opinion, so they can ask themselves if my reactions are in line with what they want readers to experience.
When I read and edit someone’s work, I always want to err on the side of the author so as not to impose too much of my own voice, or risk changing theirs. It doesn’t matter what POV they write in, whether they overuse passive voice, or over simplify descriptions; it’s about whether or not they are telling an engaging story the way they want. That is always the lesson I want to pass on to writers who give me their work to read.
Besides having to edit many stories for my publisher, I also beta friends’ work, and approach it the same way. I may not always have time to read, but I am always open for queries into how to approach writing and publishing, and adore people who recognize the value of a good critique. One thing I would never do, however, is tell someone how their last book could have been better, but would rather tell them how the current one they’re working on could improve, because that’s something they can still change, while an already published book is set in stone. Besides, no matter how good the book, there will always be enough bad reviews out there to cover that part for me.
Working with BWN gives me opportunity to mentor so many new authors along with making relationships with already successful ones, and over time it has grown out of straight up mentorship into community. The authors, editors, and narrators at BWN have a closed Facebook group where we share ideas, help promote each other’s work, and ask advice all the time. I also point aspiring authors toward valuable Goodreads Groups like Support for Indie Authors.
The most important aspect of mentoring is to listen. Hearing someone talk passionately about their story ideas and then want to share with me their actual writing is half the fun of being an editor (and author). None of us would be in this business if we didn’t love stories. People are always welcome to contact me, and I hope other writers approach mentoring this same way.
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