A reader might feel that a story is flawed, a book reviewer might be able to tell you why, but only an editor can help you to fix it. While, a sense of story may be crucial to homo sapiens, the ability to craft one usually isn’t. It takes work and requires help. As editor, Jenn Zabinskas, puts it, ‘another set of eyes’ is needed.
‘Editors provide a critical and impartial eye and will pick up on things that might have been overlooked or not even considered,’ she says.
It’s true. A writer gets very close to a work. Immersion is required to be able to craft anything believable. There is a saying (I’m not sure from where), which goes a bit like this: If a writer doesn’t believe it, a reader won’t either. So, it’s difficult once you have come to the end of a novel to disentangle yourself enough and summon forth the impartial eye that Jenn mentions.
‘My business is centred around nurturing writers and helping them to enhance and grow their story-telling skills,’ she says. ‘Some of the main things I look for are the consistency of concepts, plot, character, settings etc, is it believable and does it have a logical sequence of story, are the facts correct or are the rules of the world created believable.’
A lot goes into crafting a novel. It’s not just about plot. There’s tone, pace, character, setting, character arcs, consistency, word usage, dialogue and so much more. Building something with so many dependent parts usually requires a designer/architect, a project manager, a team of builders, a range of tradespeople with specialities and a bunch of inspectors at the end to say, ‘its okay; it won’t fall down’.
Jenn, a writer herself, says, ‘Until a few years ago, I had thought of writing as being a solitary and somewhat lonely profession…It took meeting my husband (who is also a writer) to realise that it doesn’t have to, and really shouldn’t, be.’
The way novels are written is changing along with the means to publish them. Where once, it may have been, as Jenn puts it, a solitary and lonely affair, it’s now more vibrant and collaborative. What was hidden behind the walls of big publishing is now available to independent authors and much more.
Jenn’s business, RedInk Creative, is a hub for people just starting out with their writing, emerging authors and those with many books to their name. She runs a creative writers’ circle and offers one-on-one mentoring during the writing process. She also provides more traditional editing services such as structural, line and copy editing and proofreading services just before publishing. And because she understands the nature of independent authorship, she helps to promote her authors’ titles and is setting up a networking community of writers, illustrators, graphic designers and editors. It’s a hive of activity at RedInk Creative, but it needs to be because publishing is sashaying its way into the third decade of the twenty-first century.
I asked Jenn how she approaches the editing of a manuscript. ‘I like to start with reading the manuscript like I would a book I’d picked from a shelf; making notes of things that really stood out along the way, such as recurring issues, or things to check later, like fact-checking or continuity issues. Then I run it through PerfectIt, a software programme which helps with identifying consistency issues. Next I go through the manuscript multiple times looking at different aspects based on the type of edit and the notes I took in the first read through.’ At this point, Jenn sends the writer a marked-up copy and she and they discuss the proposed changes.
It can be daunting for a new author to enlist an editor’s services. Often it is the first time anyone has seen their manuscript. ‘It is a big step, but an important one,’ Jenn says. ‘It’s different for everyone; each writer has a different level of anxiety about letting someone else not just read, but potentially change their manuscript.’
‘My style of editing is to always make sure I highlight the positives about a manuscript, not just the areas that need work. I believe that, while there is always room for improvement and the chance to learn, greater results occur when a person is nurtured, not torn down.’
With the opportunity to read so many works in progress, I asked Jenn about her own sense of story. ‘My understanding of story is continually growing. With each book I work on I learn something new. People see things in such different ways and the beauty of writing is that stories can be told so differently from one person to the next.’
Finally, I asked Jenn what is the most important gift a writer can give to her readers and she said, ‘When I was a kid, I often felt like a bit of an outsider. Reading always made me feel part of something. The best stories I read were the ones that stayed with me long after I’d finished reading them. They stirred my emotions and my imagination and pulled me into their world. I could picture that world and those characters, and I was always left wondering what their lives were like beyond the ending of the book.’
Yup, me too, Jen. And thanks for your hard work.
Check out all the services Jenn offers at RedInk Creative.