Fiction and Nonfiction Editing
Fiction and Nonfiction Editing
When people who aren't editors think about editing, fiction is one of the first things that comes to mind, and this is not without reason. Many editors work exclusively with fiction—either inhouse for a publishing company or as freelancers—and even if editing fiction isn't your bread and butter, you will likely still work with it from time to time. In this lesson, we're going to go over some of the finer points of editing for fiction and what special issues you should look out for.
In this lesson, we'll take a look at the following:
The author's voice
Point of view
Dialogue
(And the old favorite) Showing instead of telling
We'll also take a look at a few extra points before we wrap things up.
The most important thing to remember about fiction is that it is art; a novel is a work of art and the author is the artist. This means that you do have to allow for creativity and artistic license. In other words, you must respect the author's voice. The author might use words or grammar in a way that you would not, or even in a way that is technically incorrect. You must read and edit not only with an eye for correctness, but also with an eye for the author's particular style of writing. So, how can you do this?
First, make maintaining the author's voice your first priority. Be wary of too much rewriting, and make sure that anything you do is compatible with the author's style.
Second, watch for consistency. If an author is going to use an odd phrase, spelling, word, or name, make sure they do so throughout. If they only do it once or twice, it can probably be changed to something more standard. When you do come across a legitimate peculiarity, make sure to note it in your style sheet for future reference.
Finally, when the author's voice or creative license becomes a distraction to the overall story, point it out to them—politely! Try to come up with some suggestions for alternatives if possible, but if the issue is large and pervasive, a note might be all you can do.
A story can be told from one or more points of view. This is the narrative mode used to convey the story to the audience. Narration can be done in the first person, second person, or third person, or it can be done with an alternating point of view. All four narrative modes are perfectly acceptable, but they do leave something that you as an editor must look out for.
Writers, especially new writers, can be unintentionally inconsistent with the point of view that they use when telling a story. This most often happens when writing using the first-person point of view: if the first-person narrator is a character in the story, he or she should not describe the thoughts, feelings, or inner dialogue of other characters; unless the narrator is also a mind reader, he or she would have no way of knowing these things. The third-person point of view allows for an omniscient narrator (a narrator with complete knowledge of all people, time, and events), but authors sometimes mix omniscient narrators with limited narrators (those who have complete knowledge about only a single character). This is a common issue, so be sure to watch out for it and point it out to the author when you do come across it.
Remember, of course, to allow the author creative license; the author may be playing with different narrative modes as a way of telling the story in a new and interesting way, but it should be obvious to the reader, and thus to the editor, that the inconsistency in point of view is intentional.
A major component of fiction writing is dialogue, and unfortunately, it is a huge area of weakness for many writers. Realistic dialogue is a craft all on its own and takes skill and practice to master. Obviously as an editor, there isn't much you can do if the dialogue is terrible, but there are some things you can look for or make note of to help the author improve the manuscript.
Dialogue should be realistic, natural, and like the way real people speak—only better. A lot of our day-to-day talk is riddled with filler. If an author actually wrote the things we say every day, the audience would be bored to tears. Only a few, if any, "ums" and "ahs" need be included in written dialogue and "Hi, how are you" chit-chat should be kept to a minimum. If it doesn't build character or advance the plot, it's probably unnecessary. Dialogue should be focused and relevant, and it should either reveal information or work toward building tension.
Dialogue should be split up with action; what are the characters doing while they speak? Sentences should be short, and characters should speak no more than three or four sentences at a time without some sort of interruption. There is a fine line in fiction between too much and too little dialogue; if you as the editor feel that the author has crossed this line, make note of it.
When editing, remember that "he said" or "she said" slips quietly into the background of dialogue, just the way you want it to. Too many fancy dialogue tags ("he whimpered," "she chortled") are distracting and are more an example of telling than showing. Cut these out whenever possible and consider removing the tags completely when it is obvious who is speaking.
There are a handful of common writing issues you should look for when editing fiction. Correcting some of these is beyond the scope of editing, but being able to spot them and point them out to the author is something that editing fiction requires.
So let's start with the number one rule of writing fiction: to show rather than tell the readers what is happening. Consider the following sentences:
Jane was sad.
Jane threw herself on the bed and wept until she could weep no more.
While the second sentence is a bit dramatic, it is using action to show the audience that Jane is sad, rather than telling them so. This kind of writing is engaging and is what we, as readers, want to read. As an editor, this is an issue you should watch for and make note of; sometimes authors don't realize they've been telling rather than showing. Highlighting the areas in which this is a problem will help authors improve their manuscripts and become better writers.
Along with the previous topics we've gone over, there are some other issues specific to fiction that editors should be aware of and look out for. Again, these are mainly content issues that will need to be brought to the attention of the author. If you are asked to critique a manuscript, many of these questions are issues to look for and discuss.
Does the opening have a hook? Is it gripping and engaging?
Is the plot sufficient? Original? Does it warrant an entire story?
Is there an issue or conflict that must be resolved/overcome? Is it resolved in a satisfying way?
Are there hooks and surprises throughout the work?
Are there any serious consistency problems throughout the manuscript? How is the continuity?
Are there any information dumps in the work?
Is the manuscript long enough? Too long? Does it go deep enough or does it just scratch the surface of the plot?
Are the characters realistic or are they flat? Are they likeable? Do you care about the protagonist?
Are there any habits or phrases that a character uses too often?
Are characters named appropriately for the time and place of the story? Do any of the characters have names that are distractingly similar or easy to confuse (e.g., Cherry and Cherie should only be used as the names of main characters if they are a pair of crime fighting twins, and even then . . . )?
If something makes you come to a stop and scratch your head, it's probably worthy of a deeper look and maybe even flagging it to the author.
Pay particular attention to adjectives and adverbs. Writers tend to overuse these in fiction in place of strong verbs and nouns.
Ben walked slowly down the street.
Ben strolled down the street, stopping to look in a shop window.
It might not be the height of great literature, but the second sentence allows the reader to see what Ben is doing. Walking slowly gives the reader no information. Why is Ben walking slowly? Is he tired? Injured? Sad? Or, as in the second sentence, is he having a leisurely walk while window shopping? This issue is a sneaky one because if you are editing strictly for grammar and correctness, it's easy to miss.
Finally, watch to make sure that the author has been consistent with tense in the manuscript. Past tense is more common in fiction than present tense, but either can be used. When present tense is used, writers have a tendency to slip into the past tense, since it is the more common and natural way to tell a story. Whatever tense is used, be sure it's consistent.
The nonfiction sector is huge, and growing, with editing opportunities in all genres and niches. Much like fiction editors, those in the nonfiction field work both in-house for publishers and as freelancers. While much of the same editing advice applies to both fiction and nonfiction, there are certainly some considerations specific to the nonfiction world. We'll go over nonfiction writing and some of the issues to keep in mind when editing it.
Nonfiction is a broad category, encompassing many topics and genres; one month you might find yourself working on a self-help book, and the next you're editing a book on the life and times of Kermit T. Frog. Let's take a minute to go over some of the various nonfiction genres.
Books for students/scholars and professionals
Biography and autobiography
Self-help, relationships, sociology, and psychology
Parenting and family
Finance and economics
Religion and religious studies
History
Government and politics
Health, mind, and body
Home and garden
Travel
There are many more, and each of the above can be broken down into further sub-genres. So as you can see, editing nonfiction can require you to be a jack of all trades. Luckily, there are some things that are common across the board.
Nonfiction writing has a style of its own and is distinctly different from fiction writing. Nonfiction writing should be extremely detailed and well researched. In fiction, authors should wear their research lightly, but this is not the case in nonfiction. All material and facts should be sourced and verifiable. The author's voice should come across as authoritative and trustworthy.
Nonfiction should be simply and clearly written, and it should avoid many of the literary techniques and devices used in fiction writing. Audience is an extremely important consideration in nonfiction; who is the book written for and for what purpose?
As an editor, you can improve the manuscript by ensuring that the writing is strong and convincing; remove any wishy-washiness and words or phrases that make the author appear unsure.
As an editor of nonfiction, you will probably also be required to do at least some level of factchecking. This can include verifying names, dates, and numbers, or checking that the sources used exist and the facts cited are correct.
When editing nonfiction, there are a few particular aspects that you must look for that you might not encounter in other types of writing, particularly fiction.
Structure: Is the organization and order of the book logical and sensible? While the sentences and paragraphs must obviously flow smoothly and logically together, so must the chapters. Do the chapters build on each other? Is information necessary to understand one chapter presented in previous chapters?
Content: Is there enough content to warrant the book? Is the author trying to cram too much into one book? Is the content focused? Is it too broad or too narrow? Is the information conveyed in a comprehensible way?
Tone: Is the tone of the book appropriate for the audience and the subject of the book? Is the author's voice consistent throughout the book? Is the author authoritative and convincing?
There are a few other considerations that you must keep in mind when editing nonfiction work.
Persuasiveness: Does the author do a good job of convincing the audience of his or her position? Has the author made the point that he or she set out to make in the beginning?
Support: Does the work offer sufficient detail and appropriate evidence? Are the facts and material sourced and verifiable? Does the author use sufficient third-party sources to support his or her argument?
We would be remiss not to discuss a particular subset of nonfiction that, while relatively new, is growing rapidly and also requires different treatment than regular fiction.
Creative nonfiction is a factually accurate narrative that uses literary techniques such as plot, setting, dialogue, and characterization. Creative nonfiction can be found in feature articles, personal essays, memoirs, biography, travel writing, and humor writing. However, creative nonfiction is still nonfiction and thus must be accurate and factual, and depending on the exact genre, should include extensive research.
Editing such work requires a special combination of fiction and nonfiction editing skills. You must allow the authors creative license, ensure that you do not change the author's voice, and also do the fact checking and research required when editing nonfiction.
When editing fiction, remember that it's supposed to sound unintentional. The author's voice should sound natural and unforced. The reader shouldn't necessarily notice the point of view any more than any other element in the text. Dialogue in a text rarely reflects dialogue in the real world, and yet a good text will make it seem perfectly natural. Characters shouldn't ever say things that are, well, out of character. Finally, a text should always show the reader a scene rather than tell a reader what to picture. The reason we read fiction is to indulge in our imagination.
When editing nonfiction, consider the following in roughly this order.
Structure
Content
Tone
Support
Persuasiveness
The document will be persuasive if it meets all the other criteria.
Last Updated: 09/29/2022