Have you fallen asleep or put a
book down because you found it boring? The story wasn’t moving fast enough; the
characters seemed flat—not people, just cut-outs; you were left wondering where
did this character come from? First, you put it down as poor editing—you’re
right. That’s only half of it—it’s really poor writing. The editor was “trying
to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”, so to speak. That doesn’t happen
often. More than likely, it was a self-published book that was not properly
edited.
It is not my intention to damn
self-publishing. Far from it—it is the only sure way for an author to get a
work into print. It is cheap and fast and, with a little work, it can be as
good as any work published by “the Big Six”. The operative phase here is “with
a little work”. This goes beyond an attractive cover and a nice picture of the
author. This means having, usually paying, a professional editor to work over
your writing. This editor must look at and beyond grammatical and spelling
errors (those should have been caught by the author). This editor will analyze
the story arc, character development and make sure everything is brought to a
final, believable conclusion. A final note—a spouse, a parent or other relative
rarely makes a good final editor. This editor should not be biased by
relationship or friendship.
