You Need an Editor: Choppy talking

Hey everybody, and welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m so glad you stopped by. This month, as you know, we’re talking about editing. It’s something I talk about a lot, I know, but that should only tell you just how important it is, in the long run. Editing is something you need, whether you think you do or not. And yes; I know some of us are on a tight budget, and that editing is one of those things many of us think we can skip on, just because it’s so expensive. I know that. I understand that. But I’m hoping, this month, to help you see just how badly you need an editor.

You Need an Editor: Choppy talking

This might come as a shock to some of you, but if I’m being completely honest, your dialogue needs some work. It’s not as smooth as it could be. It’s choppy. There’s not enough action going on within it (nobody stands completely still while they talk!). It’s just not as realistic as it should be. But I’m sure you know who could make it better, and show you how to make it better in the process.

See, dialogue is a thing that draws the eye, a thing that your readers’ eyes will snap to, on a page—and for that reason, it needs to be written as realistically as possible. And believe me, I know how difficult that can be to do. I’m a writer too, you know. I also write a lot of dialogue. And sure, my editor tells me that I’m pretty darn good at writing dialogue, but that doesn’t mean that she never touches my dialogue. She still edits it. She still makes changes in it. And I just have to be okay with it. (you do, too)

I know from experience, how hard it is to let someone tweak your dialogue. I know that. Especially because I’ve been told since very early on in my writing career, that I’m good at writing dialogue. That went to my little writer head, if you know what I mean. I’m good at dialogue, so I shouldn’t need it to be edited. And yet… I do. I can’t catch everything. I know that, at this point. I’ve written enough books and edited enough books that I know I can’t catch everything on my own.

And that’s why I hire an editor. That’s why I work with someone who will go through my writing, line by line, to make sure my dialogue reads as smoothly as I intended it to. That’s why I have someone to help me, someone to read through my work and ensure it’s written well.

That’s what editors want to do, for you. We want to look at your manuscript and make sure your characters all stay in character, that nobody’s slipping from one personality to another, that everyone is talking in their own voice, with their own words, and that it all sounds perfectly understandable and realistic. We want to teach you how to write better dialogue. We want to show you how to interject action into your dialogue, so your readers can see your characters talking, and not just read the words they’re saying. That’s what we want to do. But you have to let us.

Talking takes up a good portion of your book, if you’re a fiction or creative nonfiction writer. There’s a lot of conversation. Conversation just so happens to be the thing many readers will fixate on, and remember long past their initial reading of your book.

What kind of taste do you want to leave in your readers’ mouths? Hire an editor, and we’ll do our very best to make it a good one.

[love]

{Rani Divine}