One of the most important services you can offer a client is to get to know the characters in their story. You’ll evaluate the story based on the characters and how they relate to the story.

Making a list of the characters in every scene forces you to focus on the character arc, how many characters are in each scene, the character names. Once you know and remember the character names, can keep track of the characters.

Characters in a scene are those who have a role in the scene. If you think of a play, the characters in a…

But how do you do this in the most effective way?

The most important element you can use for describing a character is not describing what they look like. It’s showing the reader what a character does.

The second most important element you can use for describing a character is showing the reader what a character wants.

The third is the character’s motivations. Backstory is a great way to show this.

The least important element for describing a character is describing their appearance.

Let’s take a look at each element.

1 Character Motion

A character is interesting if they do something interesting.

Use…

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An author’s voice is the unique style they use when writing. An author can be funny, serious, flowery. They can use short, punchy sentences or long descriptive sentences. Sometimes it takes years and several novels for an author to create their voice.

An editor’s voice is the unique style they use in comments, notes, and summary letters. Like a writer, and editor can be funny, serious, flowery. They can use short, punchy sentences or long descriptive sentences. It can also take years and many editing jobs to develop their voice.

Changing Your Editor’s Voice

A talented author will change voice for different styles of…

Every story editor should request a blurb from their client prior to starting to work.

What is a blurb?

Think of a blurb as the copy that goes on the back of the published book. This tells the reader what the story is about.

A blurb does not give away the ending of a story. It won’t ruin your first reaction to twists in the story.

It’s a promise to the reader of what to expect from the story.

Why does a Story Editor needs blurb?

An editor must understand the writer’s intent for the story. The blurb will show the intent to the editor. This information is a must if…

Linking the inciting incident to the climax scene is one more step to ensure readers love your story.

We’ve covered the major plot points in detail, so let’s go one step deeper and see how two of the plot points must be linked together to ensure the reader is satisfied by the climax.

The five main plot points are the inciting incident, plot point 1, midpoint, plot point 2, and the climax.

To recap:

The inciting incident is the moment the protagonist’s world changes in a dramatic way.

The climax scene (or scenes) have the highest level of conflict, the…

Character names are a way for readers to connect to the characters and are the first way a writer describes the characters. Inexperienced writers may not put a lot of thought into name choices, and even an experienced writer may not see if they’ve confused a reader with ineffective names.

As an editor, it’s important to create a list of every character in the story, including minor characters. Your goal is to ensure a reader is never confused by the names, can remember a character’s name, and remember the character’s role in the story.

Once you have the list, you’ll…