Before Jason Black’s talk, I thought editors are people who correct your spelling and grammar errors and that’s all. But Jason explained that as a book doctor, he does:
- Development Editing: find problem in story structure, character arcs. Probably the most crucial part of writing any story, I think.
- Line Editing: improving your writing skill, make words flow smoothly and enhance how you express your vision.
- Copy Editing
He also recommended that writers should do self-editing before going to someone like him. And I agree. If you sent in a copy that you have cleaned up to the best of your ability then after he corrected it, you will only see the problems you really didn’t notices or know how to fix.
Once I finished my last short story assignment, I’ll no longer have an instructor to guide me through. Jason, who says he is a number’s guy, will be good at analyzing my story in a logical fashion but I hope to also get a male’s point of view, since I want to write things that everyone can enjoy.