Blog
To add blog posts click on Posts – Add New in the WordPress Dashboard
Smooth Draft free edit winners list
Thanks to everyone who entered the raffle and thanks so much for your patience. I’ve emailed the winners and here’s a list, so if you didn’t get your email, let me know. First prize: Free edit goes to Michael Thomas 2nd prize: 50% off editing/proofreading: Pat Brown 2x 3rd prizes: 25% off editing/proofreading:Tina Adams and Erica Pike Congratulations to the winners! I’ll be posting another entry in the Plot vs. Character series soon. Share...
read morePoll: What kind of articles do you want to see on Smooth Draft?
Please help me know what articles you find most useful here. I’d like to do some weekly series, such as writing tips, editing tips, or more specific topics such as how to finish a manuscript or how to prepare for NaNoWriMo. I’m open to suggestions. Thanks! You can select multiple answers in the poll. [poll id=”2″] Share...
read moreWant a free edit? Keep reading…
Not sure what you get for your money from Smooth Draft? Why not enter to win a free edit or a big discount on our services? (Contest closes February 1) Grand Prize: A free edit, your choice from 1. Full-service editing (from punctuation to big-picture content) on one manuscript up to 15,000 words. 2. Line edits (punctuation, usage suggestions) on one manuscript up to 25,000 words. These are the issues which might lead an acquisitions editor to turn down a good story. The need for extensive line edits slows the editing process and pushes out...
read moreCharacter vs. Plot, Part 2: Building Character
Last time I wrote about how plot and character are interwoven, so when they interact you get a stronger story than with just good characters or a thrilling plot. (Read Part 1 of Character vs. Plot) I love working on plots—on the what and how of the story more than the who—and for a long time that’s how I wrote. I’d come up with a setting, sketch out two characters and a starting situation and a vague idea of the ending and get from point A to point B to point C until I got to the end. My books generally have some mystery/suspense...
read moreCharacter vs. Plot, Part 1
I love books with intricate interwoven plots that keep me on the edge of my seat. When I write, I focus a lot on what happens and when. How do I get from point A to point B? Figuring out the steps and how to set up the actions so that everything flows is one of the most enjoyable parts of writing for me. I’m what you’d call a plotter. Two things recently happened to remind me that a cool, twisty plot was nowhere near enough to write a great book. First, I heard a story on the radio that made me think about a book I had written and...
read moreLessons Learned: Why Beta-reading Is Not Editing
When I mention my editing business, I often hear writers say, “I don’t need that. I have beta readers. Why should I pay you for something I get free?” That’s a great question. And I have some great answers. Beta readers are great for top-level impressions on a story and characters, but it’s the details and the nitty-gritty, line-by-line hard work of revision and rewriting where an editor makes the difference, especially if you’re self-publishing or have a manuscript that’s been rejected in the past....
read moreGot a writing or editing question for Smooth Draft?
Leave a comment here, or email your question to em@smoothdraft.com. I’m happy to answer any question. I may even do a whole blog post about the topic if it’s one I hear a lot. Thanks! Share...
read moreLessons Learned: How to WOW an Editor
By EM Lynley I can’t guarantee you’ll get a contract–that’s up to a lot of other factors–but you will distinguish yourself by not pissing the editor off, and often, that’s halfway to getting an acceptance rather than a rejection. Remember, editors are busy people and reading your sub is not often their first priority, even when they’re working. Don’t waste their time or give them a reason to move onto the next submission or email. There are many reasons fiction manuscripts get rejected and very...
read moreWriting Tip — Point of View and Description
As an editor, one of the issues I find myself correcting on a regular basis is point of view or POV. You probably already know that you need to remain in one character’s POV for the whole scene or chapter, and that it’s easy to stray from that POV, particularly with description So how do you show what your main character looks like when you’re in his POV? You can’t really just have Jane going on about her emerald-green eyes unless you want her to sound incredibly vain or self-centered. There are a few tricks to...
read moreLessons Learned: Why good stories get rejected
Lessons Learned is a series of posts based on what editing has taught me about writing and the publishing business. There are many reasons why I had to reject stories from the four anthologies I have edited. The most obvious is that the plot wasn’t very good. While this is somewhat subjective, there is no easy way to say that some stories didn’t do much for me. Unfortunately, there were also good stories that got rejected. Some of the reasons are under the author’s control, and others aren’t, but it’s good to understand the...
read more