{"id":169,"date":"2013-09-10T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-10T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/blog\/2013\/09\/10\/tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_10-2\/"},"modified":"2015-11-25T12:22:17","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T19:22:17","slug":"tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_10-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_10-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Tactical Tuesday: Advice for Self-Editing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nRecently,
\na friend asked me how an editor can tell that an author has found genuine \u201cvoice\u201d?<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThat\u2019s
\na deep and profound question.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nI only
\nwish I had a concrete answer.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe truth
\nis, I cannot speak for all editors, because editing, like critique, or a reader’s preference is subjective. This means that I come into the editing process
\npredisposed to look at certain areas of the story. Many authors have heard it said that an editor
\ncan tell if the manuscript is right for them after the first five pages.
\nLiterary Agent, Noah Lukeman, wrote a book entitled: The First Five Pages<\/i> in which he sets out those things that he
\nlooks for within the first five pages that tells him if the work is ready for
\npublication. I can attest that his assessment is correct. In most cases, I can
\ntell within the first five pages if I believe a work is ready. This
\nhas mainly to do with mechanics.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHowever,
\non a few occasions, an author\u2019s voice has shined through to me in my review of
\nsubmissions, and despite a lack of mechanics, I read a little further. If that
\nvoice continues to resonate with me, I continue deeper and deeper into the
\nstory. If that voice is like the Pied Pier for me, and I finish the story, I\u2019m
\nmore than likely going to ask for a contract. I cannot give you a definition of
\n\u201cvoice\u201d or how I recognize it. I hear it when I read it. It\u2019s like beautiful
\nmusic. It catches me and carries me away. Still, though, the music that carries me away in a novel might sound to another editor like someone playing out of tune.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nI have
\nan unpublished friend. If someone asked me to pick out her novels from among the works of ten other
\nauthors, I\u2019d be able to do so. I can hear her reading the story to me. She
\nwrites in deep point of view without narrative telling, but she is there, and
\nher words are beautiful. I recently met another author whose stories resonated with me. His voice carried me away into his stories.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAuthor John Otte is another writer whose voice blows
\nme away. I\u2019d never met John prior to reading his book, but the voice he lends
\nto first person in his Failstate<\/i>
\nnovels captured me and tuned me into young adult fiction, which I now love to review and acquire for Pelican’s Watershed imprint. Tracy Bowman and Jenness
\nWalker caught my attention from the first page of their novel Bliss<\/i> and made me laugh from that page
\nuntil the very last page. If I could describe what captures me as a reader about
\nthese unique authors, I might possibly make a lot of money. Voice is one question all
\nwriters would like to define, but it’s as hard to tie down as the wind.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe truth
\nis, voice is subjective. What resonates with one editor or reader does not
\nresonate with another. This is true in all arenas of writing\u2026from the creation
\nstage (what type of stories do you, the writer, like to write?), through critique (do all your critique partners always agree with you about the way your story is written?), submission (you have to find that editor who appreciates your voice), and even marketing (not every reader will like what you present). Different voices draw
\nthe attention of different people.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nMy
\nsuggestion for any author attempting to capture the magic of \u201cvoice\u201d is to allow himself the freedom to roam among the pages. This
\ndoes not in any way mean that a work of fiction should have an ounce of author
\nintrusion. When an author puts a little of his heart into each character, I truly
\nbelieve a unique voice will shine through.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nHappy
\nediting.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, a friend asked me how an editor can tell that an author has found genuine \u201cvoice\u201d? That\u2019s a deep and profound question. I only wish I had a concrete answer. The truth is, I cannot speak for all editors, because editing, like critique, or a reader’s preference is subjective. This means that I come […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[504],"tags":[67,18,145,146],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editing-writing-advice","tag-editing","tag-editing-tips","tag-voice","tag-writers-voice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}