Last month I sat down with my editor, Kristen Hamilton of Kristen Corrects Inc., to discuss her background and her process when it comes to manuscript editing. By “sat down” I, of course, mean e-mails were sent and emoticons dispatched in lieu of drinks at the local pub. Still, laughs ensued and I appreciate her helping me understand more about her process. You can find part one where we discussed Kristen’s secret origin here.

I cannot stress how important editing is to the writing process. Especially Kristen’s work on Signs of Portents and the rest of the Greystone series.

(For brevity’s sake I’ve toned down my sarcastic follow up questions to focus on the good stuff. You’re welcome.)

When someone is looking to hire an editor, any editor, what questions should they be asking?

Besides rates and timelines, what are some areas writers need to be looking at before plunking down the coin for some top notch editing?

I have a ton of material on my website that talks about this specifically, because in the end, it doesn’t matter if authors choose me or another editor, as long as they choose a qualified one. Far too many times, authors have told me, “I paid another editor and he didn’t do anything” or “He just took my money and disappeared.”

The top pieces of advice I can give: (1) Ask the editor for an editing sample, (2) Be sure the editor uses contracts outlining the project, (3) Make sure the editor has a portfolio and testimonials, and (4) Check out the editor’s education or experience with editing books. A well-qualified editor will be able to meet all of these requirements. Rates are important to consider, too: You won’t find a good editor at a bottom-dollar price. If someone’s offering to edit your 80,000-word manuscript for $400, that’s a red flag.

Take us through your process with a manuscript.

A writer engages your services and sends over their masterpiece. What are your first steps with it?Does it depend on the services procured? Substantive editing versus line editing perhaps?

Starting a new manuscript is so exciting! My process changes with the type of editing (or manuscript review) service I’m doing on their manuscript, but no matter what, I always check the word count first. There have been a handful of times when the authors have been WAY off on their word count, which affects the time it will take me to edit it. I’m really serious about meeting deadlines with manuscripts, so I always check to make the word count is accurate so I can edit the manuscript in time.

Once word count is verified, I start reading! A manuscript review is always fun, because I get to read the book like normal, highlight certain passages to bring things to the author’s attention (what works or doesn’t work), and provide suggestions and feedback for improving areas of the manuscript that don’t work (anything from plot development to pacing to character arcs and much, much more). A substantive edit is challenging, as I need to address all issues in storyline, character development, writing voice and tone, and so on. This edit takes me the most time to complete, as it can be very in depth.

My favorite edits come last—line editing and proofreading. Line editing is fun because I get to look at the structure of sentences, improve readability and flow, and make sure everything is consistent in the manuscript. The final proofread is simple, as I’m only looking at surface errors including spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc., but it’s the most stressful because if I miss something, the author’s manuscript is being published with those errors in it. Yikes!

Do you ever look over a work and send it back, either to ask the writer to reconsider another service, something more involved with the manuscript or to let them know it’s not quite ready for editing? Or does every manuscript have merit and you take it as is to do the job at hand?

It does happen, from time to time, that I have to e-mail the author and say, “Hey, this editing service just won’t cut it.” I typically ask for an excerpt of the manuscript before I sign with a client (this also gives me an opportunity to do a sample edit, so the author can see my editing style and what I look for when editing), so thankfully, this rarely happens. I always feel so bad about coming back to the author with the news that they need a more in-depth editing service, even when their manuscript legitimately needs it. I don’t want them to think I’m just fishing for more work!

How close were you to sending Signs of Portents back to me and say “Come on, buddy. Really? Try again.”

Believe me, Lou, editing for Signs of Portents was not that bad. You can sometimes have a backward way of saying things, using the passive voice and sentence fragments, which is perfect for line editing (focusing on sentence structure). I’m in the beginning phases of editing Tales From Portents now, and I see the same things. I always try to keep your voice as original as possible and choose only to change things when absolutely necessary. It’s your personal writing style, but sometimes it doesn’t work well. But while the line edits can sometimes be heavy on your manuscripts, I have never been close to throwing the towel in. Believe me, your writing is a breath of fresh air compared to some others I have worked on!

Okay, masterpiece received. Your first steps taken. How do you prepare for the journey? You’ve read countless books over the years. How do you stay interested?

There are occasional manuscripts that I just can’t get into—but that’s usually indicative of a big-picture issue, such as too-slow pacing or an unclear plot. I can find the value in the vast majority of books I edit. Some I enjoy more than others (on a personal level), but I appreciate all of them on a professional level. I break my work up each day to get a certain amount of words done, which helps to keep me on track with some of the books that are harder for me to get into.

Now I know how I read when I self-edit. I take my time but it is all I do and all I focus on during that time. It’s the only way I can keep the details straight. Character appearances. Locations. Relationships. How do you manage all of that while working on multiple projects at any one time?

It’s just one of those things that comes naturally to me. I have people ask me all the time, “How can you read so many books at once?” and I ask them, “How can you not?” I typically work on 2 manuscripts at a time—this allows me to work on each manuscript a little bit each day so that things stay fresh in my mind. For variety, I work on 2 manuscripts at a time (as opposed to 1)—otherwise, reading the same book for 8 hours per day would really get tiring, no matter how good the book is! I generally read multiple books at once for fun, though. The most I’ve ever read at once is 12. It’s easy for me to keep the storylines separate, but progress on each is slow.

Part 3 is coming later this week. Don’t miss it. Lots of great advice from Kristen.

Thanks for reading.