5 Simple Ways to Make Your Editor Love You!

By day, I am a reading teacher. By night, I'm a writer--okay, actually, by most nights, I'm an editor. I do a lot of editing for Fiverr.com  and while I absolutely love this gig, there are some things I really wish all the writers I work with would do before they send me their manuscript. Now, don't get me wrong, I work with some amazingly talented writers, and most of them know these rules and follow them (most of the time), but then there are also some manuscripts I get that could really use a nice proofread by the author applying these rules before he or she sends the doc my way. Take a look. Maybe these suggestions could help you, too.

A careful proofread from you will make your editor's heart happy!

1) If someone is talking, put some quotations marks around what they are saying.
 I know this seems pretty basic but I get several manuscripts a month where there are no--and I mean no--quotation marks. So, here's the basics of how to use quotation marks.
Right before someone starts talking, place a quotation mark. (")
When they are done talking, you will need the closing quotation mark. (")  This goes right before words like "said" or "replied."
If you can remember to put a comma before the closing quotation mark, that would be even better. (I know sometimes you may need a period, question mark, or exclamation mark, but even if it's just a comma, that will work for me.)
Example: "Take out the trash, Billy," said Mom. NOT Take out the trash, Billy, said Mom.

2) In America, we put a comma before "and" in a list. 
In Britain, they don't do this, but here we do. So, if you have a list of things (more than two) use a comma before "and."
Example: She went to the store to buy bread, milk, and cheese. NOT She went to the store to buy bread, milk and cheese.
PS: If you want your manuscript edited for British English, specify this ahead of time (or better yet, find a British person as they are probably better at it.)

3) When a new person is talking, it's a new paragraph.
When your characters are talking, separate the dialogue by putting a paragraph break between each exchange. Also, make sure it's clear who is talking. Sometimes, if we don't say "said Bob" it's hard to tell who is talking.
Example: "Why do you ask?" Mel said.
                 "I wanted to know," I replied.
NOT "Why did you ask?"Mel said. "I wanted to know," I replied.

Without proper punctuation, the magic gets lost.

4) Stay in the same tense.
If your story happens in the past tense, make sure all of your verbs agree. It is extremely difficult to edit a text that jumps back and forth between tenses. In the last few months, I have edited three manuscripts that switched tenses so often I had no idea what the original intent of the author was. Half of the story was in past tense and half in present, but it would switch within the same paragraph. Don't do this--be consistent.
Example: The man went to the zoo. He saw an elephant. NOT The man went to the zoo. He sees an elephant.

5) Most of the time punctuation goes inside of quotation marks.
A lot of times, writers get the quotation marks right, but they put the punctuation on the outside.  Double-check to make sure that your commas, periods, question marks, and exclamation marks are all inside of your quotation marks.
Example: "She is my best friend," I said. NOT "She is my best friend", I said.

Now, all of that being said, I know I make mistakes in my writing, and I don't always catch everything. And editors don't always catch everything either. But if you can look over your manuscript carefully and check for these mistakes before you submit it for editing, you'll make your editor very happy, which might just get you a discount next time. I work with two authors who do such a great job with their own editing that I  don't charge them nearly as much to edit their writing because I know it won't take me as long.  Catching these types of errors in our own writing will also help show that Indie writing can be just as polished as traditionally published writing.
And that's my two cents....

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