Find a professional editor in your field or genre, or in your language, with our Editors Directory.

IPEd
Member Login

Resources for fiction editors

2 September 2021 | September 2021

by Jess Gately

On 29 July, Renée Otmar gave a presentation for EdWA on fiction editing, offering attendees a wealth of information on how to get started as a fiction editor and what sort of training they might pursue. 

One of her tips for those looking to become competent fiction editors was to build a solid resource library (‘that you actually read and use!’). Renée provided some of her own recommendations and encouraged audience members to share their own. Below is a list of some of the resource materials that came out of that discussion. 

Renée’s book recommendations fell into two main categories: reading skills and editing skills. Critical reading helps editors understand what makes a good story and the techniques that writers can use. Editing skills allow us to give voice to these ideas and explain them to our clients. The resources below are roughly sorted into those two categories. 

On reading:

  1. You are what you read: A practical guide to reading well (2021) by Robert DiYanni. What engaged and productive reading looks and feels like; how to uncover themes and underlying truths; and how to approach the questioning of a literary work. Highly recommended.
  2. Pen in hand: Reading, rereading and other mysteries (2019) by Tim Parks. Entertaining series of essays on how to read better. A slow burner that I return to again and again. The big thing I learned was to get over my horror about writing in books.
  3. A reader on reading (2011) by Alberto Manguel. Collection of essays on the connection between books and our bodies, the power of censorship and the art of translation. If you’re serious about these topics.
  4. The written world (2017) by Martin Puchner. How literary works embody and influence the cultures they reflect, looking at the role of literature in influencing rise and fall of empires and nations, philosophical and political debates, and religious beliefs. Now you’re really getting into it.
  5. The art of x-ray reading (2016) by Roy Peter Clarke. Uses classic and contemporary works by the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Sylvia Plath, W B Yeats, Toni Morrison and Gabriel García Márquez to demonstrate how x-ray reading can reveal the strategies that create the effects readers experience. 

On editing:

  1. Developmental editing: A handbook for freelancers, authors, and publishers (2009) by Scott Norton. Not specific to fiction but a strong and enduring text.
  2. The emotion thesaurus: A writer’s guide to character expression 2e (2019) by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. An excellent resource if you work with romance, historical fiction and crime fiction.
  3. How fiction works 10e (2019) by James Wood. For editors and authors who get stuck on the usual topics: narrative voice, themes, conventions, truth and realism, and dialogue. This book will speak to readers of the Anglophone/Eurocentric ‘canon’, so make sure you’ve read Flaubert, Nabokov, Austen, Hemingway et al.
  4. Editing for sensitivity, diversity and inclusion: A guide for professional editors (2020) by Renée Otmar. Of course, Renée’s own book could not be excluded from this list. FYI, a new and expanded edition will be published by Cambridge University Press in 2023.
  5. The story grid: What good editors know (2015) by Shawn Coyne. A tool to help editors and writers analyse stories and provide helpful editorial comments, pinpointing problems and offering solutions. 
  6. Save the Cat! writes a novel (2018) by Jessica Brody. Looks at story beats, what they are, and how you write to them, using examples from bestselling hits and classics alike. 
  7. What editors do: The art, craft and business of book editing (2017) by Peter Ginna. A collection of essays by editors on everything from acquisitions to marketing, from genre editing to the future of the editing profession. 
  8. On Editing: how to edit your novel the professional way (2018) by Helen Corner-Bryant and Kathryn Price. A step-by-step guide to structural considerations such as point of view, plot, structure, dialogue and pacing, with a final piece on submitting to agents and publishers. 
  9. Editors on editing 3e (1993) by Gerald Gross. A collection of essays on everything about editing including the ethical and moral dimensions, how books are chosen, the different types of editing and what editors look for in manuscripts. Also includes an annotated bibliography of books on editing and publishing. Perhaps a tad out of date but nonetheless helpful reading. 

Jess Gately is the President of EdWA and can be reached at edwa.president@iped-editors.org.