Although it is a devious path to wind down, let’s talk about editing. It’s not an exact science, as evidenced by giving an article, short story or manuscript to five different editors: you'll get five different sets of edits. Usually it’s a meet in the middle kind of venture, and a lot of advice is given to writers concerning how they should react, what they should say if they don’t agree with the edits, and of course the proverbial “Don’t take it personal.”
Image by Stefan Keller
However, sometimes editors need tips too, because they have their own struggles. For instance, if an editor commonly edits science fiction but suddenly has to edit a political thriller, what does he or she do? Well, technical edits transcend genre, but other edits don’t. That’s because you can’t edit based on what’s normal in your world, you have to edit based on what’s normal in that genre’s world. But what do you do if you don’t know what that is? Fortunately, there’s a way to take a crash course!
It’s easy to do, especially now that there’s a lot of different ways to read books. Randomly find yourself 10 to 12 novels in the genre you need to cram for. Once you get them from the library or wherever you download books, simply do a “binge read.” It’s an easy but highly effective way to familiarize yourself with any genre in a relatively short length of time.
After you read 10 or 12 books in one genre, even if it’s the first time you've read it, a clear pattern emerges concerning what that genre is supposed to sound like. That’s because all genres have certain components and elements that make them what they are. Not that every author follows every one religiously for every book but, there are certainly “standards” for virtually all book categories. This tip is the quickest and easiest way to take a crash course and avoid making ridiculous errors regarding the norms for what you’re attempting to edit. It’s simple, it’s free, and it can save a lot of red-faced moments in the future!