The third and final round of edits for Starling’s Weave (back to you all soon regarding the new Fall 2024 release date — stay tuned!) are now in (cue applause), and I have to say, this was a particularly gruelling — and rewarding — set of edits. 

For those of you not in the book industry, a short explainer: when you publish with a traditional press, typically, there are three major rounds of edits before your book goes for copy editing and then makes its wonderful way out into the world. 

Round One is the big one: this stage of edits should take the most amount of time, and is typically a major structural / developmental edit. Your editor provides you with an edit letter and dives deep into their thoughts on how coherent your plot is, and whether the characters work. 

The second involves an intensive line edit, where you basically go deep into the language and fix as much as you can. The third pass is typically reserved for copy edits before the book goes to professional copy editor to ensure that all the t’s are crossed, i’s dotted, and everything in the MS is spelled to house style. (ie. is your press American, like mine? you’ll need to provide American spellings). 

Let me just say, Starling’s Weave did not follow the typical editing process whatsoever. Of all the novels I’ve penned — and I’m up to 11? 12? — this was the hardest. I was still working on structural edits in the third round, ensuring that the chemistry between the characters was spot-on. For the third round, which is typically a short, 2 week turnaround, I laboured between 8 and 13 hours a day —including weekends — to make sure the book was flawless. 

Let me also say that I’m tired…. 

If this sounds like a bunch of complaints, it’s not at all! I worked with a new editor on this book, Hoda, and while this was her first editorial assignment for Entangled, I’m bloody lucky to have ended up with her. 

See, the mark of a true editing wizard isn’t just their brilliance at telling you what the books needs (in terms of plot, characters, chemistry and language). A great editor won’t give up on the book (and by extension, you) if the first round doesn’t feel quite right. Hoda kept pushing me, right through round 3, and I think the resulting book is marvellous for her perseverance. 

The fact of the matter is, sometimes the first edit letter isn’t quite clear in terms of expectations. Sometimes the press isn’t clear (ie. how long can you really make that book if the editor requests new chapters). Sometimes the work is just so extensive that the first round covers some and the subsequent rounds provides the mop up. 

All of the above was true with the edits for this book. Does the book now work? Stay tuned and you can be the judge!

IN OTHER NEWS

I met a super friendly and all-around fantastic podcaster from the United States while I was at the LA Times Festival of Books, and I was invited to sit down for an interview for the Tea & Tropes (fantasy) podcast. I’ll let you all know the air date as soon as possible! 

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IMAGE / CREDIT:

Alternative Title: Women’s Work

Description:

Creator: Unknown

Date Created: 1914

Source: Original Format: University of British Columbia Library. Rare Books & Special Collections. World War I 1914-1918 British Press photograph collection. BC 1763.

Permanent URL: http://digitalcollections.library.ubc.ca/cdm/ref/collection/WWIphoto/id/188

Project Website: http://digitalcollections.library.ubc.ca/cdm/landingpage/collection/WWIphoto