When I tell people I’m an editor, it usually comes with the assumption that I spend all day fixing commas and spelling errors, or that all I do is read books. But being an editor, especially a freelance editor, involves a lot of different things.

Need a little push to help you achieve your goals this year? Book coaching is a partnership to help get your story on the page. It’s support from me and my team to help you push yourself to the next level of your writing and author career!

This week is a bit of an untraditional post as it features a special guest. Please welcome Erika Steeves! Erika is a freelance copyeditor for Indie authors and publishers with experience in fiction, nonfiction, and academic books. For the full interview with Erika, you will have to visit YouTube, but enjoy this fun sneak peek!

Showing versus telling is a huge discussion topic in the writing craft community.

And rightfully so. It is an integral part of getting your book to connect with your readers, getting them to feel what you want them to feel, and understand what you need them to understand. 

And it is something that authors struggle with no matter where they are at in their career – new or 50 books in.

So let’s talk about what those terms mean, as well as how to show AND how to tell – because both are vital to the balance of a story – and go through some examples to demonstrate the difference, so when you get the inevitable “show don’t tell!” feedback in your edit, you’ll know exactly what to do next. 

Whenever I tell someone I’m an editor, nine out of ten times the reaction I get is, “Ugh, grammar.” And when I explain my developmental editing focus, it is quickly followed by a “Huh?” 

For those not familiar with the publishing process, the concept of a developmental edit can seem foreign. Most are used to thinking of editing only the copyediting sense.

Editing is so much more than just that! As a developmental editor, I get to dive into the heart of your novel and help you clarify your vision for readers. Best. Job. Ever. But what is a developmental edit?