With line editing I will conduct three separate passes of the text. In the first pass I will make most of the changes and fill out a style sheet. A style sheet serves as a literary road map, showing which words are capitalized; what words or phrases are in italics; how names of characters, locations, and items are spelled; physical characteristics of major characters; etc. Style sheets also explain how numbers will be treated, how dashes will be spaced, what words are hyphenated, what abbreviations and acronyms are used, and more.
The second pass is done to ensure that I haven’t missed any edits that need to be made and that I haven’t introduced any errors during the first pass. After the second round of line editing, I will send the manuscript back to you. I use Microsoft Word’s Track Changes feature to mark up each and every addition, deletion, and move I make. You will go through and review my changes and approve or reject each edit.
After you send back the edited manuscript to me, I do the third and final round of line editing. In this round I will incorporate the changes that you want made and remove any proposed edits that you don’t want. Please note that you will likely still want to have your manuscript proofread before publishing. I offer proofreading services, please see that section for more information.
What line editing looks at:
· Spelling. This includes homophones (site and sight; to, too, and two; write, rite, and right) and homonyms (the whale’s fluke, a fluke of luck).
· Punctuation. This includes comma splices, quotation marks used for non-dialogue purposes, misused apostrophes, and more.
· Grammar. This can include changes in tense, run-on sentences, sentence fragments, incorrect pronouns, lack of subject-verb agreement, and more.
· Dialogue (generally this only applies for fictional works). Do the characters speak the way people with their life experiences and upbringing would talk? Does a character speak with an inconsistent accent? Do two or more characters sound too similar?
· Basic fact checking (usually done through Wikipedia or Google). If you claim that the Colorado Gold Rush happened in 1998, I’m going to check if that is the case (it started a bit earlier in 1858).
· Consistent formatting. This includes making sure there’s only one space after periods, that all chapter headings use the same size and type of font, and that all paragraphs are formatted similarly.
· Ensuring that character names, location names, and other book-specific words or descriptions remain consistent throughout the book. If your protagonist is Kristen who has blonde hair and blue eyes on page 1, I’m going to flag page 59 when redheaded Christen appears.
· Moving paragraphs and rewriting and moving sentences to better enhance clarity and readability. If you would prefer that I only point these areas out, then I will do that.
· Reorganizing or reformatting tables. If you list all the fruits and vegetables grown in a region by alphabetical order, I will move apple to be above orange.
· I will create a style sheet for the manuscript.
· If you include a very technical term or rare word, I will either ask you to define the term or supply the definition myself.