Author/Editor Interview: Traci DePree PART II

You are also a freelance editor, what are some of the titles you’ve worked on? Do the authors hire you or do the publishers?

I’ve had the privilege of editing Frank Peretti’s Monster, Ted Dekker’s Thunder of Heaven and When Heaven Weeps, many, many of Robin Lee Hatcher’s books including Victory Club, Beyond the Shadows, Firstborn, Ribbon of Years, The Shepherd's Voice (2001 RITA Award winner), Whispers from Yesterday (2000 Christy Award winner), Robert Whitlow’s Jimmy, Life Support, The Sacrifice, The Trial (2001 Christy Award winner), Cindy Martinusen’s Eventide (yet to be released by WestBow Press), most of Lisa Bergren’s adult fiction, Jane Kirkpatrick’s “Kinship & Courage” series and “Tender Ties” series, Deborah Raney’s A Scarlet Cord, After the Rains, Beneath a Southern Sky (2002 RITA Award winner), Randy Alcorn’s Edge of Eternity, Terri Blackstock’s Heart Reader books and many, many others.

I am hired by publishers to work on the developmental/first read stage of editing. Because my time is constrained by the demands of writing and editing and being available to my family I simply cannot review the works of unpublished authors.

Can you give us an idea about the cost of a novelist hiring a freelance editor?

Since I am hired by publishers only, this isn’t something I do. So I really can’t say what an author would pay for such services. I know that many of the established guilds offer this type of service.

What are some of the mistakes you see over and over even from great authors?

Everyone has their blind spots. “Telling” instead of “showing” is a big one. I’m a firm believer in allowing a character’s action, body language and dialogue to tell the reader who each character is and what they’re feeling. This is how we discern the qualities of the people in our daily lives so we all know how to read between these lines. It makes for deeper, seamless characterization.

Another big error I see is Point of View hopping. Certain bestsellers--like John Grisham--don’t seem to have a clue about this aspect of good writing. They seem to think the reader won’t mind switching from one character’s set of eyes to another’s.

But it is a speed bump! The author who maintains a firm single POV throughout any given scene will always have deeper characterization than the writer who jumps POVs betweens paragraphs.

Read anything by B.J. Hoff if you want to see what good POV can do—you know who the character is in any given scene because she masterfully draws these lines with simple POV consistency and delicious character “markers.”

Would you recommend that a first-time author hire an editor before submitting their work to publishers/agents?

I think an honest, intelligent reader who isn’t afraid of hurting your feelings can be just as effective at pointing out your story’s weaknesses as hiring a trained editor.

Usually, I’ve discovered, the points my editors bring up in my writing are things I’d intuited but decided to ignore, so their suggestions unfailingly ring true.

Learning to listen to and follow your instinct in reading is key. If anything interrupts the constant flow of your story it’s a red flag that something isn’t right. As an editor I’ve learned to listen to this instinct more closely and then to ask myself, “What is it that is causing the problem?” Is it an inconsistency of motivation? Am I having a hard time following too big a cast? Perhaps I need to pare down/combine characters so the action is easier to track. It’s time to listen to that little voice you ignored in the process of creation.

You spent seven years at Bethany and managed their slush pile for awhile. What surprised you about the submissions? What made a proposal or manuscript stand out in a good way?

I was surprised at how few submissions were actually published. At that time we received over 5,000 unsolicited manuscripts per year. We might have published one of those proposals; more likely it would have been one in 10,000 submissions.

Too often writers were merely mimicking what was already on the market or trying to sell a project that had too narrow a market. Many proposals were poorly conceived, not drawn out well or fully developed.

Get to know the publisher you’re sending your proposal to. Don’t send a contemporary fiction title to a textbook publisher. You’d be surprised but this happened all the time at Bethany.

Books that aren’t even close to a publisher’s current line aren’t real likely to be picked up. Also houses known for fiction will be better at selling your novel than a house that decides to do one lone fiction title anyway. Each house has its reputation within the market; choose a publishing house that most aligns with the story you’re trying to tell.

The good proposals were always original (they had a hook that met Bethany’s niche), well organized in their presentation, and the writing was honed. Never send your first draft—I guarantee it would be better if you went over it several times more.

Can you give us an insider’s look into a proposal being plucked from the slush pile? Where did it go after you found potential in it?

Mind you I had this job over fifteen years ago—the editing I do today is a very different animal than unsolicited submissions. Usually I could sort through the days’ submissions in an hour or two, write the needed rejection letters. Then I would take a closer look at the submissions that had broad appeal, met Bethany’s particular needs at the time, and were well written.

If the proposal seemed to have merit, it went out to a group of readers for their honest input. These were mostly volunteers, not full time Bethany House employees, so we would try to give them a good month for any given project. If the readers couldn’t force themselves to finish reading, the proposal would end up in the rejection pile.

If it drew readers in and kept their attention until the end, the questions of broad appeal and marketability came into play. If those questions were answered positively the proposal was finally brought before the publishing review board and decided on once and for all. This is why it takes so long for a publisher to get back to you when you send those proposals in—lots of reading time! If you hear back right away it usually isn’t a good sign!

Any editorial advice you can offer to novelists?

Keep learning and keep reading.

Parting words?

Thank you for this opportunity to “meet” you and your readers/writers, Gina! I wish you all the best in this crazy business. I would love to get to know you all better too, so come by my website www.tracidepree.com, sign my guestbook or visit my Writer’s Life and Rural Life blogs. –Warmly, Traci DePree