Every writer needs a good editor and the starting point for me was the Writer’s Workshop (http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk/index.asp). For the early drafts of my first book, I had two different editors that basically told me to rewrite it all; advice that I was slightly reluctant to take although I can now see that they were right. By draft five, I decided to ask for a female editor and Harry Bingham of WW suggested Debi Alper (http://debialper.blogspot.com/). Now Debi is a published author, but more than that she has editorial skills that are close to supernatural. Not only that, she actually did a copy-edit on my first novel more as an act of charity, for which I am eternally grateful because it resulted in a book which, if not publishable by the mainstream, pleased me and encouraged me to keep writing….and so it goes on to Book 6 (Flight Into Darkness – more later) which is where we are now.
We finally met at York last year (http://writing-community.writersworkshop.co.uk/forum/top/105) and she was exactly as I had imagined her to be; smart, sassy and the sort of woman that takes no prisoners, the kind you would like to get drunk with just for the fun of it.
So, there you have it. A good editor is like a good teacher who can take a rubbish writer and point them in the right direction, not just by editing but by being a friend and giving the best advice that is a necessary adjunct to the mechanics of writing. Debi has an instinct for that and has an eye that it so incisive it’s scary! Many thanks, Debi. I promise always to be faithful to you.
I may take no prisoners (another author described my pen as dripping blood) but you’ve made me snifffle with your words here. As you know, I’ve never lost faith in your ability to make it in the end. It”s an absolute delight to be a part of your journey.