Ink Deep Editing | Blog

Step Away from the DeLorean: How to avoid "time travel errors" in your book

One of the things I love about my job as an editor is that every day is different. No two manuscripts have the same combination of...

Embrace the Suck (and other lessons about writing from a budding guitar player)

Last June, I decided to finally get started on a bucket-list item by learning how to play the guitar. I’m a songwriter, and I really...

Don’t Just Sit There!: Giving your characters agency

Imagine that your best friend invites you over because she needs some advice. She’s finally decided to leave the job she’s been...

Say What?: Giving your characters their own unique voice

Think of the characters from your current work in progress. Are they all women (or men)? Do they all have blond hair? Did they all get a...

Nip and Tuck: How you can help bring down the cost of editing your book

Hang out on any writing-related website, and you’ll see authors discussing the cost of editing. While plenty of these authors feel the...

Walking and Reaching and Shrugging, Oh My!: Why you shouldn’t overdo stage direction

In fiction, characters need to move about. They might be moving from one city to another, from uptown to downtown, or across the room....

The Importance of Professional Editing

As authors prepare to publish their books, they are faced with the question of whether or not to pay a professional editor to help polish...

Say What?: Maintaining the author’s voice in an edit

There is a lot of talk in the writing and editing fields about an author’s voice and how to maintain it in an edit. This is a vital part...

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Keys to writing an effective memoir

My bookshelf and my Kindle are full of memoirs. Whether they allow me into the heart of someone who is recovering from a terrible loss or...

Not a Moment Too Soon: When is the best time for a developmental edit?

A developmental edit is an edit that focuses on story-level concerns such as plot, pacing, character development, and point of view....

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Seeing the Forest for the Trees: How to Approach an Editorial Letter

Back to the ... Present: The potential pitfalls of using flashbacks

It's Not (Only) about You: Writing a memoir that unites the universal and the particular

Inside Out: Using internal and external conflict to create a compelling story

Write What You Know: You Don't Need to Be An Alien to Write Science Fiction

A Hot Mess: Why you shouldn’t expect your first draft to be a work of art

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da: Writing Lessons from Songwriting

Perfection versus Excellence: Why there might still be errors in your book after an edit

Information Overload: Where to look for (and remove) info dumping in your novel

You’re Such a Know-It-All: Things to consider when writing in third-person omniscient point of view

Erica Ellis