Q&A With Pat Dobie 

Pat Dobie is the author of Fiction Editing: A Writer’s Roadmap & is also a book editor & a writing and editing teacher! I am thrilled to be doing this Q&A with her this month of August! 

Q: Pat, would you give a brief description of Fiction Editing: A Writer’s Roadmap & talk about why you wrote it? 

A: Hi Bianca and thank you for having me. Fiction Editing: A Writer’s Roadmap is a guide for writers who are thinking about working with an editor. It describes how to save time and money, how to understand the editorial processes, and how to find the right editor for your book—where to look, how to budget for it, and what to do if you can’t afford the going rates. It also covers how to avoid red flags and how to get your money’s worth when you hire an editor for your novel.

I wrote it because I couldn’t find a book that answered the questions fiction writers have when they’re thinking about whether to hire an editor. 

The writing process was iterative. The book started as a free download for my website, but my first draft was far too long for a download. Plus, the more I thought about it, the more I realized it should be as comprehensive as possible. I wanted it to describe the publishing landscape and let writers know why people work with editors, period. So, I spent another year or so rewriting it completely. I also added a glossary of terms, an index, list of resources, etc. I’m happy to say that the book sells steadily to individual writers. 

I also wanted new editors to be able to use it, so they know what writers are looking for when they hire an editor. I use it in one of the courses I teach, and I know at least one other editing program has used it as one of their texts. I’m glad I wrote it, and I still haven’t found another book that conveys the same information.

Q: How long did it take you to write Fiction Editing: A Writer’s Roadmap & what new important lessons do you want readers who are serious about becoming writers to learn after reading the book?

A: It took me about 18 months altogether. It was the first nonfiction book I’d written, and I have to say, I did find it easier than writing novels. The great thing about nonfiction is that readers are looking for information. With novels, you’re trying to give them a great story. Much trickier! In both cases, though, you want the reader to have a meaningful reading experience and get something out of the book.

I think the biggest lesson I’d love readers to take away is that writing a book is just the first step in publication. All books we buy in stores have been edited, and anyone who’s written a book should know why that’s the case. But I don’t think writers should spend money on editing until they know what they’re paying for. I’ve worked with writers who’ve been ripped off or just severely demoralized by their experience with an editor. It can take years to bounce back from a bad experience like that—writing is such an art, and a lot of the time it’s a purely personal pursuit, until you publish. So, I want writers to be able to find editors who know what they’re doing, who provide a high level of professional service, and who have the craft knowledge to help the writer take their work to a higher level. Then everybody wins.

Q: Are you currently writing something like Fiction Editing: A Writer’s Roadmap, or this time around will you write a fiction book?

A: I’m working on a book about Fiction’s Big-Picture Fundamentals—though I need a sexier title! It’s based on a course I teach that walks writers step-by-step through the most important aspects of fiction: characterization, plot, world building, pacing, tension, etc. It should be easy since I already developed the course, but I’ve hardly touched it.

I am also writing a novel.

And I hope it’s okay if I share some good news with you—a novel I wrote in 2022 was published in June this year! It’s called The Tenants and is published by Anvil Press. (https://www.anvilpress.com/books/the-tenants) 

If you click on the link you’ll see that the novel won the 45^th annual International 3-Day Novel contest. A few hundred people from all over the world enter the contest every Labor Day weekend. 

The Tenants won in 2022–and first prize is publication and a nice chunk of cash. I’m really happy with the little book, which is a story about a homeless woman who gets involved with her neighbors and all hell breaks loose. I’m going to enter it again this year. 

If any of your readers are looking for a really great way to shake out the writing blues and produce something weird, I recommend doing the 3-day novel contest! If you do enter it, feel free to send me a note and I’ll invite you to the Discord where many of the contest regulars hang out.

Q: You edit books as well as teach writing and editing and I think that’s very impressive! Would you please give a list of some of the many authors you’ve edited their books for & what that experience was like? Since you teach writing and editing, have you taught anyone who became a Bestselling author?

A: Thank you! I’ve been editing books since about 2010, and before that I spent years giving feedback on manuscripts to my writing friends. We would swap manuscripts and give each other feedback.

I found out how much I love editing books when I was doing my MFA in Writing. I just learned so much about the craft of writing and discovered I am a gifted reader. It sounds a bit egotistical, but I have a gift for seeing what works and what needs work in a manuscript. I like taking apart novels and seeing how they’re put together and how they could be improved without losing their “soul,”—how to be the best possible version of what the writer envisioned when they started work.

I’ve worked with a lot of writers, and you can see a few of the projects on my website over at https://lucidedit.com/about-lucid-edit/ — though I haven’t updated that in a while! I have quite a few repeat clients, which are such a pleasure to work with. One you might find interesting is Colin Alexander (https://afictionado.com/), who writes these incredible science fiction novels. He’s done a series around ‘exoplanetary scout’ Leif the Lucky—here’s a link to one of his reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/colin-alexander/the-lucky-starman/ 

Editing a book is one of my favorite experiences and being an editor is the best job I’ve ever had. You get to read books all day! I use a particular process for editing, and it’s the same process I teach my developmental editing students. It’s quite complex so I can’t describe it in detail here, except to say that it takes a few basic skills. One is a really strong reading sensibility (that is, the quality of being readily or strongly affected by artistic experiences). Your sensibility is your defining characteristic as a reader and a developmental editor. It’s the ability to interact with a text that lets you see inside its inner workings, and it can be developed. 

Editing books also requires being educated on the craft of writing. You can educate yourself—I learned about writing by reading and by writing. 

You need the ability to think analytically and to articulate your thoughts clearly and truthfully, without killing the writer’s soul.  Finally, you have to be able to project manage, work to deadlines, all that stuff. 

The point of editing is to prepare a book for publication, but it’s a lot deeper than that at the developmental editing stage—you’re helping the writer realize their vision for the book. So that’s an extremely satisfying task.

I’d love to say that one of the writers I’ve worked with or taught has become a bestseller—but it really depends on how you define a bestseller. The New York Times bestseller list is what a lot of people mean, and I haven’t had a client’s book get on that list, as far as I’m aware. But many of my clients do really well in their genre and treat writing as their job. One of my clients regularly places #1 in his genre on Amazon—he lists in a really specific genre that not many other writers use, and the algorithm helps him get to #1. Most of the time my clients and I don’t discuss how many units they sell, though I’m always keenly interested in their success.

Q: What is your advice for anyone wanting to become an author and editor?

A: My advice is to really love books. Read, read, read, and write, write, write. Study books like you’re in university—I mean, if you want to write or edit fiction, study successful books. The kind you love to read. See how they are put together. You can do a book map, actually take them apart and see them like a mechanic sees an engine—how many chapters, how many scenes, how long are the scenes, which characters are in them, what’s the main conflict, what’s moving the story, what makes you care about the characters, and what’s the character arc, or transformation…start really examining all those aspects of every novel you love. You can write yourself short essays, say 1200 words, on specific aspects of craft, like how characters are introduced, or how setting is used. 

But in terms of education, there’s no one certification or credential for becoming a book editor. I love the courses at the Editorial Arts Academy (www.editorialartsacademy.com) – of course I would, since I teach there. Many editorial associations also have courses you can take, like the Editorial Freelancers Association or Editors Canada. And you can learn a lot by looking at editors’ websites or their profiles in places like the EFA ‘find a freelancer’ search engine. (https://www.the-efa.org/membership-directory/)

If you want to become a freelance editor, it can absolutely be done. If you don’t have experience yet, the first thing I would do is start looking for writers who want feedback on their stuff, learn how to give feedback, and then go from there. Taking a few courses, reading analytically, writing reviews—as you do, Bianca—and immersing yourself in the world of books.

Q: Not many people know this, but I have played around with different story ideas. One of them being a murder mystery. If I or someone else were to send you a story we finished writing so you can edit it, would we email it directly to you in a word document? I’m very curious about how it’s done. 

A: My process for taking on an editing project begins with a sample edit, which is free and entails no obligation to work together. So the writer would read my website page describing my process (https://lucidedit.com/8-steps-for-better-writing/), then they’d send me an email or fill out the contact form on my website and let me know their book’s title, word count, genre, and what kind of feedback they’re looking for. If they don’t know what kind of feedback they want, that’s fine too. Then I write back letting them know when my next opening is—editors tend to book up a few weeks ahead, so if the writer’s in a hurry for feedback and I don’t have an opening soon, there’s no point in me doing a sample edit. If our schedules align, I’ll ask the writer to send the whole manuscript. I like to see the whole thing so I can take a look at the structure. It should be in a Word document, yes. I will read the first 10 pages or so, write marginal comments in Word, and sometimes do a few line edits so they can get a sense of my editing style. Then I send them back a memo with my thoughts on their MS and a suggestion around what kind of editing it could use. If I’m interested in working on it, I include a quote for services. I usually offer a few options so if the writer can’t afford, say, a developmental edit with a book map, they might choose instead a manuscript evaluation, which is about half the cost. Or if their novel’s plot and storyline are in great shape and it just needs work on the prose, they might get a line edit or a copyedit. 

That’s the general flow. After that, we do a schedule, contract, etc. The sample edit is the best way I’ve found to work on projects that are a good fit. 

Q: What are your favorite books of fiction and nonfiction that you’ve read this year? It could be books already out or it could be books that you’ve edited 😉! 

A: Ooh, that’s such a tough question. OK, let’s see. My favorite fiction this year (I’ve read it before but I’m reading it again) is Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones. 

On the nonfiction front I am enjoying Creativity, Spirituality, & Making a Buck by David Nichtern.

Thanks so much for your interest in my book(s) and in the life of a writer and editor, Bianca! I found this questionnaire really interesting and rewarding to do.