Unpacking Your Assumptions about Fiction

If you’ve ever taken a class from me, you know that I have a pathological hatred of using questions in editorial queries. By this I mean asking questions like, “What is Joe’s motivation?” where you are, or think you are, asking the author to address the problem of Joe’s lack of motivation.

Use statements instead of questions

I discourage such queries because they do not provide the author with enough guidance. It is fairly common for authors to respond to such questions by engaging in a conversation with the editor, either in the queries or by email, which is inefficient and usually doesn’t produce any greater insight for either author or editor than stating the problem in the first place would have.

To avoid the conversation, you just make your questions into statements. “What is Joe’s motivation?” becomes, for example, “Consider stating Joe’s motivation here.” But avoiding unnecessary back-and-forth with the author is only one reason why using statements is important. By taking a moment to turn this question into a statement, you can gain greater insight into the problem. Maybe it isn’t that the author needs to state Joe’s motivation here. Maybe the problem is actually that Joe’s motivation isn’t sufficient to the demands of his actions.

In other words, if Joe forgot his wallet at the corner market, he might flag a cab and go back to get it. If Joe dropped a quarter on the floor of the corner market, he’s not going to spend the money on a cab to go back to get it. The motivation is not sufficient, unless it’s a very special quarter.

Or maybe the problem is that Joe’s characterization and his motivation don’t match. Just because his boss said an unkind word to him doesn’t mean any ordinary person would hire a hit man to take care of the problem. But if Joe has, then the author needs to characterize him in such a way that this is clearly something he would do. In this case, “Consider stating Joe’s motivation” isn’t the answer. The answer is, the author needs to characterize Joe in such a way that we can believe his boss saying an unkind word to him would motivate him to hire the hit man.

All of these are different aspects of the situation that won’t be revealed if you merely rely on the question, “What is Joe’s motivation?” to do the editorial work for you.

Becoming a better editor

This is why I often say that turning questions into statements helps you become a better editor; you learn more about the problem because you’re digging deeper into it. But now I also want to talk about another reason to stop using questions in the queries. This is about unpacking your assumptions about stories and how they’re told.

At some point in your editorial career, you shift from doing novice work, where you don’t always notice what’s going wrong, to what I call “practitioner,” which means you are competently able to identify most developmental problems mss typically have and provide some suggestions for ways that authors can address these problems. But to move from practitioner to expert, you have to do more than understand the application of technique. You have to have a theory, a framework for your decision-making.

Figuring out your framework

By focusing on making statements in your editorial queries, you begin to unpack your assumptions about what literature is, what makes a story good, and so on. I often recommend using the three-part query template to provide sufficient guidance to the author:

1. Identify the developmental problem

2. Explain why it’s a developmental problem for this ms

3. Suggest a potential solution.

Each element is important, but it’s #2 that makes developmental editing an art that no computer will ever be able to do better than you can. We can say “use fewer adverbs” (and so can a computer) but until we can say why that matters for this particular ms, we’re just repeating writerly wisdom we’ve heard from other people.

You have to make that knowledge your own, and the way you do that is to test your assumptions. What is your theory of literature? How does fiction work? What makes it successful? What does successful even mean? How is this different from what makes it good?

And the way you test your assumptions about fiction is to state them.

Let’s look at “Joe’s motivation isn’t clear here” again. Once you make that statement, you can test it for accuracy. Is it true that Joe’s motivation isn’t clear? Or is it just that Joe’s motivation is insufficient for the task at hand?

Once you’ve decided that it’s accurate, you can further test your assumptions: Why does it matter for this ms that Joe’s motivation isn’t clear? You might say, “Readers will lose interest in a character when they don’t understand why characters do the things they do.”

So far, so good. We can say that, yes, we have given up on stories where we don’t understand the reasons why characters do the things they do. So, one of our assumptions about stories is that characters should have rational, understandable motivations for their actions (even if people in real life often don’t). As readers, we care about the causes of things. This helps us make sense of the world. It’s how we establish meaning. So this is a perfectly valid assumption.

Let’s look at the “readers will lose interest” end of this statement. It implies that readers have certain expectations of characters and that for readers to engage with those characters, to invest time in them, they have to understand them. Establishing motivation is a means authors use to help readers understand character. This is an important part of the framework of the assumption we’re making (the assumption being that it is better to show character motivation than not to show character motivation).

[Read the rest here.]

The Club Ed Certificate in the Developmental Editing of Fiction Program

Now Open for Applications!

The Club Ed Certificate Program in Developmental Editing for Fiction is now accepting new applicants into the program (through February 14, 2025). For more information about the program, click here.

Obtaining the certificate is a great way for you to build confidence in your editing skills and either start a freelance editing business or expand the one you already have.

You can purchase the classes needed to complete the program individually as you take them, or you can purchase the Club Ed Certificate Program Course Bundle to save money by purchasing all the classes you’ll need at the same time. The Course Bundle ($1500) includes:

*Self-paced DE 1 – 6
*All three instructor-led core developmental courses: Editing for Plot and Story Structure, Editing for Character Development, and Editing for World-Building and Setting
* Four self-paced electives (your choice)
*The instructor-led Advanced Developmental Editing

That’s everything you need to complete the program and earn the Club Ed Certificate in Developmental Editing of Fiction.

You choose which sessions of the instructor-led courses to enroll in. (Note that there is a three-year limit on the program; you must complete the courses within three years of applying to the program.)

Save over $500 from purchasing the classes individually!

If you’ve already purchased DE 1 – 6 or any other classes required for the certificate, get in touch with us to find out how the money you’ve already spent can be applied to the bundle. Reach out to info@ClubEdFreelancers.com with any questions!

To apply to the program, simply email info@ClubEdFreelancers.com stating your full name, best email address, and a few details about your background in editing. If you don’t have any (and that’s okay!), say a few words about your goals for the program. That’s it! Couldn’t be simpler.

Congratulations to Our Newest Certificate Recipient!

Maria Georgiou earned her certificate in the developmental editing of fiction on January 14, 2025. Please join me in congratulating her!

More about the program can be found here.

Editing for Plot and Story Structure

Starts Feb 10!

$330 (Members: $297) | How to edit for plot and story structure | 4 weeks | Instructor-led | Intermediate

Plot and story structure (also called narrative structure) are the big-picture elements of storytelling that we might call “what happens” and “the framework within which the plot (what happens) is shown.”

Authors (and editors!) sometimes think there is only one type of story structure to use, based on a three-act quest story. This is why you’ll often hear writers and editors talk about “the first turning point” and “the black moment.” While this type of three-act structure may be how many popular movies are written, it is not the only or necessarily the best way for novel narratives to be structured.

In this class, we’ll cover:

• The wide range of story structures authors use and the basics of editing them

• Helping authors recognize when a different story structure would serve their purposes better

• Recognizing the intersections between story structure, plot, setting, character, and theme

• Using conflict to drive plot

• Identifying plot implausibilities and incongruities

• Dealing with “nothing happens” plots

• Scene and chapter construction within the structural framework

• and more!

Each week includes a new lesson and a new assignment to be submitted for the instructor’s feedback along with online discussions about developmental issues.

Intermediate classes are intended for those with some developmental editing experience or who have taken the Beginning + Intermediate DE for Fiction classes or the self-paced DE 1 through 6 classes.

The class is entirely online and asynchronous (you don’t have to be in any particular place at any particular time to participate) but weekly assignments are due by specific deadlines.

To register, click here.

Marketing Toolkit Classes

Now Available as Replays!

$50 each (members: $15 each, but you must use the coupon code shared in the Membership Program classroom to receive the discount)

These marketing webinars are helpful for editors of all types, whether you edit fiction or nonfiction, and no matter if you’re a copy editor, developmental editor, or something else.

For more information and to register, click a link:

Marketing Toolkit: SEO for Editors (with SEO expert Jenny Raith)

Marketing Toolkit: Content Marketing Strategy

Marketing Toolkit: Social Media for Editors

Upcoming Classes

Classes starting soon:

• Editing for Plot and Story Structure, starts Feb 10, 2025

• Beginning Copyediting for Fiction, starts Feb 17, 2025

• Intermediate Developmental Editing for Fiction, starts Feb 17, 2025

• Editorial Toolkit: Coaching Writers, starts Feb 19, 2025

• Editing for Character Development, starts Mar 17, 2025

About Jennifer Lawler

I help editors figure out what the hell they’re doing.

If you’re an aspiring, new, or established book editor or story coach, I can probably help you learn how to do the work better and more profitably.

Through Club Ed, I offer developmental editing classes, a freelance editor membership program/support group, and a slightly bony shoulder to cry on.

I’ve worked as an editor for more than twenty years. I learned how to edit in the trenches of traditional publishing with its insane deadlines, pitiless competition, and crushing bureaucracy. To that I added a Ph.D in English literature with a specialization in medieval literature because of a long story.

Editorial clients have included Simon & Schuster, Girl Friday Productions, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, Barnes and Noble Custom Publishing, and others, along with many independent authors. 

For fiction self-paced classes, click here.

For fiction instructor-led classes, click here

For nonfiction self-paced classes, click here

For nonfiction instructor-led classes, click here

For on-demand instructor-led classes, fiction and nonfiction, click here