Amber Kay Ferguson: Christian Editor

Amber Kay: Conservative columnist, Christian editor and web designer

Congratulations ... Very funny!
--Reader, 2004

Very clever ... your prizes await. ... congratulations again.
--Publisher and contest judge, 2007

Oh man--my intestines are cramping from just reading that. Thanks, Amber. Great story!
--Reader, 2004

EDITING

The various levels of editing include proofreading, basic editing, content editing, developmental editing, and ghostwriting. In a basic edit, punctuation and grammatical errors are corrected. In a content edit, punctuation and grammar are corrected, and the writing is "tightened" as follows: elimination of unnecessary adverbs, replacing weak verbs, reducing prepositional phrases, annihilating passive voice, and so on. Ghostwriting is a complete rewrite. Although remaining true to the author's vision, the piece is reworded entirely. Examples of the three levels are below.

Unedited example:

Stewart Bingerdatt stood on the edge of the wide, gaping, abyss, the whole which lead into the depths of the Cavern. His fear was so palpable, his hair stood on end. He hadn't stood here since the 70's - shortly after he'd returned from the War. He'd been to afraid. Not so much afraid to face the past. But afraid someone waited, would still be watching for him to stand here again... Someone who knew the truth.

Who's job had it been to make sure the file was closed? The ball had been passed to him by upper management; the same bozo's who neither knew where the file cabinets where or cared.

At 42, Stewart - or Stew, as his friends called him affectionately - was a tall man, a little fat and overweight from too many late-night kitchen snacks. But that was thanks to his insomnia.

After basic editing:

Stewart Bingerdatt stood on the edge of the wide, gaping abyss-the hole that led into the depths of the cavern. His fear was so palpable his hair stood on end. He hadn't stood here since the '70s-shortly after he'd returned from the war. He'd been too afraid. Not so much afraid to face the past. But afraid someone would still be watching and waiting for him to stand here again ... someone who knew the truth.

Whose job had it been to make sure the file was closed? The ball had been passed to him by upper management-the same bozos who neither knew where the file cabinets were nor cared.

At forty-two, Stewart-or Stew, as his friends affectionately called him-was a tall man, a little fat and overweight from too many late-night kitchen snacks. But that was thanks to his insomnia.

After content editing:

Stewart Bingerdatt (suggest a less jarring last name) hadn't been near the edge of the abyss-the entrance to the cavern-since he'd returned from Vietnam in the '70s. Now his hair stood on end. Was someone waiting for him to return ... someone who knew the truth?

Upper management-those bozos-had passed him the file. Who should have closed it?

At forty-two, Stew still stood tall. But he was overweight now from too many midnight kitchen snacks, courtesy of insomnia.

After ghostwriting:

Stewart Bingerdatt (suggest a less jarring last name) choked on the edge of the abyss-the entrance to the icy cavern. He spun around and scanned the area behind him. Again.

Insomnia was eating the last of his wits. Even after he'd returned from Vietnam in the '70s, he had not suffered so many black nights. Pace and think, think and pace, pace and think some more. ....

The big dogs had chunked the case on his desk en route to more pleasant projects. He'd tried. It had been his undoing, but he'd tried. In whose hands did the file die? Pressing his two beefy palms to his temples, he shook his head. There's no one here, Stew. No one! Everyone who knew is gone. It's been too long.

For more information:

For more information, e-mail Amber. If it looks like a project she wants to take on, she'll provide you with a sample edit of one page of your choice at no charge, along with a bid for the project. The sample will be at the level of editing you desire, so you can get a feel for her work. She bids very few editing projects, and will never bid a project if it means taking a writer's money and running.

There are no guarantees a project will be published after professional editing. In fact, all authors are required to sign a statement stating they understand that. Imperfect, sloppy writing stands almost no chance of publication, of course, but writing is not a science. Well crafted work is still subject to the subjective whims of publishers and agents. But polished writing does stand a better chance.

Whatever you decide, best wishes for your project.