Diverse Romance Author Special

Happy February! In honor of stories celebrating the power of love, and especially given recent RWA events, we have a special offer for diverse romance authors:

Book a romance project by 2/29 and get 20% OFF!
Because love is love is love.
Details:

• Manuscript must be a romance. Any length or sub-genre counts!
• Any author who identifies as a member of a marginalized group is welcome to take advantage of this offer. The story does not have to be #OwnVoices.
• We will not be policing your identity, and you are not required to disclose anything you don't want to. If you aren't sure whether this special is for you, please feel free to ask.
• As a general guideline, if you would feel comfortable participating in #DVpit, you shouldn't hesitate to take advantage of this offer.
• Project must be booked by February 29, 2020 and must be scheduled to start by December 31, 2020.
• Note that your project doesn't have to be ready by 2/29, but you do need to book a spot by then.
• A signed contract and a deposit are required to book a spot in our schedule. For more info, see our FAQs.
• The 20% discount will be applied to the final invoice.
• Only one promotion can be applied to any one service.

Questions? Ready to book? Get in touch!

Is Your Editor a Ghost?

Love it or hate it, you probably know that ghostwriting happens. And that especially in recent years it's shifted from a practice primarily in the nonfiction world to a known factor in fiction writing. From creating premises and outlines to drafting fully fleshed out, ready-to-publish manuscripts, ghostwriting fiction has become an undeniable reality, even as many writers and readers consider it to be a less-than-ethical practice to publish something you didn't write under your name.

But did you know that ghost editing happens too? We've talked before about finding the right editor for your work. Now I'm adding another tip: if it matters to you, make sure the person you're hiring is actually the one who'll be editing your manuscipt. 

Unfortunately, authors working with traditional publishers may not have the clout to do this.

Because sometimes, your "editor" will be switched out for someone else, without you ever knowing. A few ways this can happen:

1. The editor you hire sub-contracts out to another editor, without telling you. The money is split between the person whose name/reputation sold the service and the person who actually performs it. Who gets what percent of the money you pay will depend on the individual agreement. The person you think you're hiring may look over the edits, or they may not, depending on their own morals, the time they have available, and how reliable they believe the sub-contractor to be.
2. A publisher assigns you an editor on their staff, but there's no way that person can handle all the books on the schedule needing to be edited. The publisher also hires freelancers. But they want you to have faith in the editor whose name you know, so they pressure the freelancer to perform the edits as "User" or "Editor," or even "Anonymous." Some may even ask that the primary editor's name is used (all of this is easily configured in MS Word), though I haven't personally seen the last happen.
   
   The edits are passed on to you by the primary editor, even if that person never actually provides any feedback. Again, they may or may not look over each round of edits done on your book. Sometimes they won't look at the notes you're given until they're evaluating the freelancer's performance, even if that's long after the book is published. 
• Psst, freelance editors: keep in mind, you can say no if you're asked to do this! 
• It's also possible that the publisher hires a freelancer who then sub-contracts out to another editor, without the author or publisher knowing.
3. An editor (whether they work independently or at a publisher) agrees to mentor someone who wants to break into the field. In order to learn, that person needs hands-on experience editing manuscripts. Depending on the circumstances, the author, publisher, or both are kept in the dark about the mentoring arrangement.
   
   In this scenario, the mentor editor is more likely to look over the edits, since the whole point is that they help the less experienced editor learn. Still, at least the majority of the edits on your book would be performed by the mentee. And while the mentor will likely provide feedback to the mentee, that feedback may or may not be incorporated into the notes you receive.

These are not hypotheticals, and these practices are more common than you may want to believe. I've seen all of these either happen or be discussed in editor groups, and I've been pressured by publishers to remove my name from my edits.

Now this post isn't about criticizing how other editors choose to work. And all of the options above may be perfectly acceptable with one little tweak: if the author knew this was happening. Some editors who sub-contract the work do let their authors know. Many publishers who work with freelance editors do not hide that fact from their authors, who work directly with the freelancer actually providing the notes. Some editors who mentor others have them perform the edits in parallel, providing their own notes to the author and separate feedback to the mentee on their edits. Or again, they simply let the author know ahead of time that the work will be done by the mentee.

For that matter, maybe you don't care. If you're hiring a company rather than an individual, maybe all you care about is that the work gets done for the price you were quoted, not the name of the person doing the work or developing a relationship with a specific editor.

This post is to help you be aware of what may be happening behind the scenes. So that if it does matter to you—if you've carefully selected an editor based on a recommendation, their reputation, a sample edit, or all of the above—you can take steps to be confident they'll actually be the person helping you with your story.

For the record: Touchstone Editing always connects you directly with the person actually performing your edits. If for some reason we do need to hand a project off to someone else, we'll get your permission first. We're committed to our authors, and we do not pass off anyone else's work as our own.

Statement Regarding Romance Writers of America

In light of the ongoing situation with Romance Writers of America (RWA), and the deluge of appalling older incidents also coming to light, Touchstone Editing is breaking our end-of-year social media hiatus. We stand with all the authors hurt and disenfranchised by the unconscionable actions of RWA. Racism and bigotry are never acceptable. Anya and Jennifer remain committed to supporting all marginalized authors in telling their stories and writing books readers will love.

The romance writing community is stronger than one deeply flawed organization, and we have faith that the many writers (and editors, publishers, booksellers, librarians, etc.) determined to embrace diversity and create a truly inclusive space will succeed. We'll be there, doing our utmost to help that happen.

---

For details on this situation:

Links to the original complaints and decision

NY Post: Romance writer Courtney Milan suspended over ‘racist mess’ claims

Letter from the Cultural, Interracial, and Multicultural Special Interest Chapter to the RWA Board

Letter from multiple RWA chapter presidents

RWA's message to its members

Timeline of events compiled by Claire Ryan

Mini Lesson: Punctuating Action Beats in Dialogue

Dialogue is one of those funny things: when you see it in a book, you're so busy "hearing" a conversation that you don't pay attention to how it's formatted on the page. Many writers know instinctively, just from reading a lot, how to format basic dialogue with he said/she said tags. But there's a lot of confusion about how to format dialogue when it gets more complicated, like when you add interruptions or action beats. Anya explained how to punctuate interrupted dialogue in a previous post, and today I'm going to clarify the correct way to punctuate action beats in dialogue.

Basically, the easy way to think about it is:

• If there is no speech verb (like "said"), it needs to be its own sentence.
• If there is a speech verb, use a comma before the dialogue or to close the dialogue. If the dialogue comes first, followed by something like "he said" or "she whispered" (etc.), lowercase the word after the dialogue.

I find that the best way to demonstrate this is with examples. So let's envision a scene. Say we have two characters, Bob and Steve, meeting for the first time.

Wrong:

"I'm Steve," we shook hands.
I opened my office door, "Nice to meet you. How's your first day going?"
"Okay," he shrugged. "I'm told I'll get my first big project next week."

Right:

"I'm Steve," he said. We shook hands.
I opened my office door. "Nice to meet you. How's your first day going?"
"Okay." He shrugged. "I'm told I'll get my first big project next week."

Because "said" is a speech verb, we use a comma to close the dialogue. And because "opened" and "shrugged" are action verbs, not speech verbs, those sentences get set off separately.

In a similar vein, actions taken by other characters generally also need to be broken onto their own lines. This is because whenever we see actions in the same paragraph or on the same line as dialogue, we assume that the actions and dialogue belong to the same person.

Let's look at an example. In the following scene, we've got Stacey agonizing over a decision and Greg being her sympathetic listener.

Wrong: 

Stacey just didn't know what to do. She sighed.
"I guess everything happens for a reason, right?" Greg nodded. "So maybe I should just let it go."

In this case, it's Stacey talking but Greg nodding. Confusing, right? Stacey's dialogue should go on the same line as her own action, but then Greg's action should go on its own line. It would get broken up like so:

Right:

Stacey just didn't know what to do. She sighed. "I guess everything happens for a reason, right?"
Greg nodded.
"So maybe I should just let it go."

Here, you can tell who's doing the talking and who's doing the nodding. Even though Stacey is the only one speaking, and even though Greg's action is in response to her dialogue, Greg's action should go on its own line.

So there you have it: how to punctuate action interspersed with dialogue. Let us know if you have any questions about this or if there are other dialogue scenarios you'd like us to clear up for you!

What Is a Story?

Happy November! How many of you are participating in this year's NaNoWriMo? With thousands of stories being written this month, it seems like a good time to take a step back and answer the question: What is a story?

In some sense, it's easiest to start with what a story is not. A story isn't simply plot. If "things happening" was sufficient for story, then anything and everything would make for a good one. Plot, of course, isn't merely a series of events—it's certain events with a specific purpose, moving pieces into place for the climax and then resolving any tension established.

But even a great plot isn't the core of what makes a good story. Recounting events, after all, is something most anyone can do. Weaving those events into a compelling story is a different skill entirely. Consider how some people at a dinner party will bore you to tears and others will have everyone on the edge of their seats listening, even if both are sharing something about their day in the office.

"Of course!" you may be thinking. "A story also needs characters."

Well, a sequence of events happening to a specific person (or character) still isn't enough. If it were, then anyone's diary of what they did that day would make for fascinating reading. Cultural anthropologists may disagree, but most of us wouldn't enjoy reading (most) random people's diaries. Let's be honest, many of us can't be bothered even when the person recounting the minutiae of their days is a friend. (Remember the early days of blogging?)

"But wait!" you may be thinking now. "The events have to be exciting."

Well, that's not quite it either. Exciting, dramatic events—even ones with inherently high stakes—still aren't enough to make a story. Every war that ever took place was filled with dramatic, important events with high stakes. But think back to your history classes. Did you always find learning history exciting or engaging? A lucky few may be thinking, "Yes, of course!" This means you had amazing teachers, and that's wonderful. Most of us probably experienced a range—some teachers wove stories out of historical events that captivated us, while others recounted events and made classes drag on. Even if they were teaching the same events, our experience as the audience was drastically different.

Writers with a little more experience will have encountered the advice (or critique) that in a story, we only need to see the events that matter. But matter to what? To whom?

"To the character's goal!" you may be tempted to respond. And yes, we are indeed getting closer. Your character's goal is what they want to achieve (or avoid). Obstacles in the way of that goal help make the sequence of events in your story more interesting. But the goal and even the obstacles your character faces still aren't the main thrust of the story. Or else a "good" story could be said to be one in which the goal is achieved, a "bad" story one in which it isn't. Readers know that this isn't the case. It's also not about how big the scope of the goal is (e.g., getting a promotion vs. saving the world—both can make for compelling stories).

At its core, a story is how pursuing the goal impacts your character internally. 

While plot certainly matters, and the character does need to have a goal to pursue, a story is what allows us to experience the effect of the plot on the character. We invest emotionally in the journey not simply to find out what happens, but rather to vicariously navigate the obstacles alongside the character for the sake of learning how the consequences of the plot influence them as a human being. That is, how the character changes from the opening scene to the closing image.

The balance of plot (external goings-on) vs. story (internal change) can shift depending on the genre. Literary fiction will focus more on the internal, whereas a thriller will likely devote more space on the page to external events. But even an action-heavy story featuring a character who isn't in some significant way impacted by those events will end up as a disappointing read at best. Sure, she beat the bad guys and saved the world. But if she's the same person the day after the plot as she was the day before—if her internal status quo wasn't challenged in some way by the events—why should we care?

So as you're working on your NaNoWriMo (or any other) projects, don't forget to ask: How does your main character change from the first page to the last?