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We caught up with Helen Parusel, a Self-Edit Your Novel course alum and Jericho Writers member (who\'s also used our AgentMatch and editorial services) to hear about her journey to publication. JW: We’re so pleased to hear your debut A Mother’s War was published with Boldwood Books recently. Can you tell us a little about yourself and your writing journey that led you up to this point?   I come from London but have been living in Hamburg, Germany for over 25 years. Like so many of us, I always wanted to write a book, but there never seemed an appropriate time in daily life. In order to avoid empty nest syndrome when my daughter left home to study, I decided that was the moment to start my writing journey. But how? I had no formal writing qualifications, had never had anything published and had no idea what skills were required to actually write a novel. Stumbling around the internet I came across Jericho Writers and that changed everything. Working my way through every teaching video available, I studied the craft of writing and learnt about the fascinating world of publishing. I completed a novel and using the Jericho Writers AgentMatch service, I started the tortuous process of submission. I didn’t receive a full manuscript request but one particular encouraging response from an agent at Curtis Brown inspired me to keep going. When lockdown arrived I joined a Curtis Brown Creative online writing course. By this time I had a new idea for a book, and the manuscript I worked on with Curtis Brown became A Mother’s War which was published in May. JW: Can you tell us a little bit about the process your book went through from writing the first draft, through to publication? I sent out my manuscript on submission, again using AgentMatch. This time, I received a full request. The agent felt it wasn’t quite ready and kindly gave me detailed feedback. She also invited me to resubmit. Not wanting to mess up this amazing opportunity, I decided I needed a professional manuscript assessment and turned to Jericho Writers. I read the profiles of their editors and came across Clare Coombes of the Liverpool Literary Agency. Amongst the things that attracted me to Clare was her love of WW2, historical fiction which was the genre of my novel. Clare did a detailed, brilliant assessment which shone with knowledge and passion for the genre. She also loved my book! After a couple of video calls and numerous emails, she offered me representation; an unbelievable and wonderful moment. After that, things moved very fast. We edited for about six weeks and Clare submitted to about 12 publishers. Within three months I had a publishing deal! JW: You were developing your craft for several years before you were published, is there anything you found particularly useful on your journey? Definitely being part of a writing community such as Jericho Writers. The support, feedback and friendships are invaluable. Also a shout out for Debi Alper’s incredible Self-Edit Your Novel Course, and of course for Clare’s astute manuscript assessment. JW: Were there any surprises along the way? Or perhaps anything you wished you had known earlier, or been prepared for? I was stunned how many times a book is edited before it goes to print! I also didn’t realise I would be working on three books at once: marketing the one out now, finishing book two, and starting book three. It is all very intense, but I love it and am very grateful to have this opportunity. JW: What advice would you give to writers working on their first draft? Every writer has to find a way that works for them. Some throw out a messy first draft and just get the words down, others like me edit as they go. But what I would suggest is getting feedback and another perspective on your work, either through the Jericho Writers community or an online writing group. No one needs to write in isolation. JW: We understand A Mother’s War is part of an exciting three-book deal with Boldwood Books. Can you let us know what are you working on now? I have just submitted book two to my editor which is another WW2 story, this one set at the time of Austria’s annexation with Germany. Like my first book, it contains themes of romance, resistance and impossible choices. About Helen Helen is from London and now lives in Hamburg Germany with her husband, daughter and rescue dog. After giving English lessons to retired Germans for twenty years, she became intrigued by many of their wartime stories which has inspired her writing. Helen’s childhood summer holidays were spent with family in Austria and she draws on her experiences for her second book. Her debut novel, A Mother\'s War, was released in the summer of 2023. You can follow Helen on Twitter and Instagram.

If writing the first word, of the first line, of the first page of a book is akin to planting a seed, then preparing a manuscript for publication is similar to getting ready to harvest a crop. Gardening and writing can both feel like rather solitary pursuits at times, can’t they? Editors pop up at just the right moment and advise on nurturing and harvesting that precious manuscript ‘crop’. Why Hire A Book Editor?  For me, an editor has always got to be a human being. Google ‘how to find an editor’, however, and the first thing offered will almost certainly be a glitzy editing software package. These can be useful in certain circumstances, especially if your writing requires nuts and bolts work on spelling and grammar, but they can also be confusing to use. Before you splash out on anything new and costly, be sure that you are already using all the automated editing features available on your existing software. Software can never empathise. Software will never praise you for writing something which sings, nor ask you questions to help it understand what it is you mean.  For me, at times of stress or difficult choices in life, nothing beats having a calm, empathetic (yet objective) person at your side. There can be an adrenaline slump after that ‘whoop, whoop, I’ve finished my first draft!’ moment when you realise that the editing process means, in a way, starting all over again. Your editor should provide you with guidance, support and inspiration in equal measure.   Our very first editors tend to come free within our family. For young writers, this kind of uber-positive (‘simply wonderful, darling…’) feedback is essential in building confidence and self-esteem, but most writers quickly grow to require something more objective.  From there, people often refer to beta readers or book editors (or both) to help them further enhance their books. I try to be as encouraging yet constructive as possible when I am editing. I am working, for example, with a young and promising neurodiverse writer whose mother is concerned about the intensely macabre biographical content of her work. Up to this point in her writing life, her mum has been her greatest fan, so this dissent has come as a nasty shock to them both. My client is maturing fast as a writer and developing a remarkable authorial voice. It may not be one which her mother recognises or wants to hear, but her mother does not represent the extensive target market for the book in question. An editor can see all this; and can reassure both parties and move them forward.   What Does A Book Editor Do?  A good editor (and yes, there are bad ones out there too) should read a manuscript objectively while wearing a few different hats: that of a future reader, of course, but those of a potential publisher or agent too. An editor should also be able to ‘get inside your head’ to a degree: to understand what it is you are trying to achieve, even if you have not yet quite got there.   It is essential to be clear in your mind if you hire an editor that you are not paying them to tell you that your book is utterly marvellous. You are paying them to tell you the truth and to help you make it more publishable.   How To Decide What Kind Of Editing You Need There are some confusing terms used to describe the many different types of book editing services which it may be helpful to explain here.   Line Editing Line editing means that your editor will read your text carefully, line by line, looking at how your text flows, your narrative style, and whether or not it is readable. Line editing is more about making sure each sentence works and less about the ‘big picture’.  You could opt for this service if you have written your manuscript – or part of it – as a bit of a stream of consciousness and you are now unsure what it is you have, or where to go or what to do with it next.   Developmental Editing If, however, you think that your book is ‘almost there’ but lacks something fundamental that you cannot quite pinpoint, then developmental editing might be for you. This takes a step back from your completed manuscript and considers the overall structure: your content, plot, characters, and timeframe, for example. Does it all combine into a convincing, compelling read? A developmental editor will make recommendations on how to rework any weaker sections for improvement, often giving you specific examples.   I tend to provide a bit of both line editing and developmental editing in my own reports. For example, I recently edited an excellent manuscript where a compelling plot was marred by an important secondary character lacking entirely in motivation for their actions (which would fall under developmental editing). I was able to demonstrate this by highlighting plot weaknesses and unconvincing dialogue and suggesting improvements (and that is line editing). A hint of smouldering unspoken passion for a central character and the plot suddenly snapped into sharp focus. Sometimes all it takes is a nudge in the right direction from an editor to avoid a major rewrite.  Proofreading Proofreading is a specialist area of professional editing, one which should be undertaken immediately before publication. Proofs are the final ‘set’ (i.e. in the final positions on the page), cover, and content of your book as it will appear once published. Your proofreader should spot any final typesetting and copy errors in them and flag them up. If your editor has done a good job, there should not be that many and you should then be able to ‘sign off’ a final corrected proof. In theory, that is then exactly how the book should appear once published, but I once had an over-zealous publishing-house content editor make catastrophic changes to my text after it had been ‘signed off’ – the stuff of nightmares (and litigation)!   You might now ask ‘why not get one person to do the lot at the same time’? This may seem a logical economy but would not work well, as after any line editing or developmental editing, you will wish to restructure or rewrite to some degree, so premature proofreading would be pointless. Proofing is also better undertaken by someone who has not had anything to do with the writing or editing process already. A good editor should already have picked up on repeated errors in spelling or grammar but worrying about the nitty-gritty of typos tends to come at this later stage.   How Editors Work Your editor is there to decide whether your book ‘works’. If it does, they will suggest ways to make it better still. If it does not, they will explain why and recommend ways to put it right.   I do this myself by:   Highlighting examples of weak writing within the text, often showing an improved version alongside it  Rewriting short sections where a writer is struggling for clarity, especially if the text has been over-written (this is common with opening chapters)  Recommending necessary changes to structure, plot, characters, narrative style etc  Pointing out over-used words or phrases (something we all do – my own are the word ‘little’ and a penchant for unnecessary adverbs)  I may also suggest an alternative to the working title of a book, so expect this too. As writers we become used to thinking of a particular title from the first word on the first page and it is hard to see beyond that. A few years ago, I edited a family-orientated illustrated history book which was called Growing a Cathedral. It was the last major published work of the veteran author, Elizabeth Sutherland. The weak title really bothered me – but she could not see past it. We eventually agreed a compromise: \'Sowing a cathedral\' became instead the slightly tweaked title of the first chapter, while the book was issued under the much stronger title, Highland Cathedral. It is now in its third edition and still doing well.  Somewhere in your editorial report, a good editor should compare/contrast your work with published books in the same genre. Sometimes it is difficult for a writer to see precisely where their work ‘sits’ in terms of the market. It was helpful when early readers compared my book, Major Tom’s War, with Vera Brittain’s great memoir Testament of Youth and Michael Ondaatje’s novel The English Patient, for example, because I could then see how it falls somewhere between fiction and non-fiction. These comparisons are useful to mention in a letter to a potential agent or publisher too which may be an agreed part of your report package if you go through an agency. Editors can help you craft a synopsis too – often the hardest part of pulling together a submission following the completion of the editing stage.   How Much Does An Editor Cost?  A good editor has a curious blend of traits. You should be prepared to pay them for a service, and you must also be prepared to act on (or at least consider) their recommendations.   If you are a young or new writer and you worry about the cost of hiring a professional, then try to find someone to undertake the task who isn\'t a close friend or family member, as they will be able to give you more objective feedback. Consider asking a neighbour, or anyone you know who\'s a journalist, teacher, or librarian. Ask yourself this, though: will you be prepared to act on their recommendations if you are not invested enough in your own output to pay them something? And is it fair to expect anyone to work (and yes, even if your 90,000 word manuscript is a shoo-in for a future Booker Prize, it is still work) for free?  How To Find An Editor Commissioning an editor may not in fact cost as much as you think. Even so, once you have decided that you need an editor, beware of panic buying: it horrifies me how many people will Google \'editors\' and then immediately hand over their money to the first algorithm which says ‘card details here’. Always search for their company name online. Always check for feedback.   There is a special place in hell reserved for ‘vanity’ publishers (which often pop up within the first few clicks online because of the sheer quantity of poor saps they have suckered before you). These will offer to edit, produce and even design a cover for your book and their sales pitch is often misleadingly slick. One elderly friend ignored my advice a few years ago and signed up with a well-known ‘publisher’ without reading the small print. In return, he received a boxful of poorly edited and produced books with an unrecognisable cover illustration, and it cost him much heartbreak and most of his savings.   If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.  Editing Costs The UK Chartered Institute for Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) currently suggests minimum hourly rates of £28.65 for proofreading, £33.30 for copyediting and £38.30 for substantial editing, rewriting and/or developmental editing. However, I would steer clear of any editor who tries to seal the deal by quoting for editing work by the hour. I happen to read very fast, but I will generally read manuscripts submitted to me twice or even three times before writing an editorial report. Charging by the hour or even by the day would not work for me, or for my clients.   Consider instead individual professional editors or agencies which will charge you according to the word length of your manuscript, as really this is the fairest way of doing it. Some editing projects will take a bit longer than others and most agency editors accept this: it evens out.   Agency charges vary (see ours here), and the editor assigned to you will generally receive around half of the fee you pay, the other half covering core administration costs (for example marketing, writing, conference planning and the creation of the invaluable generic web links freelance editors can add into their reports). Shop around, do not be afraid to ask questions and make sure you get as much bang for your buck as you possibly can.  If you commission an independent professional editor, check their website (if they have one), ask for references from recent previous clients, and aim to make sure that they have already edited within your genre.  Some professional book editors or editing companies provide a sample edit or two on their websites. These also offer a visual comparison between, for example, copy editing and line editing. Before you sign a contract, expect to have a dialogue with your editor or agency (and if they resist this, find someone else). This helps ensure that you\'ve found the right editor for you. Three Good Questions To Ask An Editor:   ‘How long do you think it will take to read and edit my manuscript?’ (NB most agencies will agree this for you with the editor in advance)  ‘Have you ever written or worked on something in this particular genre before?’  ‘Can you look particularly closely at my opening chapter/character development/timeline/ending?’ (it is always helpful to pinpoint areas of your manuscript which you think need work)  Your Editor May Respond With Questions Of Their Own, So Expect Something Along These Lines:  ‘Has any other editor already worked on your text?’  ‘How much of your story is based on real events and people?’  \'Which authors inspire your writing?’  The Editing Process Once you have received your report, you should be given a period of time for reflection on its content and then the option to have an email exchange or a Zoom chat to clarify any points or simply to talk through the content: I prefer Zoom, because I tend to form a picture of the writer in my head as I edit and I like to compare that preconception to reality!  I often begin my reports by praising the writer for their courage in entrusting their seedling manuscript to my care and I am completely sincere about that. Although a few have come close, I have never yet been sent a manuscript where I thought ‘this is so good that I cannot help it grow.’  Agencies often have a fast track to an agent system for any manuscripts an editor considers ready to go out.   Since starting to edit for Jericho a couple of years ago, one manuscript on which I have worked was sold as part of a historical fantasy book series to a major publisher, and that was just as exciting for me as it was for the author concerned.  Finding An Editor Editors must aim to be kind and positive without becoming over-friendly, at which point objectivity may be lost. Your editor’s name will never appear on your cover and probably not even in your list of acknowledgements. We provide secret support to help enhance your book. A recent client of mine had a superb manuscript but struggled to write convincing sex scenes from a female viewpoint: a challenge I much enjoyed resolving. Editors must work with clients under the strictest confidentiality and should never divulge book or author names without consent.   When basking in the glow of a successful book-harvest, you may not remember an editor’s face or name for long, or even acknowledge their existence to the outside world, but that does not matter a jot. As your editor, I will have helped you through the joyful ordeal that is book-growing, and that, for me at least, is reward enough. Whether you opt for a freelance book editor or an editing company, regardless of the kind of editing service you choose, your book always remains precisely that - yours. 

A messy first draft might sound like a problem, but it’s actually a beautiful thing. Trying too hard to get things ‘right’ the first time stilts your ability to immerse yourself in your work and gives undue weight to your inner critic’s disapproval. Completing a chaotic first draft, on the other hand, means that you’ve allowed yourself to write freely and without self-judgement, in spontaneous pursuit of the right next words. Your next step will be to revise your manuscript to improve it and take it closer to the final version you envisioned.  Self-editing can be tough, forcing you to reckon with everything that’s ‘wrong’ with your manuscript. The more awareness you have of your work’s flaws, the better equipped you’ll be to work through them. The key is to self-edit thoroughly, patiently, and with equal amounts of mercilessness and self-compassion. But let’s start from the beginning. What Exactly Is Self-Editing? Self-editing is the type of editing you do yourself, without the assistance of anyone else. These will be the first changes you make to your novel’s first draft, so the self-editing stage will typically involve radical edits. Expect to erase or rewrite entire chapters or scenes, insert additional scenes where necessary, change the subject matter or tone of particular dialogues, and generally work on exercising greater control over your writing. Much like working with professional editors, a thorough self-edit will begin with big-picture elements and gradually focus on more minor details. Typically, writers perform at least three rounds of revisions, with some projects taking as many as nine or ten rounds.  In addition to spurring specific changes, self-editing works as an exercise in reflection. After re-reading your manuscript (ideally after a little time away from it), you’ll encounter the words you actually wrote. This is the moment to bridge the gap between the book you wrote and the book you want to write. (Note that it’s completely fine if the book you ended up writing isn’t the one you set out to write — plans change.) If you haven’t ever had to edit a manuscript-length project before, the many moving parts involved may end up overwhelming you. Some degree of frustration is probably inevitable, but by self-editing in an organised, strategic, and methodical way, you can prevent panic.  Below, I’m listing seven important questions you should ask yourself while you edit your own writing — the idea is that these questions can help you stay focused on one thing for each editing iteration while ensuring you do a thorough job.  1. What Do I Honestly Think Is Wrong With This Manuscript? To embark on this process with a sense of control, take stock of where you are right now. Begin by reading through your work one more time, and making a note (but stopping yourself from editing on the go) of everything you aren’t happy with.  Maybe a certain plot point comes too abruptly — note that down. Maybe a character’s development feels too slow and elaborate, and you’d like to include another scene, where change is more decisive. Maybe the opening doesn’t feel like it’s highlighting the right things anymore. Maybe the middle is too slow, or a specific scene needs rewriting. When you’ve got a big list of everything you’d like to improve, you can use it to decide what to edit next — and writing things down will help quieten down your mind, helping you feel less overwhelmed.  Ideally, start by looking at your plot’s major arc. If there are truly fundamental plot points you aren’t sure about (e.g. “the protagonist should not have ended up with character A, character B was the right one for them”), start there, because those adjustments will bring about a series of changes throughout the rest of the book.  2. Which Element Of The Manuscript Will This Editing Round Focus On? Before you begin each round of edits, identify what your focus will be. Making a plan can help you resist the temptation to multi-task editing several things at once, and trace throughlines to ensure satisfying big-picture arcs for your characters or overall plot. There’s always time to return to a specific scene to improve the minutiae. A disclaimer here: there isn’t really a right and wrong way to self-edit, so if multi-tasking is the path that feels right, feel free to change up several things at once. Just make sure you return to check that arcs or plot points add up to a bigger structure that helps your story make an impact. 3. Is This Paragraph, Scene, Or Chapter Necessary? Part of the fun of first drafts is the freedom you have to write without restraint. At this stage, asides, tangential jokes, and elaborate descriptions are all allowed — but that doesn’t mean they get to stay in your manuscript for eternity. Every part of your manuscript should be contributing something. If it isn’t, you’ll either have to figure out how to make it contribute, or get rid of it. Either way, your manuscript will be more focused or more concise, and stronger. Here’s an exercise to help you identify redundant chapters: when you’re working on your big-picture structural edit, spend some time listing out every chapter — either in a numbered list or in a spreadsheet. Try to summarise each one in a few words (e.g., “Keiko locates the murder weapon,” “Jon begins to doubt the loyalty of the AI bot”), then read through your summaries and try to determine whether each chapter contributes something of value in the form of character development, theme exploration, or plot progression.  Next, when you’re editing each chapter with more detail, do the same for the scenes comprising a given chapter. Ask yourself if you’re slipping into accidental script writing, narrating every single action your character takes. Contrast these two examples:  “When she got downstairs, Cathy opened the cupboard, drawing out a jar of rolled oats. She measured the right amount of oats and then gathered the rest of the ingredients she needed to make her porridge. As always, she topped her breakfast with cinnamon. Then she opened the curtains and sat down to eat her breakfast, before phoning her sister.”“In the morning, Cathy phoned her sister while she was having breakfast.” Unless Cathy’s breakfast is about to be part of a crime scene, there’s really no need to zoom into the minutiae of her meal in that much detail. As the writer, you can fast-forward to the important part. The same applies to the beginning and ending of dialogues: there’s no need for characters to engage in extended small talk. Use your novelist powers to lead the reader where they actually need to be. Another example, to illustrate my point: As soon as the lab results came back, Martha picked up the phone and rang Janice, a private investigator. “Hi, Janice, it’s Martha from Forensics. How have you been?” “Great! How are you, how’s Georgia?” “Fine, thank you. We saw a fantastic play over the weekend, you should check it out. It’s called Green.” “I definitely will do! Can I help you with anything?” “Yes, I’m calling about a case I’m working on. The thing is, the evidence is not consistent with…”As soon as the lab results came back, Martha phoned Janice, a private investigator. “Janice, I’m working a case, and I’ve got some evidence that isn’t consistent with …” Before you hand your manuscript to a professional editor or send a sample to literary agents, you’ll also have to spend some time with each sentence, dwelling on the necessity of each individual word. If there are turns of phrase you’re sad to lose, by all means cut and paste them into another document, where you can return to them for other projects. Right now, focus on the needs of the manuscript at hand. 4. Does The Ending Conclude The Book In A Satisfactory And Logical Way? Often, having trouble with the ending is a symptom of plot issues earlier on in your book. If you feel like something doesn’t quite click right with your ending, try to trace it back to the rest of the book, and see where it is that the problem really begins. What ‘flavour’ does your book end on? Is this consistent with what you were working towards? Have you built up to that feeling throughout? End with a feeling of regret if it makes sense given what you’ve written before, but not if it’s an inexplicable change in direction. If you’re choosing not to fully resolve every narrative thread and leave part of the story open-ended, try to write a few versions of the ending, each with a different degree of open-endedness. If you still feel like your original ending provided the right degree of closure and openness, that’s great — if not, this exercise can help you zoom in on what isn’t working in each version. This being the self-editing stage, do your best to sharpen your ending, while remembering that there may be some more changes coming to this significant part of your book once you’ve heard back from beta readers and your editor.  5. Does The Opening Hook The Reader And Emphasise The Right Themes? You probably wrote your book’s opening first or early on in the writing process, and it\'s likely that your project has evolved quite dramatically since then. Re-read your first few chapters and reflect as honestly as you can on the pace of the opening — are you doing what you can to ensure your reader will keep on reading? Is your first sentence grabbing their attention? Many writers find that the real opening of their book is a few chapters into the story, as it sometimes takes a little while to find your feet.  Though many books open with suspenseful, highly-dramatic first sentences (e.g., “The day my life changed forever, I had forgotten to pack my torch”), that level of drama is optional. Works of literary fiction in particular tend to opt for a low-key first sentence that introduces a problem, conflict, or personality, and works well without showing off.  Compare these two ways to open the same scene: “It was a Tuesday like all Tuesdays, and autumn leaves were scattered all over the pavement Robin was walking on.”“With every homeward step, Robin felt more and more like he didn’t want to get back home.” The latter example isn’t about to win any Nobels, but it introduces Robin as a character, gives readers a sense of something he doesn’t want to do, and tells them he’s doing it anyway — whereas the former sentence is more generic and unmemorable.  You’ll also need to ask yourself whether your opening scene still embodies the themes that have led your book to its end. If not, you may have to reconsider an altogether different opening. 6. Do The Characters Feel Like Real People Who Have Both Positive And Negative Traits, As Well As A Motivation And Backstory? Skim through your manuscript and make a note of every major character’s trajectory through the story. Is it all adding up, and does each character feel like they’ve naturally arrived where they’re supposed to be at the end of the book?  If you can’t really see them as people, that’s probably a sign they deserve a little bit of fleshing out. Here are a few aspects of characterisation to think about: Your characters’ goals Your characters’ flaws Your characters’ backstory How they interact differently with other characters Where they’re going to go next, after the book is over Whether major characters are dynamic or static One way to get to know your characters better is to complete a character questionnaire, which provides some playful prompts to help you imagine their inner lives and behaviour. 7. If I Read It Aloud, Does It Still Sound Good? Asking yourself this question will help you evaluate your work’s tone. Many writers sometimes slip into purple prose when they can’t hear their own writing, but quickly regret their choice of words when those same sentences are read aloud.  Ideally, you should read your entire book out loud to yourself — but if you don’t have that much time, read out passages containing extensive descriptions of characters or landscapes, as well as dialogue. If you’re planning to work with an illustrator or cover designer, you can put those descriptions in another document so you can include them in your design brief. In the meantime, listen out for words that you’re embarrassed to say out loud (a classic purple prose flag), as well as sentences that sound a little off tonally. A tone check can help you identify passages where you’ve tried too hard to make the writing sound good, ending up with overly elaborate vocabulary or convoluted syntax, or instances where humour doesn’t carry across successfully.  Once you’re sure you’ve done the best you possibly can, it’s time to begin sharing your work with other people — be that informal beta readers, a professional editor, or literary agents reading a sample of your work. Whichever it is, it’s important that you know that self-editing is simply phase one of editing, and your manuscript will still undergo many revisions informed by external feedback. Approach the next stage with openness and courage — you’ve come a very long way already!