Welcome to Seminal Edits. Turning words into winning novels.
Professional copyediting for fiction
If you're here, I would hazard you fall into one of the following categories:
Someone passed you my name with a recommendation and you’re here to get in touch.
You’ve published before. You’ve finished a new novel, know it needs editing and want a quote.
You’ve finished your novel and done a couple of edits yourself, but something doesn’t feel right. You want a second eye.
You’ve written your first novel and you think it’s brilliant, but you want a second opinion.
Your novel’s a mess and you know it. But God help us, you wrote it and you’re not giving up on it.
If any of these describes you, hop on over to the Services page to see what I offer.
Common questions on copyediting
What is copyediting?
Very simply, copyediting is the refinement of the written word. A copy editor takes a text and works through it with the goal of honing it into its sharpest form. The edit may follow various modes. It may be a very base operation addressing grammar, punctuation and spelling. Or, it may take a more in-depth approach, addressing syntax and even style. Whatever the process, a quality copyedit will always improve a text. And a text can always be improved upon.
Do I need copyediting?
In a word, yes. All written work, without exception, can use editing. Seeing your work through someone else’s eyes is frightening, devastating and marvellous all at once, but don’t let that put you off. Working with good editors is essential, not only for the improvement and the polishing of your text, but for your development as a writer.
What can professional copyediting do for me?
It’s very difficult to have an unbiased critical opinion of your own work. Writing is done from a place of creativity but editing is approached with sober logic. Not to say that editing will rip the beauty or the elegance from your words – all it will do is make sure that your narrative flow is not interrupted by the clumsiness that necessarily slips out during the creative process.
