Document Driven

Helping to Push Your Publishing Dream into Reality

Document Driven - Editing, workshops, & classes for  every writer.

Flexible editing plans available for your novel. Click on the Fiction Services webpage.

DEAL OF THE MONTH

 Special on proofreading

 for novels,

at $20 per 10 pages,

through March 2013.

Email me at janice@documentdriven.com.

 Sample Edit Available:
First 5 pages for free.

Full Editing: Editing can begin with an agreement to edit just the first 50 pages of a novel. That agreement includes payment for just those pages. Then if both parties agree to proceed, editing will continue.

(see Fiction Services page)

 This past fall 2012, I presented workshops at Wordstock Festival in Portland, Oregon, and at the 27th Annual Write on the Sound Conference, in Edmonds, Washington.

   The Smart Writer Blog

Click on the link above to access the newest post.

Some of the previous posts:

Took the month of August off from writing this blog. Hope to see everyone back in September 2012!!

7/20/12: Writing Conflict - some shoulds and shouldn'ts 

7/21/11: Character Arc: Part 3"

What we do to our characters...

7/14/11: "Bringing Your Characters into Focus: Part 2"

Revealing Character.

7/7/11: "Characterization: Part 1"

Creating characters that "ring true."

6/29/11: "Writer's Block: Shift to Writing Mode." 

Don't take the detour--10 suggestions to avoid writer's block.

The Book Business

Publishing House editors no longer have as much time to work with an author as they did in the past--in the publishing era of Max Perkins. In those days, the editor would mentor the writers and their work, acting as champion and guide in all stages of editing and publishing. 

   Increasingly, the consulting editor, as an intermediary between the author and the acquisitions editor and/or agent, helps to prepare and polish the manuscript so that it has a greater chance of being accepted for publication.  

  With the advent of self-publishing--indie publishing--the role of editor has become key in a partnership between writer and editor to produce the best and most professional work possible.

The Smart Writer Newsletter signup:See the Contact Us page.

New workshops, classes.

"I attended Janice Hussein's workshop [Sympathetic Protagonists] in Emerald City, and I think she's got a lot to offer."

--Delle Jacobs
SINS OF THE HEART
ADVENTURE as rich as gold * LOVE as delicious as chocolate
www.dellejacobs.com

 Fiction specialties:

• Mainstream

• Short Stories

• Young Adult

• Women's Fiction

• Romance

• Literary

• Science Fiction

• Historical Fiction

• Mystery/Suspense

• Thrillers

• Christian Fiction

• Novellas     

  Nonfiction specialties:

• Academic

• History

• Women's

• Art

• Business

• Spiritual

• Health & Fitness

• Travel

• Psychology

• Law

 About Document Driven:

• Offers a sample edit of one to two pages from the manuscript to be edited.
• Will provide an estimate on how long the work requires, subject to plus or minus 10 percent.
• Offers an editing plan prior to signing a contract.
• If desired by an author, Document Driven will provide a written contract specifying payment timing and amounts, what kind of editing will be performed, how cancellations will be handled, and a clear definition of any editing terminology.

"Lines ...From Tintern Abbey" by Wordsworth: 

Therefore am I still
A lover of the meadows and the woods,
And mountains; and of all that we behold
From this green earth; of all the mighty world
Of eye, and ear, both what they half create,
And what perceive; well pleased to recognise
In nature and the language of the sense,
The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
Of all my moral being.

Please preview my article: "Razor Sharp(ening) Dialogue" on Amazon:

Two of my articles on craft have been published in the 2013 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market.

To read part of my article, "Razor Sharp(ening) Dialogue," here's a link to Amazon's "Look Inside" feature for that book and article.

The link is: http://tinyurl.com/9tnc8ss.

Book Editing

Editing not only produces a revised & polished manuscript, fiction or nonfiction, which is ready to be published, but the process of editing with an experienced editor teaches writers how to write better, and the fiction writer learns the craft faster--the process teaches them so many of the needed tools for writing, for putting together a work of nonfiction or fiction--whether a novel, novella or short story.

The Editor's writing:

In October 2012, my latest short, short story,

 "That Other Doorway," was published in an online anthology. It has been called brilliant, charming, & extremely clever. What do you think?

http://tinyurl.com/9c7wao7

The Harvest From Earth's Palette: an essay -- http://tinyurl.com/3atorqg

The Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River, OR, had their 2011 Plein-Air Write-Out in August. Their online Anthology, where the short story (and essay) is published, is now "live," as of 10-1-11.

For the Write-Out, the parameters for writing were that any piece would be about 500 words, and all work must be turned in by the end of the 5 days of the Write-Out. So I decided to take the challenge to write a short story--in 500 words. In this case, I had about 2 days to write it and, of course, had to come up with a quick idea for the story; this one presented itself.

On the Twitter & Facebook  as

DocumentDriven  

"Most people won't realize that writing is a craft.  You have to take your apprenticeship in it like anything else."

-- Katherine Anne Porter.

New Fiction Classes

&

Fiction Workshops

 2013:

"Working on Your Novel"

"Beginnings"  Workshops

&

"Characterization" Classes

See Workshops & Classes page.

To be announced.

Critique Group:

The group's focus will be on Professional Publication.

Fiction: Mainstream, Romance, Thrillers, Mystery/Suspense, Literary and Young Adult.

Meeting: 2 times per month

Time: 2 hours

Place: To be arranged

If you are interested, contact Janice@documentdriven.com for further details.

POEM:

And it's oh the wild Spring,

and his chances and dreams,

There's a lift in the blood,

Oh this gracious and thirsting and aching unrest,

All life's at the bud,

And my heart,

full of April

is breaking my breast.  

 Henley, circa 1910 

"A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately happy. What one can be, one must be."

-- Abraham Maslow. 

      "Creativity, it has been said, consists largely of re-arranging what we know in order to find out what we do not know."

-- George Kneller.

PAST WORKSHOPS

 &

 CLASSES

In September:

"Working on Your Nonfiction Book"

Workshop

--------------------

In July:

"Working on Your Novel"

Workshop

&

"Writing Your Nonfiction Proposal"

Class

--------------

In April: 

"Beginnings: The First Three Chapters" Workshop

Click here for Workshops. 

What is a submission critique?

A submission critique is like a mini Manuscript critique--it can tell you what needs improvement, what might be wrong with your manuscript--before you submit. And for much less money.

SEE OUR RESOURCES PAGE!!

Books for Writers 

Definitions

Developmental Editing: to develop a manuscript from concept and/ or draft-- working through subsequent drafts--suggesting changes in content, organization and presentation.

Substantive Editing: 

   Fiction: evaluates the elements of the novel: plot, viewpoint, characterization,  narrative style, pacing, and so on.

   Nonfiction: improving presentation, organization, clarity, readability and flow, to create a new draft. 

Copyediting: checking grammar, usage, capitalizations, punctuation, formating, and so on, yet preserving the voice & meaning of the original.

Checks for consistent style and format, and documenting these elements in a style sheet. 

Cross-checking references for consistency throughout the text. Often includes proofreading.

Proofreading: identifies typographical and punctuation errors, inconsistencies and misspellings. Checks for text discrepancies & problems with page layout. May compare two documents for uniformity.

Contact Document Driven Today!

Fiction & Nonfiction Editing

Submissions or "The Smart Writer" Newsletter:

        Email:      janice@documentdriven.com or

                      editor@documentdriven.com

        Letters:   16420 SE McGillivray, #103-103

                      Vancouver, WA  98683

Submissions must be double-space, 1-inch margins, 12-pt font.

Files should be .doc formatted.

We look forward to hearing from you.