At this point, you may be sick of looking at the same scene or chapter in a setting with characters you’ve engaged over and over. A fresh set of eyes will help tremendously. I analyze everything from the way a sentence is constructed to what word can best get the narrator’s point across. With dexterity and respect, I get down to the nitty-gritty: every punctuation mark, every word. Poet Stephanie Roberts put it this way: “Editing fiction is like using your fingers to untangle the hair of someone you love.”
My background
After earning my Certificate in Copyediting through Media Bistro’s former program and attending NYU, I started my career in education, working as a staff copyeditor. Two years later, I broke out and set up my own business, collaborating with indie authors and publishers.
Over the past 11 years, I’ve copyedited 70 novels and counting in almost all genres. I specialize these days in thrillers and mysteries, but I’m open to just about everything. I’m a naturally curious person, so I enjoy the eclectic possibilities of editing all kinds of fiction.
Here's just a sampling of the books I've worked on:
I’m your secret weapon
There are algorithms that can spot misspellings or suggest a word, but only a human can read for context—distinguishing between homophones or noticing any flawed logic, for example. That’s where I come in, identifying and quietly disarming any land mines in a manuscript.
Experience is important, because what you do is special. Creative standards exist in fiction that don’t apply elsewhere. For instance, ample leeway is allowed for fragmented sentences, and it’s only through years of hands-on experience that I can carefully handle such subtleties, knowing when to leave something alone and when to modify it.
Lisa, the person
After spending a huge chunk of my misspent youth in New York City, I moved with my husband and young son to Portland, Oregon, where it rains only half as much as I thought it would. Go figure. We also have two cats because…of course. I relish cracking open a good book (big surprise), listening to investigative journalism podcasts or SmartLess, watching anything that involves Richard Ayoade or Phoebe Waller-Bridge (am I British?), playing Legos and Uno, and whipping up something in the kitchen, although it’s really more about eating. Hello, cake!
“Lisa Kaitz is a first-rate copyeditor and a total pro. She understands how to enhance an author’s work rather than impose her authorship upon it—an all too rare skill. Working with Lisa is an absolute pleasure.”
Lou Aronica, publisher of The Story Plant
Photo credit: Arash Asghari on Unsplash