Every reader enjoys an immersive world—one that feels realistic and relatable whether it is set in an alternate historical timeline or a near-futuristic society. There are a few things that can pull a reader out of the story, including typos, obvious plot holes, flat characters, and poor editing. So, how does an editing team approach all of these items while still honoring the author’s intended meaning? Here are a couple things to look out for.

The key to forging an understanding of a foreign world is to draw upon the intertextuality between your draft manuscript and the published novels your intended readership would be familiar with. Someone reading contemporary fiction may not know what it means to “grok” something, but fans of classic sci-fi will be familiar with it—if not from reading the book of its origin, Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein, then from a similar novel borrowing the term for their own universe. If you want to be sure that the alien lingo being used by the characters in a manuscript is coherent, the developmental editing stage is vital. 

The developmental editing (DE) process consists of identifying the flow of the text and how it may push or pull against the story elements; essentially, what is propelling the plot forward versus what is holding it back. If Heinlein had continued to use the term “grok” in his book without having the main character demonstrate or explain the meaning, it would pull the reader out of the story as they desperately tried to figure out what it could possibly mean. The DE letter would point out the fact that “grok” is used multiple times throughout the novel without a proper explanation, emphasizing the need for clarification in order to keep the reader engaged. Despite being a fictional word with no other known meaning, once the reader understands the significance of the word “grok,” their mind will draw parallels to other words or ideas that help them ground it in a reality they are more familiar with. For instance, once you learn that grok means to understand something deeply, you might then think about how similar it is to the word grasp. These familiar ways that words “feel” like other words is a great way to solidify the believability of your science fiction world.

However, DE is not just about keeping tabs on vocabulary but, as previously mentioned, the flow of the body of work. In sci-fi, it can be easy to get caught up in the new jargon or futuristic technology without noticing the fact that a character, who previously had an important role in a scene, has seemingly disappeared out of nowhere while the action continued without them. It is important to be mindful of every element within an active scene and how it connects to everything else. Where did that character go? If it’s a first-person narrative, then we must have the main character tell the reader whether they saw another character leave or get taken away, or maybe they have no idea what happened to them—the character can say just that. As developmental editors, we must be sure that everything is accounted for, makes sense, and plot holes are filled in. 

And of course, the beauty of writing and editing is that often these things are not strictly reserved for one genre. Whatever technobabble there is to be found in a sci-fi story can be exchanged for high-fantasy language or even the modern slang found in literary fiction. 

Let’s just hope any new genres that emerge won’t completely rewrite the rules and make these editing strategies obsolete!

Sources

https://jamierubin.net/2013/03/25/guest-post-juliette-wade-created-words-in-sf/

Heinlein, Robert A. Stranger in a Strange Land. New York: Ace Books, 2018. ISBN 978-1984802781.