Welcome to a new series on my blog! Lexical Unravellings is where I’m going to get into the nitty gritty of crafting a book that your readers will think is magical: plot, structure, characterisation, voice, writing craft… all those details that add up to create a book that will stay with the reader long after they read the last page.
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I often find myself reading published books which had the potential to be truly brilliant reads but just didn’t quite get there. My aim with this series is to unpick common areas that could be tightened up, and to offer helpful and clear advice which you can take away and apply to your own writing. It’s the sort of feedback I’d offer in a developmental edit but, of course, considerably more generalized.

Although I’m going to be unpicking issues that I’ve noticed in books I’ve read, I’m not planning to name these books or their authors (unless it’s anyone super famous – someone of J. K. Rowling’s stature is hardly going to be affected by my little blog posts). Writing is hard and finishing a novel is a significant achievement, so I am definitely not here to pull apart anyone’s work.

I’m also planning to chat about some editing stuff: how I approach edits, what to look for in an editor, do you really need to book a developmental edit – those sort of things.

I hope to finish each post with a list of resources for further reading. This might be books on the craft of writing which cover this topic, or books/authors I thought tackled it well, or blogposts on a similar topic.

I’m looking forward to diving deeper into some writing chat over the next few weeks and months! If you do have any particular topics that you’d like me to discuss, feel very free to drop me an email. 

(Yes, I am posting this one two weeks late. There’s been a lot going on and I am amazed and somewhat appalled to discover we are nearly halfway through July already!)

Last month I worked through a copyedit of a non-fiction book. It was a translation, and I always enjoy the challenge of working on translations: it can be a delicate line of preserving the author’s voice and retaining their meaning and emphasis, whilst keeping all the grammar neat and tidy. This one was made more tricky because I was only in contact with the translator, not the author, so I had to be even more careful that the changes I made were only tightening the wording up and didn’t involve changing it in any way. The translator and I were both really happy with the final version; it’s an important book which deserves to be more widely read, so it was brilliant to be involved with it.

I’m currently working my way through a developmental edit of a paranormal romance for Jennifer Lawler’s Advanced Developmental Editing course. Development editing really is my love and joy, so I’m really enjoying improving my skills and making the most of being able to learn from someone with as much expertise and wisdom as Jennifer has.

I’m also about to start copy editing a collection of short stories to help get them all ready for submission. This is for a repeat client whose stories are expansive and hugely imaginative, and I’m thrilled to be working with them again.

Looking ahead, I’ve got space for a manuscript critique during August, so if you’re a fantasy writer or YA writer looking to get some developmental feedback on your work, please do get in touch.

A recent fave was Treacle Walker by Alan Garner, which I am not entirely sure I completely understood but I did very much love. It’s definitely the sort of book that needs to be read at least a couple of times, so I’m looking forward to going back to it at some point and unravelling more of it.

I finally managed to grab Cal Flyn’s Islands of Abandonment from my local library. I’ve been intrigued to read this for ages and it certainly didn’t disappoint – it’s a fascinating account of several places left abandoned and, in some cases, forgotten. In my head this sits nicely alongside Robert MacFarlane’s Underland in a category of ‘nonfiction books which feel fantastical’.
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And I’ve just finished All the Stars and Teeth and All the Tide of Fate by Adalyn Grace – a fun fantasy duology involving a pirate, a magical boat and a vengeful mermaid, so basically all my favourite things. I actually really like duologies and being able to stay in that world a little longer than a standalone allows but without the commitment a longer series requires.

I’ve been away quite a lot with a relaxing holiday up in Mull followed by a couple of trips over to Jersey where some of my family are.

When I’ve been home, I’ve been doing lots of sport climbing. I’ve battled a lot with psyche levels and my headgame over the last couple of years, so it’s been amazing this summer to finally feel fully motivated and committed on routes.
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I’ve also just been enjoying being in the outdoors without any agenda. In Mull I went for a long run in the mountains, meandered my way up Ben More and had some delightful (if chilly) sea swims. My sea swims in Jersey were much warmer! Unfortunately it’s jellyfish season on the North Wales coastline, so any swims here mostly involve me jumping out of my skin at absolutely anything that brushes past me in the water.

Do you have a manuscript that’s ready for a developmental edit? If you’ve written a novel and improved it to the best of your ability but know that it could be tightened up further (maybe you don’t feel the villain is very convincing, maybe you know the middle section feels a bit slow, maybe you’re worried that the dialogue doesn’t feel realistic…), this is a great opportunity for you to get in-depth editorial feedback at a significantly discounted rate.

I'm offering one developmental edit for 50% off in June. Read on to find out if your manuscript is a good fit for this offer...

I’ve got a bit behind on blog posts after a very busy few months – but I do really enjoy putting these together and having a look back at the last couple of months, so hopefully they should be appearing more regularly now!

I’ve worked on some brilliant manuscripts for lovely authors over the last few months, and really do feel so lucky to get to do this for work. During February I was busy with two short story collections – one of these is being published as a collection, and the other is a selection of short stories which the writer is planning to submit to literary magazines. I’ve been working on some of my own short stories recently and was amazed, as ever, by how much easier it is to edit other people’s short stories than to fix your own.
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Recently I’ve been busy with a copy edit of a fairytale retelling which has just been a delight to work on.
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In other editing-related news, I hosted a CIEP discussion for editors who work on young adult and middle grade books. It was great, as always, to have a space to discuss approaches to editing and share tips. Amongst other things, we chatted about where the boundaries are between MG/YA/NA (new adult), content and language issues, and what trends we’re seeing in these genres. 

The best fiction I’ve read recently is Ithaca by Claire North. I loved this and felt it was written so well – the narrative voice was really clever, and Claire is incredibly skilled at letting each character’s words and actions speak for themselves to convey emotion.
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I also read Jordan Rosenfeld’s Make A Scene for a chat with other CIEP fiction editors. I’d hesitate to recommend this book to newer writers as following her advice for every scene would make a book feel rather formulaic, but it’d be a great read for more experienced writers looking to tighten their narrative. I was really intrigued by her advice on how your character’s actions should be influenced by their setting – so how the character responds to an event/information should be different if they were moved to a different location. I hadn’t really thought about that specific interaction between setting and characterisation before, but it’s something I’m looking forward to considering for future edits and in my own writing. 

The sea has been a real source of joy for me through this winter. I’ve managed to keep up with swimming twice weekly, and the cold water is starting to feel a bit more like a friend now.
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Most weekends have been spent in the hills – the end of March means a big ski touring trip and I’ve been concerned about keeping up on the ascents! We’ve had a little bit of snow in North Wales, so I’ve managed to get my skis out a few times locally – I can’t say it’s the best skiing I’ve ever done, but thankfully I am generally happy to ski pretty much anything regardless of quality. And when the weather’s been too bad to get out, I’ve been busy working away at my own writing. Long warm evenings don’t feel too far off now though; I can’t wait to get back to spending evenings at the crags.

I'm fully booked for novel-length manuscripts for April and May, but currently have editing slots available for June or later; drop me an email if you're interested in chatting about an edit. I'm particularly keen to book more developmental edits in, and can often fit short stories or essay-length pieces in at much shorter notice.

It’s been a busy couple of months! I’ve completed a copy-edit for a publisher, and I’m currently working through a developmental edit of a YA fantasy novel which I’m particularly enjoying.

I also attended the CIEP conference. I’m really grateful that this was available as a hybrid conference; I attended online, and was pleasantly surprised to make plenty of new editing friends despite not attending in person.

When I explained that I wasn’t around for the weekend because I was at an editing conference, quite a few of my climbing friends asked, quite understandably, what exactly there could be to talk about at an editing conference.

The answer is: an awful lot! Session topics included working with self-publishers, how the English language is changing, editing sex scenes in fiction, working with inclusive language and reducing the environmental impact of editing. Katherine May, the author of Wintering, gave the opening talk which was a real highlight for me; she discussed how putting ourselves in a place of ‘artificial’ challenge (like going on a long walk) allows us to cope with actual challenges in life.

I also participated in a discussion on Writing the Other by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward. This was so valuable: the essays in this book have helped me re-think the way I write and edit. I’d really recommend it for anyone looking to make their writing more inclusive. 

I read Octavia Bulter’s The Parable of the Sower for a local bookclub. I did find this a slightly disconcerting read given the state of the world at the moment, but I’m glad I read it and hope to get round to reading the sequel at some point.

Where There’s a Hill by Sabrina Verjee was a great read and very inspiring for those damp and cold autumn runs. And last weekend I read Chosen Ones by Veronia Roth. I thought the concept of this – a group of characters continuing with 'normal' life after they’ve saved the world – was intriguing, and I’d happily read more novels along these lines.

It feels like only last week that it was too hot to climb, and now I'm already wondering if it's time to get the heated chalk bag back out. I've resisted so far, but its time will come any day now...

I’ve made the most of all the lovely dry weather and long summer days, and was able to take some time off to enjoy the mountains locally. I was really disappointed that a planned September trip to the Alps had to be cancelled, but there’s so many routes to enjoy up here that it’s difficult to be too sad about it (although I am, of course, devastated to have missed out on all the croissants and baguettes). After two years battling with long covid, it’s great to feel like I’m finally getting some climbing fitness back. I'm not quite ready to be done with summer (even though this one feels like it's gone on forever), and I'm still just about managing to squeeze in a couple of hours of sport climbing after work before the light goes!

A bit of a delayed one this time; I wrote it at the end of July and put it to one side until I had a moment to track down photos, then promptly got sidetracked by a big copy-edit and now somehow it’s most of the way through August!

This has been a quieter couple of months for me: I’ve had covid (for the second time) closely followed by shingles. I’m very relieved to be feeling much better now, and very grateful to the clients I had work booked in with who have all been very understanding.

My main project has been a copy-edit of a camping memoir for a self-publishing author. I really enjoyed working on this, and am looking forward to sharing the finished book with a couple of people who I think would really enjoy reading it.

I was thrilled to hear recently that a short story I proofread was shortlisted for a major competition. It’s always brilliant to hear writers I’ve worked with have had success, and this one was a really original story which definitely deserves to be read widely.

I’ve got a busy couple of months ahead with some exciting edits booked in, although, as ever, I can always slot shorter pieces (short stories and articles or similar) in around longer projects, so do feel free to get in touch if you’re interested in discussing an edit or proofread.

Since the last update, I’ve read and reviewed More Fuel You by Renee McGregor, Born to Climb by Zofia Reych and Climb Smarter by Dr Rebecca Williams. These were all really valuable books, for different reasons, and I’d happily recommend them all.

My best recent fiction read has been The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow. It’s a beautiful, relentless story about women’s fury and friendship, and about magic persisting through the ages. I absolutely adored it, and am currently busy hunting down Alix’s other novels.

A bit of climbing when I’ve been up to it, but mainly sea swimming, really – it’s lovely to connect with the outdoors in a way that doesn’t involve quite as much energy or strength. Sea swimming in North Wales does involve a fair amount of jellyfish dodging at the moment, but it’s always worth it. We’ve had some stunning calm seas recently, and the hot temperatures have made me incredibly relieved to live so close to it.
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I also had a visit from my family, and very much enjoyed showing them some lovely local places. I was slightly less enthralled to have possibly the wettest walk I have ever experienced up Snowdon, but I suppose it can’t be sunny every day.

It’s always interesting to look back over the last couple of months and see how varied my work has been. I’ve just finished an enjoyable copyedit of a walking guidebook for some stunning routes.

I do some ongoing work for a big company, and I’ve been busy doing a variety of jobs for them over the last couple of months including proofreading videos, editing newsletters and editing training materials online. It’s quite refreshing to be able to slot these shorter jobs in around full book edits which I might be working on for three or four weeks.

And as ever, there’s been some shorter jobs for independent authors slotted in as well, including a couple of fantastical stories which I absolutely loved, and a couple of sample edits followed by booking in the manuscript for a date in the future. (If you’re reading this and contemplating enquiring about a proofread or copyedit, get in touch to discuss a free sample edit and no-obligation quote for your manuscript.)

I’ve recently re-read The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern which is quite simply one of my favourite books of all time. The first time I read it, I raced through it because I was so desperate to know what happened and ended up spending the last third of it quite confused. I read it much slower this time, did not get confused, and enjoyed it even more.

It’s a book that I’m always slightly  not sure I’d recommend it to many people though – if you love stories and stories about stories then this is probably right up your street, but I can definitely understand a lot of readers just finding it a bit too much of a maze.

I’ve been busy the last couple of weeks with a rush of exciting books to review, including More Fuel You by Renee McGregor, Born to Climb by Zofia Reych and Smart Climbing by Dr Rebecca Williams.

I went on holiday! Out of the UK! For the first time since Covid! We had a fantastic couple of weeks ski touring in Italy and France. I was pleasantly surprised to find I wasn’t anywhere near as rusty on skis as I was expecting, that being back in big mountains didn’t feel too daunting, and to rediscover that exploring on skis really is my favourite thing in the world.

Since then, I’ve been enjoying all the sunshine and the start of summer – lots of climbing, lots of sea and lake swimming, and plenty of time in the mountains. I missed out on a lot of last summer with long covid which I'm still having some issues with, but I’m so happy I'm able to be much more active this year.

It’s been a busy couple of months. My main project was copyediting a guidebook for a route through France. I really enjoyed working on this, although it did make me desperate for some croissants (and some sunshine).
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I’ve also edited a big project for a brand who I’m doing some ongoing work for, and I’ve just started proofreading a collection of travel essays. It’s a deeply hopeful collection – a refreshing break from the news at the moment.

I’ve also been working on a couple of smaller projects, including a literary short story. I really like getting stuck into longer manuscripts and spending a couple of weeks on one text, but it’s definitely nice to break this up with shorter pieces as well.

I raced through the rest of The Bone Season books by Samantha Shannon which was the best series I’ve read in a long time. The last one ended on an awful cliffhanger, so I’m now counting down rather desperately until 2024 when the next one is due to be released.
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I’m currently reading Helen Mort’s A Line Above the Sky which I was lucky enough to be sent a proof of. I’m enjoying it a lot and will post a full review soon; it’s an incredibly special book and definitely an essential contribution to mountaineering literature. 

The high winds seem to have been relentless over the last couple of months, which
has made it tricky to spend as much time in the mountains or the sea as I’ve wanted to. Still, I’ve managed a couple of very cold and brief swims (helped by some new super warm swim socks), and have spent a lot of evenings running up and around the local hills.

We’ve also had some brilliant sunsets recently which have made me very excited for the return of long summer evenings. Winter has felt like a bit of a let down without any decent snow to play in – I've only managed to put my crampons on a grand total of once so far – so I’m keen to get back to some warmer climbing days instead!
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Most of my work over the last couple of months has been for a brand. This is a bit of a change from my usual work, so it’s good to get some different experience and it’s been a refreshing change of pace to work on lots of shorter documents rather than spending weeks working through one manuscript.
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I’ve also done a couple of sample edits for self-publishing clients and am looking forward to getting those booked in. And a client whose novella I proof-edited over the summer sent me a copy of their book! It really made my day to see the finished book in print – it's brilliant to see it all come together.

I’ve read a lot over the last couple of months – too many books to go through here, but I wanted to share some highlights:
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I flew through The Stranding by Kate Sawyer before Christmas and it felt like a perfect book for the end of the year – so deeply hopeful.

I’ve been reading some longer fantasy books recently, and I’m enjoying being absorbed in the book’s world for such a long time. I thought Ava Reid’s The Wolf and The Woodsman was richly imaginative and picked up on several important areas really well – fantasy is such a brilliant space to explore big topics in.

I absolutely loved The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon, and am kicking myself for being so late to the party with this one! Still, it means I now have a nice long series to catch up on. The Bone Season felt incredibly strong for a debut and I’m so excited to see how her writing develops over the next couple of titles.

I was totally fascinated by Katie Ives’ Imaginary Peaks and since finishing it have found my mind regularly drifting back to it.

I’ve been busy checking the long-term forecast slightly obsessively, hoping for a hint of some decent winter conditions on the mountains. Although the snow hasn’t really arrived yet, we’ve been lucky with some stunning days in Snowdonia recently. One glorious mid-December weekend had constant inversions and T-shirt weather on the summits; it felt like such an absolute privilege to be up in the hills.
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I’m also trying to stick to a sea swim once a week (when it’s not too rough). I’d love to be able to keep dipping all through the winter, but my feet are definitely struggling with the cold and last time I ended up with the worst hot aches I’ve had for years! Still, only a couple more months until the water temperature starts to warm up again…

I’ve had a nice mix of genres and manuscript lengths this month. I started with a proofread of a fantastical short story – the concept was really intriguing so I’m still turning it over in my head and trying to untwist it! I’ve also proofread a nonfiction book, and copy edited a lovely progressive children’s book. It’s really great to see norms being challenged, and to see stories and books being used to help move things forward.

I’ve spent a lot of this month working in US English and have been relieved to find that this didn’t fry my brain quite as much as I’d feared it would! It’s certainly given me a lot of confidence to do more work in US English in the future.
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I’ve also been working through the CIEP’s course on editing fiction. I’m enjoying this a lot and really looking forward to doing more fiction editing.

It’s been a brilliant month for reading. I was lucky enough to get my hands on an advanced copy of Julia Armfield’s Our Wives Under the Sea, which was just outstanding and easily the best fiction I’ve read for a few months. It’s a creepy, haunting, twisting story about the sea and love and grief, and Julia’s writing is consistently lyrical and mesmerising; I absolutely loved every word of it.

I also liked Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You, although I wasn’t quite as wowed by this as I expected to be given the massive marketing push for its release. I did, however, really enjoy discussing the book with a group of women afterwards. I’m always keen to hear what other people think about books I’ve read, so it was great to talk about the parts of the story that did or didn’t work for each of us.

In terms of outdoors literature, The Vanishing Ice by Iain Cameron was a really fascinating look into the history and importance of snow patches in the UK. I found Alex Roddie’s The Farthest Shore to be a really enjoyable, thought-provoking read and thought he navigated some tricky and complex topics well. I’ve just started Imaginary Peaks by Katie Ives which I’ve been so excited for, so I’m looking forward to getting stuck into that. 

Autumn and the change of weather always seems to mean a (slightly reluctant) return to regular running after spending most of the summer climbing. It’s nice to feel some fitness coming back, and I do really love running in October when it’s so easy to catch the sunset from high up in the hills after work.

The last few weeks have also involved a lot of rain-dodging. I’ve only lived in Snowdonia for a few months and still feel like I’m getting to know the local crags and the best places to head when the forecast looks damp or unpredictable. Quite often we’ve ended up legging it back to the car feeling very soggy, but occasionally we’ve got it right and been rewarded with some unexpected dry rock and sunshine.