Are you an editor of fiction who would like to venture into editing autobiography and memoir? When I took my first autobiographical editing job in June last year, I soon recognized a whole different ball game – and a fresh learning curve.

Autobiography… Or Memoir?

An autobiography recounts the whole story from beginning to end (“Long Walk to Freedom” or “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”), whilst a memoir tells of a certain section, time or series of events (“My Booky Wook” or “My Squirrel Days”).

It’s Not Quick

Some editing jobs are cut-and-dried in a few weeks, but a developmental autobiographical or memoir edit can take months. Prepare for this or prepare to let the client know as soon as possible about any apparent change in delivery date.

It’s the Lack of Mistakes

Spelling errors are easy to edit, but clients with flawless spelling are harder to edit. You assume they won’t make spelling errors, and you can miss them. Look carefully and don’t assume.

Meet Your New Friend: Style Sheets

Start keeping (1) style & punctuation sheets, (2) a sheet for every change made, and (3) a chapter sheet. Save every single version of the manuscript as a separate file per day, backup electronically, and use your style sheets for consistency.

Asking and Subtracting

For both autobiographies and memoirs, killing darlings might delete an important event from their life story. Always ask before adding or subtracting chunks of story. The client might have a counter argument better than your idea.

There’s Ghostwriting, Too

Developmental editing involves ghostwriting by filling in story gaps, adding situations and in-betweener scenes, and clarifying what was vague.

Write ghostwritten sections separately before inserting into the main manuscript and send these to your client for feedback first. Or send a separate version of the manuscript, at least the chapter, so they can see how your insertion affects the body of work.

Check, Check, and Check in Again

Never run into a 3,000-word re-direction before obtaining the client’s go-ahead. If they’re not happy with the result, you’ve lost hours that could’ve been saved via a call to your client. Connect with them about the idea and possibly a sample, but a major rewrite might waste yours and their time.

Let’s Get Together

Not on the same page with the client about something? Get together for a meeting – whether real or virtually-aided – and discuss (1) what changes the client would like, (2) how you can make these changes look good on paper. It might take a few meetings, but there’s always viable middle ground for most editorial disagreements or snags.

Devote Your Time

How much time per week or day will this edit take from your schedule? Set strict working times or your other work will quickly fall behind.

Keep Correspondence

Keep all client correspondence, not just for contract or clarity of direction, but also to tell you everything about how your client uses their words, structures their sentences, and chooses their verbs and nouns. Analyze what they send you and use it for ghostwriting and structuring.

Breaking the Third Wall

Uncomfortable subject or unclear topic? When editing it’s your job to clarify, and if you don’t ask, you might not understand what they meant.

In Sickness and In Health

What happens if either you or the client gets sick or unforeseen circumstances hit? Always include a clause preparing for this so that both understand from day one.

Searching for Subject Matter 

If you’re not familiar with the subject matter or experiences you’re editing, reach past your client and interview others, collect resources, do research and dig. Overall, put yourself in their shoes or you can’t work on their story with any real integrity.

About the Author:
Alex J. Coyne is a writer, proofreader, card player and daily columnist for Bridge Base Online Prime. Summon Alex for writing, editing and proofreading projects through his website. (https://alexcoyneofficial.com/)