Editing Omniscient Narration (Webinar)

Spot different kinds of omniscience, assess their effectiveness, and help authors make the most of their chosen mode

Not all omniscient narrators are structured in the same way. Some have a voice as loud as Lemony Snicket’s; others stay cool and detached, like in Station Eleven. You’ll learn to spot which mode your author is working in, and catch the moments where they accidentally slip out of it.

Spot the difference between head-hopping and a narrator in full control

An omniscient narrator can access every character’s mind … but should they? And how can they do this without it becoming the dreaded ‘head-hopping’? We’ll look at key techniques that allow authors to navigate this issue with clarity and control.

Know when (and how) to smooth it – or send it back for a redraft

Not every omniscient manuscript needs the same kind of editorial input – and knowing which situation you’re in is half the battle. You’ll get a clear framework for assessing a manuscript at both the developmental and line level, so you can tell an author honestly what their book needs, without over-promising or under-delivering.

This webinar is for …

• Novel editors who know their POV basics and want to go deeper. You know what POV is and how it works. You’re comfortable with close-third and first person – now you want the same fluency with omniscience.
• Line and copy-editors who want confidence that their edits aren’t papering over POV cracks. It’s easy to tighten prose at the sentence level without realising you’re working around (or worse – worsening) a structural issue.  This webinar will help you pre-assess projects before you get into a pickle and teach you how you can best help omniscient manuscripts that are ready for line and copy-editing.
• Developmental editors who want to guide authors through the big decisions, not just flag problems. Keep or change, redraft or refine – you’ll leave with a clear way to talk authors through those calls, grounded in their creative and publishing goals.

How the webinar works

My online courses and webinars are hosted on Teachable. You’ll have instant access to the 75-minute video (subtitles available) and you can also download the presentation slides, a transcript and a reading list of contemporary novels that use omniscience.

During the webinar, we’ll take a close look at an extract from Dune by Frank Herbert so you can see effective omniscience in action.

Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading Upgrade Points: Completion of this webinar counts towards the continuing professional development (CPD) requirement of a CIEP membership upgrade.

NOTE: The Dune extract is also a supplementary resource inside my course Coffee and Clauses: The Art of Line and Copy-Editing Fiction. If you have already purchased that course, you can find a small discount code for this webinar inside the introduction.