HeyJaredThe Compassionate Editor
Because honesty doesn't have to be brutal A twice monthly newsletter with tips on craft and publishing for fiction writers from an industry veteran developmental editor and book coach.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 4
- Latest publication
- Sep 16, 2026
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- Jul 17, 2026
Latest issues
How to Add Humor to Your Novel (opens the original)
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As a developmental editor, I’ve worked with authors in all phases of their career in nearly every genre. In this occasional series, I’m sitting down with an author to talk about their approach to writing, editing, and publishing. When your novel centers around themes of grief and death, how do you keep it from feeling too morose? Today’s guest knew he needed to lean into humor, to find the funny in the sadness and honor the place where both can be true. Conrad Walters, author of Unsilent Heart,
Lantern Light Letters, Prompt #6 (opens the original)
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Hi friends,Welcome back to our new regular feature: Lantern Light Letters: Prompts for Your WIP. These prompts are a little different. They are designed to draw you further into the story you’re already telling. They’re tied to your WIP. To your protagonist. To the people who have been living in your head and on your pages. The goal is to help you get a clearer handle on who your characters are, what they want, what they fear, and what they might be hiding — even from you.Because the more you un
Struggling to Find a Title for Your Novel? (opens the original)
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Hi writing friends, I have pages and pages of a notebook with scribbles searching for the perfect title for my WIP.* It’s not easy to find a handful of words that captures the essence of the story and is also clever or fun or thought-provoking or insightful. Sound familiar? Most writers I work with ask me about the title of their book. Often the main issue is that the writer has gone a little overboard. The title is trying too hard, and it ends up leaving readers confused. But sometimes the writ
How to Know When to Stop Researching (opens the original)
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As a developmental editor, I’ve worked with authors in all phases of their career in nearly every genre. In this occasional series, I’m sitting down with an author to talk about their approach to writing, editing, and publishing. When you’re writing an historical novel, how much research is enough? Today’s guest knew she needed to keep digging into primary source material—through diaries, journals, maps, and newspaper clippings—until she found her main characters who would shape the story. Shann
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