Members-Only Live Class: Writing A Believable World

Camus wrote, "Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth." 

The key to creating a believable fictional world is being consistent. By consistency, I mean everything the reader needs to feel "secure" in the fictional world being built and not distracted by flaws in the construction. I think of this on two levels. First, the level every good copyeditor will focus on: consistency of style, grammar, spelling, and clarity (with Chicago Manual of Style, a style sheet, and PerfectIt as tools). And second, consistency of character names, ages, physical descriptions, speech styles, timelines, locations, and how everyone is connected (with character bios, maps, family tree, and "world rules" as tools, plus Word's search function).

Amy Paradysz is a book editor with 20 years of book publishing experience. After learning the ropes as an associate editor and managing editor at Globe Pequot Press, she continued as a freelance editor while, over the years, Globe Pequot was purchased by Rowman & Littlefield and then by Bloomsbury Publishing. Amy has edited for Quarto Publishing, Islandport Press, and Cider Mill Press, among other publishers. She is comfortable editing adult fiction, memoir, self-help, academic nonfiction, full-color gift books, and cookbooks. Historical fiction is her happy place. Amy works both directly with authors and through publishers on copy edits and proofreads. She is based in Southern Maine, where she is a weekly columnist for the Sunday Maine Telegram and a contributing editor of Green & Healthy Maine magazine. She edited the Maine Bicentennial Community Cookbook, which was the 2020 New England Cookbook of the Year Runner-Up, and the follow-up Maine Community Cookbook (2022), which together were the inspiration for a storytelling-and-potlucks nonprofit called Community Plate. Amy has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and studied literary journalism and history as a graduate student at the University of Arkansas. She is a member of ACES: The Society for Editing.