Raven's Quill - Tips For Writing Great Book Editors
A jump scare in a movie relies on audio and visual assault. A loud sting of music, a sudden burst of movement. But in a book? A loud noise on a page is just a capitalized word. To make a reader physically startle, you have to engineer the tension meticulously.
We sit at our desks in the dark fiction wing reading manuscript after manuscript where a writer tries to terrify us with a twelve-foot-tall shadow demon. It can teleport. It can read minds. It breathes acid. It cannot be killed by conventional weapons.
Many authors believe that if their core idea is terrifying enough; if the monster is unique, if the gore is sufficiently stomach-churning; a literary agent will overlook a clunky opening chapter or a sagging second act. This is a fatal misconception. Which is why you need a book editor.