Q&A with Jacqui Culler
✨A short interview with my RevPit 2024 winner!
Hey Story Crafters,
As summer starts winding down (I know the last official day of summer is in September, but years of public school has trained me to think of Labor Day as the end of summer), I want to take the opportunity to reflect a little more on one of the bigger writing-editing events I participated in this year: RevPit 2024.
I honestly hadn’t heard of RevPit before a couple of years ago, when a board member reached out to ask if I’d like to participate as a RevPit editor. I said yes, completed the sample materials and sent them to the RevPit board, they extended an invitation for me to be a RevPit editor, and…life happened, preventing me from participating in RevPit that year. Thankfully, the board said I could still participate the following year, and I was able to serve as a first-time RevPit editor this year.
And I’m so glad I did! I’m happy I was able to interact with my fellow RevPit editors and the RevPit community through the 10Queries events on Reddit, to share the love of writing, reading, and a little of my editing expertise. Though it isn’t possible to offer a full developmental edit for free more than once a year, I’m happy I was able to do so through an event like RevPit. And I’m really glad I found a RevPit winner who was a good fit for my communication style (email only!), in addition to being a talented writer open to receiving feedback.
Which brings us to the main event of this post…
Jacqui (@CullerPictures) wears quite a few hats: she’s a YA fantasy author, works in the film industry, and also freelances as a graphic designer. She agreed to answer some questions about why she decided to enter RevPit.
You can still view Jacqui’s RevPit Showcase materials on the RevPit site: https://reviseresub.com/showcase/capers-crowns-and-thieves
1. Before deciding to enter RevPit, what was your editing process?
Before entering RevPit, my editing process had a few steps after finishing a first draft. I’d go back through the manuscript and do my own version of a developmental edit, checking where the major plot points happened and writing breakdowns for every chapter. That would help me figure out if certain scenes were truly needed, if some could be combined, and if others needed to be beefed up.
Then I’d go through and do a line edit to clean up the writing and try to get the word count down. After that, I’d read the whole thing out loud to listen to the flow of wording and dialogue and make edits while doing so.
Finally, I’d try to give the whole thing a rest for a few weeks and then give it another read-through with fresher eyes to hopefully catch any typos and story slipups.
2. Why did you choose to enter RevPit?
I had actually entered RevPit twice before with a different manuscript, and this was my third time entering. I’ve followed Revise & Resub for a few years and I love the community they’ve created online.
When I entered this year, I did so not expecting much, but I figured why not try? I was very pleasantly surprised when I got the email that said I was a winner!
3. What qualities were you looking for in your RevPit editor?
I read the profiles for all the editors that fit my genre and looked for the ones that I thought I would enjoy working with. I wanted an editor who specialized in fantasy and would tell me what was working as much as what wasn’t, as well as someone who would be encouraging along the way. Leah was all those things and more, and I’m so lucky she chose me as her winner!
4. Did you have expectations going into RevPit? If so, what were they, and how were they met?
After finding out I won, I hoped my manuscript would come out the other end being the strongest version of this story it could be. I suspected that meant ripping it apart and piecing it back together, but I was open to major changes and just excited to have Leah’s eyes on it.
Luckily, there wasn’t that much ripping involved! There were still changes I had to make, but I felt like each one worked toward that goal of telling the best story I could.
5. What did you learn about yourself as a writer from RevPit?
I learned to have a little more confidence in myself as a writer! I was prepared to face some hard truths about my writing and storytelling when I got my edit letter, and I remember the biggest thing I was surprised about was how much I’d done right!
That edit letter and this whole RevPit experience have given me a huge boost of confidence, not only in my writing abilities but also in my ability to be able to talk about my writing and what I’m working on, which is something I’ve been very shy about in the past.
6. How has your querying journey been so far?
From the RevPit Showcase, I got interest from three agents, and two of the three requested to see more of my manuscript. One was a full request and the other was a partial, and I’m currently waiting to hear back from them.
I think a huge reason why I got interest was due to how much Leah helped with my opening pages and my query letter, making sure the stakes were clear and that it hinted at the major theme of the story. I’m still sending out queries to more agents, just to cast the net a bit wider, but fingers crossed I’ll get that yes soon!
Additionally, Jacqui was kind enough to share her thoughts about working with me!
1. Did you have any concerns about working with me on your project? If so, did your concerns turn out to be true? If not, what happened instead?
When I found out I was going to get to work with Leah through Revise & Resub’s annual RevPit contest, I did zoomies around my apartment, I was so excited to work with her! It was obvious from our first communication that Leah is not only kind and professional, but 100% knows what she’s doing.
Every single word of her feedback shows how thoughtful, intelligent, and insightful she is, and that she truly wants to make your work shine. Whenever I received feedback from her, I couldn’t wait to read it because I knew her insight would help me see my story in a whole new light. My experience working with her was even better than I had hoped for, and it makes me feel incredibly lucky and grateful that she chose me as her RevPit winner.
2. What did you enjoy most about working with me? Were you pleasantly surprised at any point of the process?
I enjoyed every aspect of working with Leah, and I can’t recommend her enough. When I read through her comments on my manuscript, it was almost like I was sitting right there with her as she read it. The feedback was so insightful, encouraging (not to mention fun to read!), and each one lit up my brain with ideas of what I could do to strengthen my story.
She showed me how a reader might interpret those aspects of a story that are so easy to overlook as the person who wrote it and made enormously helpful suggestions on how to address them. From minor notes like a pesky door that I kept forgetting only opens one way, to bigger picture suggestions like making a character’s motivations much clearer, Leah got me examining every scene, every dialogue exchange, every room layout—all aspects of my manuscript—to ensure they were all working together like I intended.
3. If you recommended my editing services to a close friend, how would you explain the reasons they should hire me?
Leah can not only pinpoint what part of your manuscript or query is or isn’t working, but she can tell you exactly why. Before I started working with her, I had revised my manuscript so many times, I’d hit a wall and was fresh out of ideas on how to make it better.
After Leah sent my editorial letter, it was almost like it made my story new for me again. Every suggestion she made on my manuscript and query letter helped me either build on what was working or put me on the path to making it better. The process of working with Leah breathed new life into my story—and me as a writer.
4. What are 3 words you would use to describe your experience working with me, or my editing style?
Encouraging – Leah told me what was working and what I did well as much as what could be improved on, which gave me a huge boost of confidence. As a writer, you want to tell the best story you can and you want to feel confident that you can do that. With Leah’s encouragement I received both, and I can’t thank her enough.
Thorough – Reading through my edit letter and the Developmental Editing Tracking Sheet Leah created, I could tell she combed through every inch of my manuscript to the point that it felt like she knew the story just as well as I did—and sometimes even better! She posed questions about my setting, character motivations, and story timeline that hadn’t even occurred to me that I needed to answer.
Invaluable – Having Leah’s eyes on my manuscript and her editing talent in my corner has been invaluable. During the time I’ve worked with her, I feel like my storytelling has become stronger, and the way I think about how to construct a scene, build a setting, and develop character relationships has strengthened my writing.
5. Have you ever hired a freelance editor before? If you have, how has your experience working with me been different?
While I haven’t worked with an editor before, I can’t imagine a better experience than working with Leah. She went above and beyond to make my manuscript shine, and because of her, it’s now better than I could have possibly made it on my own.
View Jacqui's RevPit 2024 Showcase!
Next time, I’ll review what you as an author can expect from a developmental edit from me—with a few examples!
If you’ve got a finished manuscript and Jacqui’s experience working with me has you interested in my services, please visit my website or send me an email! I’m interested in hearing from fantasy, sci-fi, and horror authors, but I’m open to working with any genre if the author-editor fit is good.
Visit The Crafty Fox Editing Services!
Send me an email!
Until next time!
Best,
Leah
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Substack Post: https://thecraftyfoxwriterscorner.substack.com/p/q-and-a-with-jacqui-culler