Book editing techniques are important. In the grand symphony of storytelling, where authors are composers and words are melodies, the editing process is akin to Beethoven’s meticulous orchestration. Just as Beethoven transformed the musical landscape with his innovative compositions, authors can transform their drafts into literary masterpieces through transformative book editing techniques. Well, that depends on the genre. At the very least, proper editing improves reader experience, and that improves reviews.

The Symphony of Structure

1. Ode to Organization

Like Beethoven’s careful planning of symphonies, a well-structured outline serves as the foundation for a compelling narrative. Editors help authors design this blueprint, ensuring that each chapter flows seamlessly into the next.

2. Sonata Form in Storytelling

Introduce characters and settings as themes introduced in a sonata. Editors ensure that each element is presented clearly to captivate readers from the beginning.

Like the complex development section of a sonata, editors assist authors in weaving intricate plot lines that build tension and intrigue.

The Concerto of Characters

3. Motif of Motivation

Each character should have a distinct motif, a unique voice that echoes throughout the story. Editors fine-tune these motifs to ensure they contribute to the story’s harmony.

4. Harmony of Relationships

Relationships between characters can be as complex as a Beethoven concerto. Editors help authors explore these dynamics, creating a counterpoint that enriches the narrative. Is your narrative more conflict-based or interbeing focused?

The Rhapsody of Revision

5. Crescendo of Conflict

Like the crescendo in Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, the story’s conflict must build to a powerful climax. Editors guide authors in crafting these pivotal moments for maximum impact. Of course, thrillers have conflicts at the end of each chapter … a hook to encourage the reader to turn the page.

6. Diminuendo of Resolution

After the climax, the story needs a satisfying resolution. Editors work with authors to resolve any dissonance, ensuring a coherent and gratifying conclusion. Of course, sometimes there may not be a resolution, leaving the reader to make up their own minds.

The Finale: Polishing Your Masterpiece

As the final notes of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony resonate, so too must the final words of your story. Editors are the conductors who bring out the nuances of your narrative, ensuring that every sentence sings with clarity and every paragraph pulsates with purpose.

So, dear authors, embrace the transformative power of editing. With each revision, your draft will inch closer to becoming the masterpiece you envision—resounding through the ages like Beethoven’s immortal symphonies.

About Emma

As an introvert haunting the corners of storytelling festivals, it’s incredibly difficult to track Emma down. She’s best known for writing Scottish fiction about working-class women and communities and their misrepresented lives. You can find her recent book A Gypsy’s Curse here. Or get writing help here.

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Here’s a Guide to Comprehensive Copyediting, for you. Editing is more than just proofreading—it’s about enhancing the structure, clarity, and credibility of your writing. As writers, we strive to create polished narratives that resonate with our audience. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the four essential phases of editing, akin to steering a plane through turbulent skies.

1. Planning: Charting Your Course

Before takeoff, plan your route. Similarly, in editing, consider how and when to invest time and resources. Transition from the initial draft to the final submission. Remember, first drafts are often turbulent—accept this and focus on incremental improvements through revision. The best time to revise is after having a complete first draft. If you are into writing without a structure go for it! However, to save time it’s best to plan out the main events, leaving room for inspiration. Having thought of the structure from the start will help you out later, as fewer large changes may occur. Another benefit of planning is that you can think about which character best frames the narrative, and write scenes in the wrong order when you feel like it.

2. Higher-Order Revisions: Navigating the Storm

Think of this phase as adjusting your altitude during a tempest. Here, you’ll:

• Develop key elements (themes, plot points, characterisation tweeks, move when things happen) to ensure clarity for your audience.
• Navigate the turbulence until stability sets in.

3. Sentence-Level Revisions: Adjusting the Controls

As you fly through the clouds, fine-tune your diction and sentence structure. Ensure your choices enhance clarity and flow. Like a skilled pilot, make precise adjustments to keep your narrative on course.

4. Proofreading: Clear Skies Ahead

In the final approach, scan for sentence-level mistakes—unfinished sentences, grammatical errors, and misspellings. Smooth out any remaining turbulence, ensuring a flawless landing.

Conclusion to A Guide to Comprehensive Copyediting

Editing, like piloting a plane, demands vigilance, adaptability, and precision. Embrace the process, and your narrative will soar above the storm clouds. Remember: Good writing isn’t about being a good or bad writer; it’s about navigating the nuances until your words glide effortlessly.

About Emma

As an introvert haunting the corners of storytelling festivals, it’s incredibly difficult to track Emma down. She’s best known for writing Scottish fiction about working-class women and communities and their misrepresented lives. You can find her recent book A Gypsy’s Curse here. Or get writing help here.

L’article A Guide to Comprehensive Copyediting est apparu en premier sur Emma Parfitt Proofreading Editing Services.

Introduction

The role of copyediting remains paramount, in the ever-evolving landscape of publishing where creativity meets commerce. As we delve into the golden age of ebook publishing, it’s essential to recognize the unsung heroes behind the scenes—the copyeditors. In this article, we explore their crucial contribution to turning manuscripts into bestsellers.

The Golden Age of Ebook Publishing

A Glorious Era

Will we look back on the golden age of ebook publishing and compare it to the golden age of filmmaking? Spanning roughly from the 1920s to the 1960s, this technology witnessed a surge in creativity, innovation, and artistic expression. Iconic directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, and Billy Wilder crafted timeless classics that continue to captivate audiences today. The allure of black-and-white cinematography, dramatic lighting, and unforgettable performances defined this era.

The Role of Copyediting

While the spotlight often shines on authors, let’s not forget the agents, publishers, graphic artists, proofreaders and copyeditors who toil behind the scenes. Their meticulous work ensures that scripts, promotional materials, and press releases are error-free. From correcting typos to fine-tuning dialogue, copyeditors play a vital role in maintaining any industry’s professional standards.

The Copyeditor’s Toolbox

Precision and Patience

Copyediting demands precision and patience. Like film editors meticulously splicing frames, copyeditors scrutinize every word, sentence, and paragraph. They correct grammar, punctuation, and consistency, ensuring that the final product is polished and coherent. Proofreaders, on the other hand, complete the final viewing, spotting errors other stages have missed.

Dialogue and Authenticity

In film scripts, dialogue drives the narrative. Copyeditors collaborate with screenwriters to refine dialogue, capturing the nuances of character voices. Whether it’s a witty exchange between lovers or a villain’s menacing monologue, copyediting ensures authenticity. And the same can be said for novels. Dialogue needs to clearly let the reader know who is speaking, how they are speaking, and convey important information as well as unique character.

Challenges and Triumphs

Navigating Time Periods

Films set in historical contexts require meticulous attention to detail. So do historical novels. Copyeditors verify historical accuracy, ensuring that characters speak and write in a manner consistent with their era. Unless a blend of modern and the past is required which is more common. As can you imagine reading middle-English dialogue? And Yet, imagine a 1920s flapper using modern slang creeping into a 17th century book set in Poland—it would disrupt the film’s authenticity.

Balancing Creativity and Consistency

Copyeditors walk a tightrope between creativity and consistency. While preserving an author’s unique voice, they maintain consistency in spelling, style, and formatting. Just as a film’s visual style must remain cohesive, so too must the written word.

The Digital Revolution

Adapting to Change

As the film industry embraced digital technology, copyeditors adapted. From typewriters to word processors, their tools evolved. Today, collaborative editing platforms streamline the process, allowing real-time collaboration between authors, editors, and copyeditors for the editing of ebooks, paperbacks and hardbacks. The editor’s role is to adapt.

Global Reach

In the digital age, books transcend borders. Similarly, copyediting caters to a global audience. Copyeditors consider cultural nuances, idiomatic expressions, and regional variations. Just as subtitles bridge language gaps in international films, precise copyediting ensures clarity for readers worldwide.

Conclusion

The golden age of filmmaking lives on in our collective memory. As we celebrate cinematic masterpieces, let’s also raise a toast to the copyeditors—the guardians of language and clarity. Their dedication ensures that every word, whether spoken onscreen or printed on a page, contributes to the magic of storytelling.

About Emma

If you hadn’t guessed from the above prose, Emma offers copy-editing and proof-reading services to despirate authors.

Via Emma’s magic … the impossible becomes possible. In this case, publication (no guarantees).

L’article The Role of Copyediting in Publishing Success est apparu en premier sur Emma Parfitt Proofreading Editing Services.

So you’re considering expert proofreading. In the grand concert hall of literature, where words resonate like piano notes, authors compose symphonies of prose. Just as a pianist meticulously tunes each key, writers must fine-tune their manuscripts to achieve literary harmony. Enter the maestros of proofreading—the virtuosos who ensure every word strikes the right chord.

The Sonata of Clarity

1. Staccato Sentences

Like a powerful crescendo, sentences demand clarity. Proofreaders wield their batons, ensuring each sentence resonates with precision. Remove unnecessary adagios and embrace concise staccato.

Smooth transitions are the legato passages that bind paragraphs. Proofreaders listen for jarring leaps and guide authors toward seamless modulations.

2. Harmony of Grammar and Syntax

Commas, semicolons, and dashes—the grammar keys that shape melody. Proofreaders fine-tune these notes, ensuring harmonious syntax.

Parallelism, like a recurring motif, creates balance. Proofreaders align structures, harmonizing clauses and phrases.

The Concerto of Style

3. Rhapsody in Consistency

Consistent style maintains rhythm. Whether it’s British or American English, proofreaders conduct the orchestra. No discordant notes allowed!

Crescendo of Formatting: Italics, bold, and headings—like dynamic markings—guide readers. Proofreaders ensure uniformity, avoiding dissonance.

4. Cadence of Punctuation

Punctuation marks pause and breathe. Proofreaders listen for misplaced rests—commas, colons, and ellipses. A well-placed fermata adds elegance.

Hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes—subtle variations in punctuation. Proofreaders tune these shifts, creating harmonious transitions.

The Encore

As moonlight bathes the piano keys, authors must embrace the proofreader’s baton. With each revision, they transform rough drafts into sonatas. So, dear writers, let your words resonate—each comma a grace note, each paragraph a chord progression.

Remember, the true magic lies not in the ivory keys, but in the ink that dances across the manuscript.

About Emma

If you hadn’t guessed from the above prose, Emma offers copy-editing and proof-reading services to despirate authors.

Yet once freed from the maze of piano strings by Emma’s magic … the impossible becomes possible. In this case, publication (no guarantees, due to dragons).

L’article Expert proofreading est apparu en premier sur Emma Parfitt Proofreading Editing Services.

Creating A Gypsy’s Curse

After chatting about the book and going over the idea of having Mairead and Lachland in a boat on the cover. O began to draw and sent me this amazing preview.

Then she got out her paints and produced the first colour draft, well we made a few tweaks with Mairead’s dress, and this was the final colour.

Time to make it into a book cover!

Voila! Now you have to meet the artist cause she did such an amazing job.

Oeindrilla A Gypsy’s Curse Illustrator

This is O. Oeindrilla is a graphic designer and illustrator based out of India. Her style revolves around blending different media, integrating elements to create visually stunning compositions. Print media, Wes Anderson films and anything whimsical are some of her inspirations. You can find her on Instagram at oeindrilla.cmyk

She has the heart of an artist.

Here’s the final book info. for A Gypsy’s Curse

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The story of Heather and Fran brings Edinburgh alive, during lockdown from 2019 to 2020. From a working-class perspective, Parfitt has created a memorable in-depth look at friendship and community. A Friendship of Thistles is also the story of a nation divided. Through the lives of Fran and Heather, Parfitt gives her readers the story of a country and its people undergoing stupendous change to remind us of the importance of community.

The book is about contemporary Scotland, about relationships, about the resilience of friendship, about hope and faith during adversity. A smattering of politics about Brexit and the Covid lockdown in 2020.

About the book A Friendship of Thistles

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A Friendship of Thistles: book summary

Read with a friend! A Friendship of Thistles is THE book to read with your closest friend, or group of friends. With great discussion points for a book group. With that said, it’s also for you if you’ve never had a friend nor sustained a thirty-year friendship, or fallen out with a friend and are wondering how to repair the damage done.

‘Where have you been?’ Hector asked. He unfisted a crumpled sheet of test results.
Heather said, ‘You’re all bones.’
‘Fran, threw me out.’
‘And?’ she asked.

Two women. Multiple secrets. The question is: how to forgive your best friend with a heart full of thistles?

The story of Heather and Fran brings Edinburgh alive, during lockdown from 2019 to 2020. From a working-class perspective, Parfitt has created a memorable in-depth look at friendship and community. A Friendship of Thistles is also the story of a nation divided. Through the lives of Fran and Heather, Parfitt gives her readers the story of a country and its people undergoing stupendous change to remind us of the importance of community.

Recommendation

‘When Hector talks about politics, or when you talk about Covid-19: it is part of people’s lives, and the sense of community grows gradually. We feel that the virus impacts their lives, and we are emotionally concerned and connected with them. Stocking food and cans, the pressure to obtain a grant from the government, the craving for a bit of warmth, it’s very real.’
—Jeanne ML

A bit of history about the setting

Friendship or best friends and forgiveness were my core themes. This book is set in Edinburgh in 2019. I started pre-Covid, thinking it would have a post-Brexit theme, then Covid-19 happened so I rewrote it to reflect the contemporary setting and what my characters would experience.

Read more below and see a sample! And you can access more of my books here.

Who is Emma Parfitt?

Emma Parfitt is a proofreader with 18 years of writing experience with businesses, academics and creative writers. She obtained a Creative Writing MA (St Andrews University) and a PhD in Storytelling (Warwick University). Then set up her own proofreading business and became a published author of fiction as well as academic literature such as Young People, Learning & Storytelling (Palgrave Macmillan).

Get in touch!

L’article A Friendship of Thistles est apparu en premier sur Emma Parfitt Proofreading Editing Services.

Book research is the name of this article. Based on the initial research I have done into the lives of gypsies in the UK and fisherfolk in Auchmithie, to get a sense of their lives and challenges, I have begun to draft my early scenes in my new noval (The Fisherwomen of Auchmithie). I can’t wait till the museums reopen to visit the local area and the Lighthouse Museum again. Thanks to the website Auchmithie Roots, and their historians, I found mention of Auchmithie in The Country of Scott. Including the following description of the inside of one of the fisherman’s cottages.

He let me take a photograph of the interior of the cottage, where a single room served for bedroom, breakfast-room, kitchen, and numerous other purposes. (p.157)

So not adding much information to what I had already guessed or discovered, though I’d love to chat to an expert in working-class women’s lives in the early 1800s. The text also mentions policemen referred to as constables and ‘a picturesque old fishwife’:

A picturesque old fishwife, carrying two large empty pails in each hand, came out of her house, all unconscious of the awful presence of a loaded camera and I quickly stepped out and pressed the bulb. ‘That’s Coffee Betz you got then,’ laughed the constable. ‘She wouldn’t let you take her picture, but she’s one of the Cargills.’

The ethics of snapping shots without permission aside, the last quote I came across about wives managing the family money (silver) is cited in this book too and the phrase ‘Them that sell the goods guide the purse – them that guide the purse rule the house’ (p.158).

Historical context

And there is some useful historical context of the French-British conflicts in the early 19th century (1800s) relevant for life in Auchmithie:-

the people of England and Scotland were kept in a state of nervous dread by the expectation of an invasion by the French. Beacons were erected all along the coast ready to give instant alarm, and militia organizations were everywhere kept in a state of readiness. (p.158).

Relevant for a fishy context too; though perhaps only interesting to me … For instance, there’s a mention of bannock-fluke and cock-paddle in the book, which some additional research revealed are turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) and lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus) which is great to know as my main characters include fishermen and women.

What’s next?

There is plenty more writing and research to go. So for now, I’ll concentrate on the writing side, building my characters and making notes on the side about facts to check. These are but little details to weave into the narrative as I try to capture the lives of the people living back then on the east coast of Scotland. 

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How to find an agent, or no agent at all?

I felt inspired on the subject of how to find an agent by this quote from K.Welsh:

“When I was querying agents with The Wages of Sin, I posted the opening chapters to my website on the off-chance someone might see it, and Laura Macdougall, who was then commissioning editor at Hodder & Stoughton, fell for my cunning ploy and emailed me asking if she could read the whole thing. She was planning on switching to being a literary agent and, once she’d sent me back a hand-edited first draft with a box of chocolates, I knew I’d found the perfect agent!”

Well, why not, forgetting about agents for a little while, I’ve been showing my first pages to beta-readers over the past few weeks to get feedback and thought I would share the same opening scene here too. I had more rewriting to do than planned because of my current book A Friendship of Thistles being set during the time period 2019 to 2020. If you’ve read any of my other posts you already know that then lockdown happened and I began to rewrite the book.

So here it is … scene one.

October 2020 

A brass bell chimed as an unexpected visitor pulled its cord. Its resonant clang reminded Heather of Maither’s cowbell; a souvenir brought back from Austria from their only holiday abroad. Irvin had brought the bell back from Tibet in an October as grey as this one – dreary tarmac and sky, an airborne peppering of drizzle – he had joked that it would cleanse people’s souls, releasing their suffering, before they could enter hishouse: her house now. She hoped, in death, that her friend had found his ‘singing sun’.

‘Hector!’ Heather flung her arms open – the Scottish-wide ban on household visits be damned. Small flecks of rain speckled his glasses and raincoat, though not enough to dampen her dress. ‘Where’s Fran?’

Hector’s shoulders stiffened.

She led him into the kitchen, their staggered footsteps echoing on the sandstone tiles like her heartbeat; the late-blooming hydrangeas, exploding outside the wall of windows, matched the pigmentation in her cheeks. ‘Want a cuppa?’

‘If there’s Earl Grey.’

She poured her cold jasmine tea down the sink, eyes on his back as he inspected the garden, face pale – even for a Scotsman – against the contrast of his ginger tufts.

As they waited for the boiling kettle she fiddled with the end of her chestnut-grey ponytail and asked herself: what’s wrong here? Hector held himself differently. Usually, he posed a risk to breakable objects or, and on more than one occasion, he’d poked someone in the eye. Yet his arms rested today by his expanded waistline.

He spoke over the bubbling of the kettle, ‘The kids have missed you for Sunday lunches.’

The mugs in her hands knocked the granite countertop as she jerked. What more to say: other than she agreed. She could’ve reached out. If she hadn’t … if Fran hadn’t … They’d both been hurt. An inadequate word for the rupture of a friendship.

‘You didn’t visit or pick up the phone.’ He moved, unsteadily, to a kitchen stool.

She waited for him to say Fran was ill, dying, dead. What could it be? She pictured tall, delicate-boned Fran with her choppy bob.

He tapped his teaspoon against his wrist; a soothing drumming pace, if she read him right.

The rain had given way to an autumn mist that insulated the house from the sun and emphasised the tick-tock of her feet on the tiles, from the kitchen island to the cupboard that held the tea, and the tac-tac of grandfather’s pendulum in the dining room.

‘There’s a mathematical formula for rain,’ he said. ‘Well, not rain per se, but rainfall. Intensity, duration, frequency. It’s about droplet concentration and—Sorry, I’m boring you.’

‘Surprising me.’

He blinked, and stared outside as though it was the first time he’d ever seen yellow-leaved birch. ‘Still got their gold.’

Had Fran sent him? Her husband was the peace pipe that could always draw them together. ‘Did Fran—?’

‘Could’ve called,’ he said.

‘Is that what you want me to say?’

He laughed: a broken blast punctuated with missed notes. ‘Except you … you couldn’t … have called … because … because … our phone line … is dead,’ he said, followed by more canned chokes.

How had he and Fran been these past months? More than months. At least a year since the rupture.

He scratched the end of his nose. ‘Me and you and Fran.’

Yes, she remembered. United over roast dinner, Fran often joked.

The primary’s canteen had been an organised war zone where adults unknowingly strode across enemy lines; the boundaries marked by plastic trays, jugs of water, and blocks of tables. The early level tables sat together: chubby hands and milk cartons on plastic chairs. Heather and Hector perched next to the older kids on wooden chairs, swinging their feet off the ground. Most eight to nine-year-olds in their own class were too immature.

Amongst the wooden tables Heather spotted lanky, cropped-haired Fran, with the look of fashion model Twiggy, face-to-face with Alex – new boy and self-imposed know-it-all.

‘Take that back, Alex Simons!’

‘Or what?’

Kids at the nearest tables stopped shovelling beef, tatties and mushy peas into their mouths. Fran shuffled her shoes long enough for Alex’s worm-like lips to wriggle into a smirk and retort, ‘Just ’cause your mom is a dinner lady don’t mean we eat this slop at home.’

Fran’s knuckles whitened on her plastic tray. Heather imagined tatties, peas and an overcooked slice of beef sliding down Alex’s sweater. Fran would get into trouble and her parents would have to pay for damage to his jeans and jumper.

Heather stepped between them. ‘Alex, that was mean.’

‘What if it is? You can’t do anything.’

‘We don’t treat folk that way at this school.’

Confronted with his bored gaze, Heather had no notion what to do if he objected to the rules. But she kenned some of the teachers well enough to know what they would say.

‘Do you ken the expression wee clipe?’ she asked.

Alex regarded Heather’s brown plaits as if tempted to tug on them for daring to call him a snitch.

Heather narrowed her eyes.

Alex stuck his hands in his pockets and said, ‘Don’t be a tell-tale.’

‘I can. Not to the adults. They’ve their own rules. I’m talking about our rules. I can tell every child at this school not to play with you …’ She gave it time for her words to sink into Alex’s thick skull. True. She was fairly well liked. Others regarded her as the default referee for arguments. She could see the cogs in his brain working that out. Liked by the quiet kids too because she made sure that no one sat out during a game. Fairness and the name Heather went hand in hand.

Alex’s smirk wavered.

‘You’re new here,’ Heather said, ‘so I’m going to give you a break. Welcome to Our Lady’s. Come on, Fran.’

‘Awesome, Heather!’ Hector stretched a palm above his fiery curls for their ritual high five.

Warmth spread across Heather’s neck; relief, she guessed from escaping a tricky situation. She flinched as Fran slammed her tray on the table.

‘That twit annoys me,’ Fran said.

Hector swallowed a mouthful of tatties and gravy. ‘It’s only his first week.’

Heather said, noting Alex squirting strawberry milk at his friend Fraser, ‘I think that boy would annoy astronauts on the moon.’

A half-laugh ruptured Fran’s frown. ‘That’s a strange thingy to say.’

Heather shrugged.

‘Heather’s mum’s a dinner lady too,’ Hector said, nudging back his glasses.

‘Which one?’ Fran asked.

‘Ann.’

‘My ma’s Ruth.’

And, as it turned out, they saw more of each other outside school; their mums struck up a friendship, and the girls struck up a companionship of their own. That’s why Fran often joked that Hector, Heather and Fran were united over roast dinner.

Heather nodded to show Hector that she remembered.

He sipped his tea until she couldn’t stomach not knowing.

‘Why aren’t you with your wife?’ she asked.

How to find an agent conclusion

I’m going to focus on the writing, as I’ve been saying for the past 20 years, as it seems more people get success after one breakthrough of a book that spikes on social media. So let’s see. In any case, my readership is slowly increasing and I am learning more about marketing and writing every day.

Who is Emma Parfitt?

Emma Parfitt is a proofreader with 18 years of writing experience with businesses, academics and creative writers. She obtained a Creative Writing MA (St Andrews University) and a PhD in Storytelling (Warwick University). Then set up her own proofreading business and became a published author of fiction as well as academic literature such as Young People, Learning & Storytelling (Palgrave Macmillan).

Get in touch!

Agent finding update: forget it! I’m being told by agents and publishers I need to do my own marketing, or be a social media influencer, so I might as well self-publish and market over organic social media stuff. I wish to spend more time writing and living and less time on social media trying to find out information about agents that would like my work. But who knows … my paths may cross with a like-minded editor one day! For now: quality of life trumps publisher checklists.

L’article Agents. How to find an agent … est apparu en premier sur Emma Parfitt Proofreading Editing Services.

I received a lovely present in the post today: a book! Not just any book, but a gift from one of my clients. Very charming of Roobens to bother to send me a copy with a small note of thank you for helping him proofread the final version. The book is Travelling While Black. I found it informative reading, important reading, with references to the Green Book.

This is a whole area of history that should be taught in British schools. Victor Hugo Green wrote the book with help from other black travellers from 1936 to 1966, when the Jim Crow Laws in the US enforced racial segregation.

Shocking, isn’t it?, that it wasn’t all that long ago. And still shocking is that living in a mixed society it is sometimes easy to forget that other people when travelling are asking is it safe to travel there as a Black person? As a woman who has travelled alone in Peru and India I can relate to this question. The book was informative even for a White women like me, and I suspect any White person, about other’s experiences while travelling. Because if you are open-minded and curious like me, you want to know what that’s like to be inside someone else’s skin, seeing the world through their eyes. It may inspire some creative writing of my own down the line, will have to see.

Congratulations on Roobens’ publication

I greatly enjoyed seeing the world through Roobens’ eyes where he shares his experiences of travel as a Black man, and more… The important perspective of this book, for me, was the social awareness side. A commentary on what it is to be Black and face barriers to travel in contemporary times.

#blackwriters #blackauthors #blackauthorsmatter

Who is Roobens Fils? Read his travel blog and find out. Discover what others are saying about his book. Buy Travelling While Black!

Who is Emma Parfitt?

Emma Parfitt is a proofreader with 18 years of writing experience with businesses, academics and creative writers. She obtained a Creative Writing MA (St Andrews University) and a PhD in Storytelling (Warwick University). Then set up her own proofreading business and became a published author of fiction as well as academic literature such as Young People, Learning & Storytelling (Palgrave Macmillan).

Get in touch!

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