Fantasy/Sci-Fi Author Dawn Ross

Grammar is very important when writing a book.  There is so much to worry about.  It’s not just the spelling, punctuation, or sentence construction, it is the tense.  When I write, I often find myself inadvertently changing tense.  In the Dukarian Legacy, I sometimes find myself saying ‘Tomis was’ in some places and ‘Tomis is’ in others.  Part of my editing entailed finding these tense errors and correcting them.  But which tense is better?  Present tense or past tense?  If I use present tense, this might make the story easier to get into since it seems everything is happening now.  But past tense seems to flow better for me.

“Tomis paralyzes with fear as the creature slithers out of the cave.”
“Tomis paralyzed with fear as the creature slithered out of the cave.”

Which one do you think works better?  Fortunately, there is no right or wrong way as long as the story is consistent.  The difficult part is being consistent.  Finding these types of tense errors is tedious.  That is where an editor comes in.  I have paid an editor before, but as per one of my previous posts I got scammed.  The editing was not done by a professional.  A professional would not only find spelling and wording errors, but would also notice details like tense.  She did not.  Nor was she able to tell me where the story was lacking in structure or where any discrepancies in the story were found.

Should I spend hundreds of dollars for a new editor?  Or can I count on myself and my friends to help me?  I’d like to think that I can do it myself.  But I am so involved in the story, that sometimes errors are hard to find.  I have only self-edited my book five times, yet each time I read it I find another error.

I think I should hire an editor.  Where do I find a good one?  How do I verify their credentials?  How much should I save in order to pay them?  So many questions, so little time.