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I am amazed. Angela's post that she could not help me edit my stories has left me with a quandry. I have four people who have expressed a willingness to help me, all of them (I think...) whose work has impressed me, and who I think I can really respect for the help I need.
I would never want to hurt anyone's feelings, and I just don't know what criteria I would use to best find an editor, someone to work with successfully.
The most amazing thing, to me, is that these other writers must have read my stories, and they think I'm good enough that I would not be wasting their time. That makes me feel very good, I'll admit.
What to do, what to do?
Can I just find a dartboard and throw a dart behind my back, or something?
Comments
Solution
There is only one solution. Naked wrestling in a bath of lemon curd. Last one standing wins.
Stress Relief
Laughing my butt off (which is fine, need to lose weight anyway)!
Wren
I'd suggest...
I'd suggest you send the same "chapter" to all of them (if you really want them to) and see what they have to say and how they say it. Odds are, you'll get some similar comments. But, you'll also get some very different edits. No two editors are identical. One person's strengths may well be another's weakness. Another thing is the STYLE of editing...
You need to know what you want out of your editor. Are you looking for someone to proof your grammar/spelling and such or are you looking for someone to help you make your story "better" (a sticky word, I know...). A combination is also possible.
Some editors try to restrict their editing to comments here and there - others suggest major wording changes and such.
So - again, I'd suggest that if you actually do want to consider the all of these editing requests you "test drive" them. They shouldn't mind, and should recognize that for the author-editor relationship to work, you have to be able to work with what they give you.
A completely independent issue is the time the editor can make available - and whether the editor's time can correspond to when you're in need of editing. From personal experience (on both ends) this can be a very frustrating thing. Authors tend to want them back ASAP, but Editors want/need to do a good job and RL tends to intrude. If one of your editors can't give you the time you need, they will have to back out (Like Angela did). Worth a consideration.
As to hurting feelings? My personal guess is that anyone that is serious about editing shouldn't be offended by you choosing someone else. SOME may believe they're the best editor in the world and anyone should feel honored to have them edit for them... And, if one of them offered, best of luck to you.
Good Luck,
Anne
Good words
There is, or should be, one overriding principle for a good editor: the story belongs to the author.
Absolutely
At least here. I suppose a professional editor for a publisher has a little more power. I've done a bit of editing and that was always my main principle though my most prolific client was very kind and accepted most of my suggestions. I even allow foreign spelling :)
I'm not one of the four but, if I were, I wouldn't mind being politely told my services weren't needed.
Robi
The storey does...
The story does belong to the Author. A good Editor knows this, and asks questions (makes suggestions) that lead the author to recognize things that are needed. About 15 years ago, I worked with a popular Deryni (Katherine Kurtz "world") fanfic author... She had a habit of "rushing" some things, to get to the "fun" part of the story. Reminding her that the lead-up enriched the fun wasn't all that necessary. What was needed, in her case, was pointing out where she "skipped" over things or didn't explain things. After all, she KNEW what was happening as she was the author. And, she couldn't see the places where the reader would perceive "gaps" or "how did you get from here to there" moments.
So, yes, the story belongs to the author. IMO - the editor's goal, to a large extent should be to help the author write the WHOLE story. And, as I mentioned, proof reading is a separate skill and something else that may be needed. What you want from a proof reader is not the same thing as from an editor.
And, having known some published authors, SOME editors can "demand" changes to a story in order for them to be published. But, this is yet another form of Editing, which isn't (as far as I know) needed here on BCTS.
Anne
Yes!!!
That urge to get to the meat, or the punchline. I regularly get helpful messages from readers who remindme of continuity stuff-ups or ask for a bit more of a slow burn, but then I post as I write, without editor or beta reader. I tend to post an episode daily, so an editor for my stuff is a non-starter.
On the other hand, there is a real skill in NOT filling in details, but letting them emerge slowly in the story. John Brunner wrote a book called Crucible of Time, in which he had a truly alien race which he never actually described, because he was writing it from their PoV. You would never list the number of limbs on a character (well, unless it was like my Pete) so neither did he. I was truly impressed.
There's a fine line...
There's a fine line between giving info as you go along, and not leaving stuff out (because you're in a hurry, or just plain forgot to...)
And, yes, that was a good yarn. :-)
Anne
As usual, a ton of good advice!
When I asked Angela to help me, the first thing she asked was if I wantesd someone to just fix the mistakes in punctuation, etc., or if I wanted to be a better writer. I chose better writer, and she did not let me down. I feel I am much better than I was (I wish I was writing "Dream" now-it would be very different! Oh well) and I hope it shows. I will always choose to be a better writer. I don't think anyone has perfected it yet. The time problem is not an issue. I have 7 1/2 chapters done, and I plan to post twice a week. I write kind of slowly (I self edit as I write, and I'm a tough critic), so I'm not in any huge rush. I like Annette's idea, I may try that! I have to finish writing chapter 9, and once I do, I could send it out and see how well I work with someone. Good idea!
Thanks for all of your input! I knew I could count on y'all!
Love,
Wren
Something else you can try...
On your self editing...
I've found that I can "self edit" my own stuff, if it's been a little while since I first wrote it... My first drafts are heavily self edited... And, anything I send to an editor/proofer, has been through at least one heavy review/revision/rewrite...
But, the point I'm trying to suggest is if you can be one or two "chapters" ahead of what you're "self editing" you have a few advantages: 1) you've written a bit more of your story - you may see something you want to "hint" or "foreshadow a bit, so you go back and put it in...; 2) You're less "immediate" on the story - so you can sometimes SEE things you left out, because they were obvious as you wrote it. 3) You can sometimes see what you actually wrote - as opposed to what you meant to write.
Okay - maybe you can't... But, I certainly can, in my own work! :-)
Good luck,
Anne
editing
After I wrote to you about my own 'finding an editor' problems I happened onto this posting and I have to say that there is some very good advice hiding in these comments.
I'm going to be very considerate of all those that look at my work to see if they understand what I'm trying to convey and how they make suggestions according to who they are.
I've sent you the first chapters of my story and I know that while all this was written to help you, alot of it was taken to heart by me. And I hope that I may become a better writer because of the editors that I choose and what they have to tell me about what I write.
Thank You all for being so straight forward and writing and editing what you have!
Danielle_O
"Life is pain, anyone telling you different is trying to sell you something."
Danielle_O
"Life is pain, Princess ~ anyone telling you different is trying to sell you something."