KeithD
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I live in the south now, so it really should be "Who all's doing this?"
Why is dialog punctuated incorrectly and is it the job of the editor to correct it?
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I live in the south now, so it really should be "Who all's doing this?"
Alice_Rosaleen
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KeithD
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Florida ain't part of the South- don't all y'all know that?
Virginia is. Virginia, Key West, Cyprus. We's got beds all over the place. Key West is for the winter. Cyprus is for if the Congress doesn't flip in November.
Alice_Rosaleen
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Nice! Was really teasing anyway- Southerners often disagree on whether states like Florida, North Carolina and Virginia are actually part of the "South" (I've joined such debates and regretted it because it resulted in me being called a Yankee, and them's fightin words).
KeithD
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Since most of the Civil War was conducted in the south and that's where it's capital is, any other southern saying Virginia isn't the south is just envious. I don't think of Key West as the American south. It's more the Caribbean in my thoughts, which is just fine with me. Gots a little hideout there.
lovecraft68
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I had this issue early on and for some reason dialogue tags don't come naturally to me even though I know what the correct way is. I write the story then go back and have to fix a bunch of them. Why I can't do it in flow is some type of 'glitch' in my head.
As for the editor I think its like anything else, the editor should point it out and explain the correct way providing examples. After awhile if the author continues to send it to them incorrectly, the editor should kick it back and stop doing the work or at least they should because its disrespectful to not try and make the editor's job as easy as possible.
As for the editor I think its like anything else, the editor should point it out and explain the correct way providing examples. After awhile if the author continues to send it to them incorrectly, the editor should kick it back and stop doing the work or at least they should because its disrespectful to not try and make the editor's job as easy as possible.
MREDME2
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How did West Virginia become a state?
Also, geographically and territorially, Key West is part of the US southern states. Your thoughts are irrelevant on the matter.
MREDME2
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Florida ain't part of the South- don't all y'all know that?
Why shucks and land sakes o' mighty!
I thought the sunshine state was a northern one once removed.
Alice_Rosaleen
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Lawdy me, I'm originally from a part of the South so deep it's called the Lowcountry- not that you could tell by my accent, even though my grandparents spoke in Geechee. My nonregional diction is probably another reason I've been mistaken for a carpetbagger.
Though the modern South isn't the backwoods timewarp most of the world takes it to be.
Athalia
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I can't speak for Literotica editors, because I edit for only one person. But I am an editor by profession, and the copy editing I've done has been in two approaches.
In the first approach, where I'm not likely to see the author again, I make the necessary corrections in the copy and return the corrected copy to him or her for approval, noting where the corrections have been made using the highlighter function in Word.
In the second approach, where I'm working with the same author on many articles, I'll highlight the error but won't make the corrections. I expect the writer to find out what rule has been broken, what the right usage is, and make the correction. In this way, I encourage the author to learn the rules and apply them, thereby making my later work easier on me. It isn't always appreciated, but I feel that if an author steadfastly refuses to learn the rules, he or she isn't being professional about their craft. From my feedback, I think that nine out of ten authors are grateful for this approach, because it does make them better writers and makes their work more sellable to publishers with editors who aren't acquainted with their work.
In the first approach, where I'm not likely to see the author again, I make the necessary corrections in the copy and return the corrected copy to him or her for approval, noting where the corrections have been made using the highlighter function in Word.
In the second approach, where I'm working with the same author on many articles, I'll highlight the error but won't make the corrections. I expect the writer to find out what rule has been broken, what the right usage is, and make the correction. In this way, I encourage the author to learn the rules and apply them, thereby making my later work easier on me. It isn't always appreciated, but I feel that if an author steadfastly refuses to learn the rules, he or she isn't being professional about their craft. From my feedback, I think that nine out of ten authors are grateful for this approach, because it does make them better writers and makes their work more sellable to publishers with editors who aren't acquainted with their work.
MREDME2
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I do agree w/you on the modern south. Many truly do believe all southerners live in Hazard County w/the Duke boys running moonshine or somewhere in the Louisiana Bayou w/a banjo hunting for alligators.
Never once have I mentioned the US Civil War outside of SE US; never fails for someone to throw it up as a slight of some sort (the accent tells on me). Sometimes I will say, "You do realize the Civil War was more than 100 yrs ago?"
I let them be ignorant and just roll w/it to my advantage.
Then I pull out my cell phone.......
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MREDME2
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I do like your approach.
While I'm here miraculously posting in an editor forum - I'll press my luck w/one extremely important question.
Why do so many editors insist on removing certain languages, accents, or slangs that are native to a book or character's origins?
Athalia
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Why, thank you! I learned it from my mentor, a copy editor with years of experience dealing with amateur writers.
Possibly cultural ignorance, or an attempt to make the story accessible to the greatest number of readers.
I confess to having a sympathy for that sort of editor. I've come across stories (not on this site) where an author tried to render an accent as phonetically accurate as possible, with the result that the character's speech was nearly unintelligible. And I've seen stories with so much obscure slang that I felt that the reader needed a decoder ring to make heads or tails out of it. One yearns for a glossary at the beginning of the book to use as a reference.
On the other hand, stripping all these idiosyncrasies from the text usually results in a flavorless mess. The obvious answer, as difficult as it is in practice, is to use just enough of these things to convey a sense of time and place, and no more. The good writer finds a way to make slang's meaning clear in the context, but some don't even care to try.
And it does require some skill. Mark Twain summed it up superbly in his "Explanatory Note" at the beginning of Huckleberry Finn:
secretsxywriter
LadySunshine7
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As others have said, it depends on the editor. Personally, I correct punctuation for an author when I edit, including in dialogue and with issues like the ones mentioned. But I’ll also include comments for why the change was made. If the same issues reoccur in subsequent submissions, I require the author to go through it and make corrections before I’ll continue editing. Even with an editor, some authors refuse to accept corrections and suggestions for improvement. In the end, the story belongs to the author, and we can’t force them to change anything they don’t want to.
I've said before, it would be a massive help if there were a group of volunteer proof-readers on Lit (it would save ages
Is there?
Not sure if it was a rhetorical question or not, but yes, there is such a group. It’s called the Volunteer Editor Program, and it can be used by anyone. Some editors are more strict than others about what they’ll edit, but you can search for editors in specific categories. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t find an editor right away that way. The list tends to be hit-and-miss with who’s still editing and if they are currently taking on more submissions. Good luck!
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