Need some advice...

[michchick98]

Hey everyone! I need some advice from fellow volunteer editors. Let me set a bit of background first.

The user whose story I am editing contacted me through the Volunteer Editor program a few months back. I told him I'd take his story and it'd be probably a couple days before I had something back to him.

It ended up being more than a few days because his story was so horribly formatted, I had to go through and add paragraph breaks first before I could even read the story.

I fixed up both chapters of his story and explained to him what he needs to do in the future. I even gave him some links to websites that would help with basic writing skills and using punctuation. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, other than quotation marks, he had absolutely NO punctuation whatsoever in the entire story.

So everything's all fixed and I send his story back to him. Well I check his user name a week or so later and the second chapter of the story I edited was up, but not the first. I figured he just submitted them in the wrong order or whatever and a quick email to him got no response.

Then about two weeks ago, he contacted me again and said that the first chapter of the story I edited was rejected four times due to improper paragraph breaks and quote usage. I told him to send me the story and I'd take a look at it, although I still had both chapters that I'd edited on my computer.

I compared what he sent me to what I had on my computer and he'd added stuff to it and had the same formatting problems. I fixed the story and told him next time he made changes to send it to me for editing.

He replied telling me that he had another story so I told him to send it along thinking he'd looked over the website links I'd recommended. Okay, I guess I was too quick to think that he'd done that.

This second story he'd sent me was even worse than the first and after a few email exchanges, I learned that he was using the TAB key as the ENTER key. I explained what he needed to do and told him I didn't have the time to fix his story (roughy 6100 words) and that I do this for free.

He again had no punctuation besides quotation marks. I explained what he needed to do before I edited his story then sent it back to him and waited. A day or so later, he sent it back to me and I skimmed over it very quickly (I am working on my own story in between editing jobs) and saw that it looked better. The first few paragraphs were formatted correctly and I saw a few punctuation marks.

Well, as I got into editing the story, I noticed that he really didn't do a whole lot to fix the things I suggested for him to fix.

I am now on my fourth day of editing his story and it's finally almost complete. I've worked two to three hours a day on it (yes, it's that bad) and when I'm done for the day, I have an incredible headache.

So after all that, what I'd like to know is how would I go about declining to edit anything further of his without offending him? He seems very pleased with my work, yet he also seems to be happy with me rearranging things to make his story readable.

I just don't have the kind of time it takes to fix his stories and after I've explained twice how to properly format a story, use punctuation and grammar, he just doesn't seem to get it.

How would you recommend I handle this?

 

[cloudy]

I would politely but firmly tell him something along the lines of: "although I enjoy working with you, I really feel that I'm pulling more than my share of weight. As an editor, I'm supposed to correct any problems you may have, and explain what made it a problem so that you can learn, and catch those kinds of errors yourself. Unfortunately, I haven't seen the effort on your part to fix some problems, and the corrections I was making on your first story are appearing over and over again.

I would be glad to work with you again, but I feel that you should brush up on your grammar and punctuation usage, so that instead of using all my editing time fixing errors of that nature, we can move on to bigger things, such as plot, character, etc."

eh...who am I kidding? I'd probably be blunt as usual, and say, "Look...this is a mess, and its things I've explained over and over again to you. If you can't be bothered to expend a minimum of effort to learn and fix those types of errors yourself, then I'm not going to waste my time editing for you."

 

[michchick98]

Wow! Very nicely worded (the first part, not the last, although I'd probably be more apt to use the last part...LOL)

Do you mind if I copy that into the email I am going to send with his story? I basically ended up re-writing the second half of his second story. I hope he isn't just one of them people who copy and pastes the changes cuz I added some notes of my own for him to read within the story.

Oh well if he does, I have no control over what people post after I send the edited story back to him.

Thanks for the advice

I would politely but firmly tell him something along the lines of: "although I enjoy working with you, I really feel that I'm pulling more than my share of weight. As an editor, I'm supposed to correct any problems you may have, and explain what made it a problem so that you can learn, and catch those kinds of errors yourself. Unfortunately, I haven't seen the effort on your part to fix some problems, and the corrections I was making on your first story are appearing over and over again.

I would be glad to work with you again, but I feel that you should brush up on your grammar and punctuation usage, so that instead of using all my editing time fixing errors of that nature, we can move on to bigger things, such as plot, character, etc."

eh...who am I kidding? I'd probably be blunt as usual, and say, "Look...this is a mess, and its things I've explained over and over again to you. If you can't be bothered to expend a minimum of effort to learn and fix those types of errors yourself, then I'm not going to waste my time editing for you."

 

[cloudy]

Wow! Very nicely worded (the first part, not the last, although I'd probably be more apt to use the last part...LOL)

Do you mind if I copy that into the email I am going to send with his story? I basically ended up re-writing the second half of his second story. I hope he isn't just one of them people who copy and pastes the changes cuz I added some notes of my own for him to read within the story.

Oh well if he does, I have no control over what people post after I send the edited story back to him.

Thanks for the advice

Go right ahead. Like I said, I'll probably never use them...I know how to be tactful, but I'm lazy, and a straight shooter, so actually making the effort to be tactful is beyond my normal capabilities.

eta: I might also add something in there like: "I'm an editor, not a co-writer for you, and I've spent much of my time rewriting your stories so that they'll pass muster for Lit's acceptance policies. I no longer have the time or inclination to do more than editing.

 

[LadyCibelle]

Yep, I agree with what Cloudy said. If the writer can't comprehend a concept as simple as punctuation and you have to redo his work over and over again, well, let's just say that like Cloudy I would be blunt if it were me.

Some writers only understand bluntness as otherwise they continue to take advantage of the nice people.

I was in your situation once, rewrote and redid a story a couple time before understanding that the writer was thinking that I was his slave and only there to clean up his crap. Never again! Now I give a few examples of what is acceptable and send the story back saying that once the 'issues' I've pointed out are cleared I'd be happy to work on their story again.

 

[michchick98]

I basically laid it all out for him. I told him that if he can't use the links I provided to improve his writing, I can't edit any stories for him in the future.

Okay, my head hurts, time for some Motrin then off to bed for me. 4am comes awfully early these days!

Thanks to you both for your advice.

Yep, I agree with what Cloudy said. If the writer can't comprehend a concept as simple as punctuation and you have to redo his work over and over again, well, let's just say that like Cloudy I would be blunt if it were me.

Some writers only understand bluntness as otherwise they continue to take advantage of the nice people.

I was in your situation once, rewrote and redid a story a couple time before understanding that the writer was thinking that I was his slave and only there to clean up his crap. Never again! Now I give a few examples of what is acceptable and send the story back saying that once the 'issues' I've pointed out are cleared I'd be happy to work on their story again.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

This Is Just Me, But...

I have a well-meaning writer that is terrible with a PC. I'll edit the story, he'll make changes, and screw everything up again throughout the document. So what I do is the first time around I'll make "editorial" suggestions; he can either acept or decline them. Then when he resubmits to me, I edit the entire document myself, no longer pointing out the changes I made, as those are almost always removing extra spaces, paragraphing, etc. Then I advise that person not to alter the document, but post as it is. Seems to work in this one case.

 

[cloudy]

I have a well-meaning writer that is terrible with a PC. I'll edit the story, he'll make changes, and screw everything up again throughout the document. So what I do is the first time around I'll make "editorial" suggestions; he can either acept or decline them. Then when he resubmits to me, I edit the entire document myself, no longer pointing out the changes I made, as those are almost always removing extra spaces, paragraphing, etc. Then I advise that person not to alter the document, but post as it is. Seems to work in this one case.

You have a lot more patience than I do.

If they can't be taught, or are just so damn lazy that I have to do even the most basic of punctuation and grammar for them, I won't edit for them more than once, or even completely edit the first story I get. I send it back with an "I'm sorry, but no."

Its not my job to write for them. That's what I have my stories for.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

I'm An Adult Educator

You have a lot more patience than I do.

If they can't be taught, or are just so damn lazy that I have to do even the most basic of punctuation and grammar for them, I won't edit for them more than once, or even completely edit the first story I get. I send it back with an "I'm sorry, but no."

Its not my job to write for them. That's what I have my stories for.

Cloudy,

I teach adults for a living (not a grandiose life by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm not going hungry and can afford the internet -- not HD cable, however)

I am patient with people who are trying to learn, perhaps reinforced by my father who I worked so hard with to teach him how to access emial and print (he's no longer alive, God bless his soul). I found myself getting very impatient at Wal-Mart tonight waiting in a line when ALL I was buying was a freaking package of hot dogs and everyone else in the "20 items" line had friggin 20 items! There should be a 'not more than 5 items' line!

So I do get upset, I'm human. But the writers I choose to edit for are decent people that simply want to express their ideas, so I give them the illusion of control by editing once and giving them choices, then editing and telling them 'don't touch!'.

It works for me. My suggestion; find something that works for you.

Huggss!

 

[cloudy]

I have tons of patience when I'm teaching someone something, but if I start to feel like they're just being lazy, "don't feel like" learning it, or whatever, then I've had enough. I've got too much going on (three kids, a HUGE house remodeling job, not to mention my own writing) for me to waste my time with someone's half-assed job that they've thrown me to clean up for them.

Now...if they want an editor, one who can help with plot/plot holes, characterization, settings, etc, and just overall style (above and beyond the grammar and punctuation that they should have learned in grade schoolbut didn't feel it was important), that's what I do best.

I want to be a partner, not a slave for the messy clean up job that they consider themselves above learning.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Okay, I now see the point.