To use or not use an editor?

[EbonyFire77]

I'm trying to hammer out a romance series and am becoming quite frustrated with the editing process.

I had this great, and somewhat unique idea of the storyline that I came up with and see writing for lit as an enjoyable "hobby on the side" where I can get ideas out of my head and onto print for others to enjoy.

But it's not like that anymore. In fact...it's become work. Which is really bad IMO. I guess most of that blame is on myself, for having the storyline be too complicated, yet I don't want to go so far as to have the story end up with more than 10 chapters (I'm aiming for no more than 8). I also don't want to have an incomplete, contrived ending either. I decided to scrap the current story I have and ended up approaching it from a completely different angle, but am still preserving elements from the original.

Now I'm wondering-- should I bother with an editor? I figured that if I gave it good effort, I could edit the story chapters myself. I don't want to hire a professional. Why? I'm not making any freaking money. I'm doing this for enjoyment. I just want to spit this out and be done with it.

Can you tell I'm frustrated? Just a little. The joy of writing erotica has been sucked out of me. Maybe I'm not as open to the "editing process" or whatever it is. Or maybe it's cause I'm nearing the end of my semester and writing erotica is becoming just as much "homework" as my real homework.

Eh. What should I do? What have YOU done? Do you rely on an editor, or do you just put in the extra time yourself to edit? I don't want to write crappy stories, but I sure as hell am not aiming to outdo Danielle Steele either.

 

[driphoney]

It's nearly impossible to edit your own work. Your mind sees things the way you intend them, not always the way they're actually written. I clean my copy up as much as I can, it's the least I can do for my editors. I don't recommend giving them un-self-edited work.

You need an editor whether you are posting on a free site or seeking publication.

Good luck.

 

[_Lynn_]

Check the active editors for the month thread in the Editors Forum.

She's right about it being tough to edit our own work. An extra set of eyes is a good thing.

 

[EbonyFire77]

What happens when that extra set of eyes starts to drive you crazy?

 

[_Lynn_]

What happens when that extra set of eyes starts to drive you crazy?

Then you have the wrong eyes checking it for you. Author and editor should work together, not drive anyone crazy.

 

[EbonyFire77]

Yeah well, I've nearly given up on bothering with the story anymore-- and it's a rather unique storyline that I haven't seen dabbled in quite yet.

I would need an editor who is just concise and straightforward. I don't need an explanation of why something was said incorrectly, just fix it! UH what drove me crazier is how I felt the pressure to quickly "pornize" my story right from the start when it's intended to be a romance novel and get people hot and bothered until the big shabang.

I guess you can say, I'm a little frustrated. I'm thinking of putting my writing on hold altogether until the semester's done and over with.

 

[_Lynn_]

Yeah well, I've nearly given up on bothering with the story anymore-- and it's a rather unique storyline that I haven't seen dabbled in quite yet.

I would need an editor who is just concise and straightforward. I don't need an explanation of why something was said incorrectly, just fix it! UH what drove me crazier is how I felt the pressure to quickly "pornize" my story right from the start when it's intended to be a romance novel and get people hot and bothered until the big shabang.

I guess you can say, I'm a little frustrated. I'm thinking of putting my writing on hold altogether until the semester's done and over with.

If you have an editor who just fixes your work, it's no longer only yours, is it? Explanations and comments are a great way for the author to learn so they can improve their work. That way their next piece is better, with less problems in it.

 

[Dragonlipz]

It never hurts to have an extra opinion - especially one that you can trust....I'm still looking for an editor myself............one that 'wants' to read my stuff and offer a critique but without doing because they feel obligated and won't rewrite it......
Editing is most definitely an art............not a science......

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

When I did engineering my work passed through many hands and across many desks, as did the work of everyone at the company. Ten people can scrutinize something and miss serious errors.

But engineers cant care less about design or concept as long as it works and doesnt collapse on your head. So engineers arent interested in aesthetics. They stick to the natural laws and building codes. If it looks like shit thats the designers problem.

One of my old professors writes porn-romance novels for cripples. I wouldnt buy any of his books but plenty of cripples enjoy them. The books are written well and appeal to a niche who buy them.

Editors should limit their involvement to composition flaws and errors, and keep their mitts off design and concept.

 

[sr71plt]

Editors should limit their involvement to composition flaws and errors, and keep their mitts off design and concept.

And not point out that Aunt Sarah, who is baking cookies in chapter seven, fell to her death down an elevator shaft in chapter three, I take it?

 

[Stella_Omega]

Yeah well, I've nearly given up on bothering with the story anymore-- and it's a rather unique storyline that I haven't seen dabbled in quite yet.

I would need an editor who is just concise and straightforward. I don't need an explanation of why something was said incorrectly, just fix it! UH what drove me crazier is how I felt the pressure to quickly "pornize" my story right from the start when it's intended to be a romance novel and get people hot and bothered until the big shabang.

She's hoping that you'll understand what the mistake was, and begin writing it correctly from the get-go instead of totally relying on her to do the mechanical stuff for you.

One problem for editors, until they get to know the writer well, is that they cant always trust the writer to trust them. And then we end up with world war three via email, and everyone has wasted a lot of time and effort. So we do try to explain ourselves. The way I just did!

As for the pressure to pornise-- that's when the writer and the editor are not on the same page. You def. need one that loves romance in the first place!

Editing is most definitely an art............not a science......

It's a skill, and skills embody elements of both.

 

[sr71plt]

As an editor, I see no need for WWIII over an edit. I edit and send it back to them, and it's their privilege/responsibility then to take or reject what they want and clean it up for submission. Sometimes I'm asked to read it again. If they've told me what specific suggestions I made that they haven't accepted, I'll read it again in terms of their decisions. If I find they just have ignored a lot of suggestions--especially basic ones of style--I'll just send it back and say no thanks to a second read. If they want to argue, I just say it's their work and do what they want with it. I haven't had to have a followup round on that yet.

I also ask that they not give editing credit to me. It's their work; the final is their full responsibility. (I have, with mainstream books, had occasion to ask the publisher not to include my name in the acknowledgments if I thought the author was making a hash of the context or content despite my suggestions).

 

[elfin_odalisque]

sr, I hear what you say but I don't think you properly address EbonyFire's points.

EF, one tedious part of preparing a story is copy editing - checking the grammar and the spelling. There's more than that but you must go through the drudge.

sr talks more of literary editing. His general thrust is right, an author needs a skilled editor to point out where the action gets too convoluted, the prose too encrusted with adverbs - not to mention the question of story pacing or assuming the reader is in the author's head.

Writing is fun, preparing for 'publication' is a bind. But like most things in life, the result is worth the effort.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

And not point out that Aunt Sarah, who is baking cookies in chapter seven, fell to her death down an elevator shaft in chapter three, I take it?

I have bad news, Aunt Shabby; I'm reading a novel that got a National Book Award, and there's pedophilia in it. A 14 year old gets it on the backseat of a 1949 Chevy. I'm stunned. No, appalled!

 

[sr71plt]

sr, I hear what you say but I don't think you properly address EbonyFire's points.

EF, one tedious part of preparing a story is copy editing - checking the grammar and the spelling. There's more than that but you must go through the drudge.

sr talks more of literary editing. His general thrust is right, an author needs a skilled editor to point out where the action gets too convoluted, the prose too encrusted with adverbs - not to mention the question of story pacing or assuming the reader is in the author's head.

Writing is fun, preparing for 'publication' is a bind. But like most things in life, the result is worth the effort.

And then we end up with world war three via email

I wasn't addressing EbonyFire77.

I was set off on my post by this phrase in Stella's post (note my pickup of WWIII). I didn't quote Stella's post, because I wasn't really countering anything Stella said either--I was going off on a tangent of my own.

And I was addressing my editing of Lit. authors, not necessarily literary editing (although the Lit. authors I edit for are all very literary authors).

In my mainstream editing, I don't just edit it and then let the author fool with it; it comes back to me from the author to clean up before going to the publisher. Then I have to clean up either undoing my suggestions that the author hasn't accepted or applying specific publisher guidelines that they impose no matter what the author would prefer. Here again, though, I try to keep myself out of the work--putting author and publisher preferrences over mine.

But, back to part of the OP point, I don't do extensive rewriting for either a mainstream or a Lit. author--unless the publisher pays me specifically to do that (which has happened, but only rarely).

 

[sr71plt]

I have bad news, Aunt Shabby; I'm reading a novel that got a National Book Award, and there's pedophilia in it. A 14 year old gets it on the backseat of a 1949 Chevy. I'm stunned. No, appalled!

That's not news to me. I'm not at all surprised you're reading that.

 

[EbonyFire77]

She's hoping that you'll understand what the mistake was, and begin writing it correctly from the get-go instead of totally relying on her to do the mechanical stuff for you.

One problem for editors, until they get to know the writer well, is that they cant always trust the writer to trust them. And then we end up with world war three via email, and everyone has wasted a lot of time and effort. So we do try to explain ourselves. The way I just did!

As for the pressure to pornise-- that's when the writer and the editor are not on the same page. You def. need one that loves romance in the first place!

It's a skill, and skills embody elements of both.

Is there any way I could just edit my work myself and just be very careful about the editing process, by using resources such as sites, books, etc.? This way I could learn for myself what my mistakes were?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

That's not news to me. I'm not at all surprised you're reading that.

I'm the new Decency Screener for Literotica Puritans.

 

[sr71plt]

Is there any way I could just edit my work myself and just be very careful about the editing process, by using resources such as sites, books, etc.? This way I could learn for myself what my mistakes were?

You can't effectively edit yourself. If you make habitual technical mistakes (and we all do), you won't pick them all up no matter how often you review your copy. Also, what you have and understand about in your mind is rarely what you actually typed to file--and, again, no matter how many times you reread it, what you meant in your mind is what your mind is going to (falsely) tell you is written to the file. Invariably, the story in your mind is more consistent, clear, and concise than what you actually wrote--and that you think you are reading when you reread it.

I've edited professionally for four decades. I have a writing partner read all of my erotica--one who isn't even trained as an editor--and I'm always surprised by the obvious mistakes he points to in my copy that I thought was pretty clean when I sent it to him. (Even more surprising is that I can read it a year later and find then-obivious mistakes still in the copy.)

If you're talking about posting to a free-use site like Lit., though, there's a point of diminishing returns. This ain't the New Yorker. There's a level of "worked over" that's good enough for here, and the backbiters on minor grammar points will be there to nitpick regardless, so no reason not to let them just be happy with nitpicking while your reader base enjoys your story.

 

[TxRad]

I'm the new Decency Screener for Literotica Puritans.

That's an easy job. Most people around here are perverts, if you haven't noticed. Good people but perverts all the same.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Is there any way I could just edit my work myself and just be very careful about the editing process, by using resources such as sites, books, etc.? This way I could learn for myself what my mistakes were?

That's partially possible... self-edited for years and was very proud of my work. Now that I'm really an editor, I re-read it and see how badly I needed an editor!

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

That's an easy job. Most people around here are perverts, if you haven't noticed. Good people but perverts all the same.

Naaah, I sense this place is loaded with Puritans who never stray beyond chcolate, vanilla, and strawberry.

 

[DeeZire]

A couple of things you can do to facilitate self-editing:

Wait a week or two, so the piece is no longer fresh in your mind.

Change the font.

Read aloud.

Find a beta-reader to check your work. Perhaps you could trade with another author for this service.

I take it you're in school? If I was you, I'd find a nude model to read the piece aloud while I was taking art photographs...

 

[_Lynn_]

Naaah, I sense this place is loaded with Puritans who never stray beyond chcolate, vanilla, and strawberry.

Oh, that's not me then. I'm allergic to chocolate.

 

[sr71plt]

Oh, that's not me then. I'm allergic to chocolate.

But are you allergic to chcolate too?