CopperSkink
Really Really Experienced
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2009
- Posts
- 462
I usually preclude my messes of speech with a colorful introduction, so just pretend I did whilst I get to the point:
I try to find editors, you try to find editors, nobody can find editors, nothing gets edited. Not really, but look here at this pretend scenario:
"Will you edit my story?"
"What's it about?"
"This guy is nailing his girlfriend, then he gets her sister into bed with them."
"Oh, I'm not really into incest. Try someone else."
Not really pretend; that's about three conversations I've had in the last month. Now with the point:
We, as editors, have a professional distance. That is to say, it doesn't matter what the story is about; we'll dot the participials and cross the parentheticals all the same. That's copy editing.
What about literary editing? Here's another situation:
"Is this story any good?"
"I don't know; I had a hard time dealing with the idea that they're brother and sister."
So maybe he likes incest, but suppose there are things he doesn't like:
"Is this story any good?"
"I don't know; I had a hard time dealing with the idea that the woman let a black man have sex with her, especially with her being married to a man as white as she is."
I understand someone was actually turned down for that reason, but when I read the content, I understood. As a writer, my particular kink revolves around incest. When I read the interracial, I simply didn't know what to think about it. I don't find normal MF couplings to be particularly interesting in the first place (why bother when I get enough of it in bed?), and this story was nothing but, just with the guy pointed out as being black.
But is incest any different?
Man, woman, with some of the characters being referred to as "sister" or "brother". While incest turns me on, interracial to me is the same as EC. I answered the guy, "It's a good story, but why is it in IR rather than EC?"
"Because the woman is white and the guy is black."
"I'm sorry, but that doesn't turn me on any extra. If it had been EC, I thought it'd be great. But it's in IR, so I'm looking for that extra bit of kink that takes it out of the default EC, but I just don't see it."
Herein lies the problem, and that was just the beginning. My next challenge was D/S:
"Is this a good story?"
"I don't know; I never fantasized about being handcuffed naked under my boss' desk all day." While I admit I may have wanted to be the boss, the story was written from the guy-under-the-desk's perspective.
I don't even want to get into poetry.
"Is this a good poem?"
"I don't know; I'm not really into poetry. I couldn't tell you if it was good, but I thought the random 'refridgerator' was hilarious."
Maybe I have a personal problem with the categorizing of stories. Many of my own contain group, incest, lesbian, EC, L&T, LW, N&NV, and Anal all at once, yet we have to pick one. Or, as I understand it, the site editors will decide after they look at it.
Putting that aside, what I see is a fundamental problem with the literary editor's ability to critique a story as requested when he, put plainly, doesn't get off on that particular kink. The way I see it being addressed is that we, the editors, make some kind of memo that lets the world know what it is we specialize in, something beyond the simple matter of what it is we're willing to edit. People know I'll edit anything, but as everyone also knows, I have no sense of humor, so sending me a story aimed at that praticular category is the same as making knock knock jokes while being tried for making too many unsafe lane changes whilst driving to the Shark Tank.
That being said, I can proceed with the rest of my holliday spirit without my mind being over-encumbered with serious thoughts. Happy hollidays to you all. May no one try to guilt-trip, patrioticasize, or endear you into thinking that their perception of whichever holliday they celebrate is the correct one and that you're a bad person for not feeling, acting, and spending money on the same way.
I try to find editors, you try to find editors, nobody can find editors, nothing gets edited. Not really, but look here at this pretend scenario:
"Will you edit my story?"
"What's it about?"
"This guy is nailing his girlfriend, then he gets her sister into bed with them."
"Oh, I'm not really into incest. Try someone else."
Not really pretend; that's about three conversations I've had in the last month. Now with the point:
We, as editors, have a professional distance. That is to say, it doesn't matter what the story is about; we'll dot the participials and cross the parentheticals all the same. That's copy editing.
What about literary editing? Here's another situation:
"Is this story any good?"
"I don't know; I had a hard time dealing with the idea that they're brother and sister."
So maybe he likes incest, but suppose there are things he doesn't like:
"Is this story any good?"
"I don't know; I had a hard time dealing with the idea that the woman let a black man have sex with her, especially with her being married to a man as white as she is."
I understand someone was actually turned down for that reason, but when I read the content, I understood. As a writer, my particular kink revolves around incest. When I read the interracial, I simply didn't know what to think about it. I don't find normal MF couplings to be particularly interesting in the first place (why bother when I get enough of it in bed?), and this story was nothing but, just with the guy pointed out as being black.
But is incest any different?
Man, woman, with some of the characters being referred to as "sister" or "brother". While incest turns me on, interracial to me is the same as EC. I answered the guy, "It's a good story, but why is it in IR rather than EC?"
"Because the woman is white and the guy is black."
"I'm sorry, but that doesn't turn me on any extra. If it had been EC, I thought it'd be great. But it's in IR, so I'm looking for that extra bit of kink that takes it out of the default EC, but I just don't see it."
Herein lies the problem, and that was just the beginning. My next challenge was D/S:
"Is this a good story?"
"I don't know; I never fantasized about being handcuffed naked under my boss' desk all day." While I admit I may have wanted to be the boss, the story was written from the guy-under-the-desk's perspective.
I don't even want to get into poetry.
"Is this a good poem?"
"I don't know; I'm not really into poetry. I couldn't tell you if it was good, but I thought the random 'refridgerator' was hilarious."
Maybe I have a personal problem with the categorizing of stories. Many of my own contain group, incest, lesbian, EC, L&T, LW, N&NV, and Anal all at once, yet we have to pick one. Or, as I understand it, the site editors will decide after they look at it.
Putting that aside, what I see is a fundamental problem with the literary editor's ability to critique a story as requested when he, put plainly, doesn't get off on that particular kink. The way I see it being addressed is that we, the editors, make some kind of memo that lets the world know what it is we specialize in, something beyond the simple matter of what it is we're willing to edit. People know I'll edit anything, but as everyone also knows, I have no sense of humor, so sending me a story aimed at that praticular category is the same as making knock knock jokes while being tried for making too many unsafe lane changes whilst driving to the Shark Tank.
That being said, I can proceed with the rest of my holliday spirit without my mind being over-encumbered with serious thoughts. Happy hollidays to you all. May no one try to guilt-trip, patrioticasize, or endear you into thinking that their perception of whichever holliday they celebrate is the correct one and that you're a bad person for not feeling, acting, and spending money on the same way.
