Timing Is Everything!

[AsylumSeeker]

Writers, please do not seek an editor before a story is finished. I had an editing request and set time aside this past weekend for doing this, yet the writer still has not yet finished the story!

Don't put the cart before the horse! This is frustrating for me as an editor for having preserved time that has gone wasted. This is time I cannot reclaim that is a waste, as I could have spent it doing other things, but being the dedicated person I am I instead sat idly by checking email time after time trusting in what I was told.

Well, maybe this is a lesson to me as well. This is just who I am. No more, as far as I am concerned. I'm a fed up editor tired of listening to writers bitching about editors while it is the writers who are taking advantage of US!

Time for a vacation, writers NOT INVITED!

 

[BrianCaster]

Asylum, I'm laughing after reading it.

 

[sr71plt]

It's a valid complaint, I think. And it hits the professional world as well. Scheduling the time to do an editing project often involves turning down other opportunities--thus denial of income.

I try not to take it too hard, as it opens time for my own writing that I don't have to feel guilty about.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Asylum, I'm laughing after reading it.

Not sure why you are humored by this thread. One can interpret this as mockery, and if so it will will be a cold day in hell before I waste the time I have wasted in the past trying to decipher your stories and interpret them into a readable language.

Unsure otherwise. Still thinking I will end this relationship anyway.

Find another editor... or explain the meaning of your post??

 

[BrianCaster]

" I had an editing request and set time aside this past weekend for doing this, yet the writer still has not yet finished the story!

Don't put the cart before the horse! "

I'm laughing because of the above sentences in your thread.

Asylum, i never hurt even those people who has played big role in making the hell the first twenty five years of my life. Then why I hurt you. It's not a big problem that you won't edit my stories but it's unbearable for me that because of me, you are offended. I beg your pardon, so I can sleep soundly next night.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

" I had an editing request and set time aside this past weekend for doing this, yet the writer still has not yet finished the story!

Don't put the cart before the horse! "

I'm laughing because of the above sentences in your thread.

Asylum, i never hurt even those people who has played big role in making the hell the first twenty five years of my life. Then why I hurt you. It's not a big problem that you won't edit my stories but it's unbearable for me that because of me, you are offended. I beg your pardon, so I can sleep soundly next night.

Brian, this is not about you. And it is not true that I will not edit for you. In fact I was wondering why you had ceased sending me your stories. This is better handled in a PM.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

I created this thread because I was a bit, well, pissed off. I'm the type of guy who likes to "clean my plate" so to speak. I don't like to have an edit "hanging over my head". I want it done with so I can do other things. So when I agree to something I keep my word and see it through, but I want it done quickly. This is why I won't "stack" stories for editing. I'll take on a few but when I think I'm getting over my head I stop.

It's not fair to me, as an editor, or to writers to keep them waiting.

Okay, have stories to edit. Just got another from Brian.

 

[mythtrav16]

I created this thread because I was a bit, well, pissed off. I'm the type of guy who likes to "clean my plate" so to speak. I don't like to have an edit "hanging over my head". I want it done with so I can do other things. So when I agree to something I keep my word and see it through, but I want it done quickly. This is why I won't "stack" stories for editing. I'll take on a few but when I think I'm getting over my head I stop.

It's not fair to me, as an editor, or to writers to keep them waiting.

Okay, have stories to edit. Just got another from Brian.

I can understand your gripe, but to be fair there's another side to the story (excuse the pun) and I can understand why someone would seek out an editor well before they had their finished product. Hell, I'm tossing up whether or not to do that myself with a future story.

I've just spent 2 weeks waiting for 2 seperate editors to get back to me and let me know if they're interested in editing my latest story, but I never received a reply one way or the other from either of them. So my story's just been sitting around for two weeks waiting to be posted.

I'm just gonna post it as-is, now. But if I decide to try collaborating with an editor in the future, I would be very tempted to line one up before I finished writing.

 

[snoopercharmbrights]

... I've just spent 2 weeks waiting for 2 seperate editors to get back to me and let me know if they're interested in editing my latest story, but I never received a reply one way or the other from either of them. ...

Let me guess - you tried to use the official Volunteer Editors list. It doesn't work because there is no mechanism for weeding out dead entries. The sticky threads of this and last month's available editors at the top of this forum work much better.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

I can understand your gripe, but to be fair there's another side to the story (excuse the pun) and I can understand why someone would seek out an editor well before they had their finished product. Hell, I'm tossing up whether or not to do that myself with a future story.

I've just spent 2 weeks waiting for 2 seperate editors to get back to me and let me know if they're interested in editing my latest story, but I never received a reply one way or the other from either of them. So my story's just been sitting around for two weeks waiting to be posted.

I'm just gonna post it as-is, now. But if I decide to try collaborating with an editor in the future, I would be very tempted to line one up before I finished writing.

This is a forum of ideas and it is working, or so it seems. We are seeing both sides of the story. Being who I am, my nature, I just handled it wrong, setting time aside and waiting "by the phone" one could say, for a story that would not come to pass (and still has not). And so I was, in my mind, rightfully displeasured. But this is me. Your experiences are different. I am truly sorry that you have had a bad experience with editors, those of us here dedicate many hours of our lives to the cause. I wish I could handle more, but I work full time to survive and my opportunities are limited., Plus I also enjoy writing when I can.

All I ask is that if you "line one up before", make sure you let the editor know "in advance" that the story is unfinished. Enough said.

 

[mythtrav16]

Let me guess - you tried to use the official Volunteer Editors list. It doesn't work because there is no mechanism for weeding out dead entries. The sticky threads of this and last month's available editors at the top of this forum work much better.

You guessed right, that is how I sought an editor. I've had a look at the sticky threads as you suggested and decided to give it another try afterall. Thanks for the advice.

...All I ask is that if you "line one up before", make sure you let the editor know "in advance" that the story is unfinished. Enough said.

I certainly will.

 

[kittykatbc]

I think that it is about respect. Communication between a writer and an editor is very important. I work full time, run a household and have a life. When I choose to work with writer I give them a time line of when I will have it back to them and if something comes up then I let them know as soon as possible. I would be annoyed if I set time aside and they did not have their story finished.

Be up front with each other about what is going on, what you want from each other and remember that the editor is volunteering.

 

[Fran26]

I am beginning to understand the site , My story is a true story of a decision i made last spring witch ended a 3 years relation .i wil ask for an editor as soon as it is finished writing . Thank for specifying here that the writing must be completed before seeking an editor
fran 26

 

[snoopercharmbrights]

... i wil ask for an editor as soon as it is finished writing . Thank for specifying here that the writing must be completed before seeking an editor ...

The only exception to that would be for very long stories (>100K words) where it may be helpful to both author and editor to proceed through the story as it builds, IF and ONLY IF the author writes from start to finish. Those authors who write the chapters in a non-linear fashion (and I am one) can gain nothing from putting parts in random order before an editor. That is because the author has the essence of the whole story hidden away in their mind, and the editor does not have access to that.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Just to note, the writer who contacted me a few weeks ago has still not produced a story, at least admittedly so.

I have been editing others, though.

 

[sr71plt]

The only exception to that would be for very long stories (>100K words) where it may be helpful to both author and editor to proceed through the story as it builds.

Can't agree with this. I don't think it wise to edit fiction until it's all done. It's one piece of fabric, following a story arc. Until that story is finished, nothing before is finished enough for an editor to be working on it. I wouldn't take any fiction until the author thought it was done (and polished).

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Can't agree with this. I don't think it wise to edit fiction until it's all done. It's one piece of fabric, following a story arc. Until that story is finished, nothing before is finished enough for an editor to be working on it. I wouldn't take any fiction until the author thought it was done (and polished).

Agreeing with SR here.