Editors/proof readers?

[Keirarose]

Does anyone use them? Are they helpful?

Considering someone to help me with a gay male story that I've been working on. I feel like I've read it too many times and now I'm just missing things and things that make sense to me, might not make sense to the readers.

Just wondering people's experience with having people look over their work before submitting it

 

[HeyAll]

Some just check grammar.

But others are really hands on and help with writing quality, which can take a story to a new level.

So yes, I'd say its helpful if you are new to writing erotica.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Go to this Forum for all things editorial

http://forum.literotica.com/forumdisplay.php?f=9

 

[tomlitilia]

I find it really useful with a pair of extra eyes. I get blind to my own mistakes. Mostly I ask for grammar/spelling edits, but also for pointing out inconsistencies. Good editors are hard to find, so you may have to search for a while before you find one. But it's worth it, in my experience.

 

[HisArpy]

Does anyone use them? Are they helpful?

Considering someone to help me with a gay male story that I've been working on. I feel like I've read it too many times and now I'm just missing things and things that make sense to me, might not make sense to the readers.

Just wondering people's experience with having people look over their work before submitting it

I find that having someone read my stuff helps correct the mistakes I make and can't see. However, the best thing I've found to do is have someone else read it and suggest fixes, make corrections based on those suggestions, and then let it sit for a week or so. That way I tend to forget about the minutia and will re-read it with eyes that can usually spot those mistakes in spelling, grammar, word choices, and where the plot skips or disengages the reader.

I know that it's hard to do the above even for me. Mostly because I'm usually too eager to get the work published. Plus I can't seem to leave the story alone while the beta reader/editor has it. (I want to make it BETTER!) But if you can muster the self discipline, follow those steps and your work will improve.

 

[Arthur_J_Cummings]

Like a good brew you need to let it sit and ferment in your mind for a little while, a week, a month, hell a year if you have the time but even then you may have lots of errors or lest that is my problem. I try to go over and find the errors but extra eyes help a lot.

Speaking of which, I am still trying to throw off the shackles of technical writing, that was ingrained in me from middle school to college. Anyone recommend a grammar book for creative writing?

 

[Voboy]

Like a good brew you need to let it sit and ferment in your mind for a little while, a week, a month, hell a year if you have the time but even then you may have lots of errors or lest that is my problem. I try to go over and find the errors but extra eyes help a lot.

Speaking of which, I am still trying to throw off the shackles of technical writing, that was ingrained in me from middle school to college. Anyone recommend a grammar book for creative writing?

You’re better off reading lots of well-written, non-technical prose. Lots. Find some authors you like, soak up their words, and let yourself decide what it is you like about them. Don’t copy them, but let them influence you.

 

[LoquiSordidaAdMe]

Does anyone use them? Are they helpful?

Considering someone to help me with a gay male story that I've been working on. I feel like I've read it too many times and now I'm just missing things and things that make sense to me, might not make sense to the readers.

Just wondering people's experience with having people look over their work before submitting it

I'm exactly the same way. I spend so much time reading and re-reading a work in progress, that I can't tell what's good or bad about it any more. I always have someone read through a work before I submitted it, but it can be hard to find someone.

I don't feel like I need a grammar checker as much as I need someone to read the story to be sure it all makes as much sense as I think it does. These folks are called "Beta Readers" and they are a bit easier to find than "Editors".

I have found two through the Editor's Forum. If you go that route, make you specify "Beta Reader" (if that's all you want) and give them a word count and category up front. Sometimes you get lucky.

My third was a reader who enjoyed one of my stories and sent me a PM offering to beta read for me. If you have any fans of previous stories who have reached out to you, or left comments, you might consider contacting them and asking if they would beta read your new story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'm exactly the same way. I spend so much time reading and re-reading a work in progress, that I can't tell what's good or bad about it any more. I always have someone read through a work before I submitted it, but it can be hard to find someone.

I'm lucky in that my raw text is usually pretty good and I don't edit much - my practice is to read over the previously written section at the start of the next session, correct typos, tweak the text some, change words, make sure tense is consistent and a bunch of other things I look for; and only then do I write new content.

That way my continuity stays on track, the rhythm of the writing keeps its beat, or speeds up slows down depending on the mood, and it stays fresh. I can't work and rework over and over, for me that sucks the soul out if it. Some of my writing gets in very close and intimate, and the rawness is part of why it works.

Every now and then, for longer works or where writing's been interrupted, I go back and read the whole draft over. When I find bits where I say, "did I write that? That's good..." that's when I know the writing's OK.

This edit method works for me - and when readers comment on different stories using nearly the same words - words like 'smooth and easy', 'like a river flowing', 'almost poetic', 'like whiskey by a fire', 'curled up at your feet' - then I know it works for the end-product too.

 

[rjordan]

You’re better off reading lots of well-written, non-technical prose. Lots. Find some authors you like, soak up their words, and let yourself decide what it is you like about them. Don’t copy them, but let them influence you.

I think that's good advice. When I was a new engineering graduate, I worked for one of the Big Three auto companies. New engineers had to work in Tech Pubs for a year. It set back my ability to write about 10 years. I decided against working for a massive corporation. I found a way into popular auto and motorcycle journalism and had to learn how to write all over again. When I started writing fiction here, I started all over AGAIN.

The grammar rules are largely the same for all, but the flow is entirely different. It takes a while to pick it up. I read a lot of other journos before I developed a distinct style of my own that was compatible with the needs of my employers, advertisers and readers.

Same with reading favorite authors. It takes awhile to pick it up. As you say, it's not a matter of copying them. You begin to recognize their style and consciously or not it begins to influence your own.

rj

 

[Keirarose]

Thanks

Thanks for all the input. I definitely think I could benefit from a beta reader!! Possibly an editor too because i abuse commas
I'm trying to let this story sit but ugh. It's so hard! I'm really stoked about it. I hope it's as good as I think it will be? Hope it will be?

 

[plesmoreagain]

PM me if you wish to discuss - I have beta read before

 

[Athalia]

I have an editor who is a friend I've known for years and years and years, and I find him invaluable. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have him. He's the one who actually got me writing erotica.

He's more than beta reader and less than an editor, in the usual sense of the word. Along with catching most of my mistakes in grammar and spelling, he'll check my continuity ... if a character's name changes from Rob to Bob within the story, he catches it. If timelines don't agree, he catches it. And he'll sometimes highlight a paragraph and say "I'm not sure this means what you think it means." But that's it. He leaves me alone when it comes to plotting or pacing.

In my first couple of stories, he did some re-writes at dialogue, which I sucked at, but he hasn't done that in many years, so maybe I'm better at that now. I think the improvement was just a matter of realizing my characters more fully, and letting them speak in their own voices.