Do you use editors?

[Zootonius]

I knew I could use an editor from the start, but got no offers back then. After a dozen works, I put out another request. This time I got and excellent editor who, besides grammar, offers minor, but wise, rewording advice. My stories tend to get get good ratings but criticized for grammar. Now, that problem is solved.

 

[nice90sguy]

I wish I had an editor for my posts hear.

 

[theWollstonecraftWoman]

I wish I had an editor for my posts hear.

You did that on purpose, didn't you?

 

[KeithD]

I wish I had an editor for my posts hear.

Shouldn't that be:

I wish I had an editor for my posts, hear?

 

[32aa]

Since I started using Grammarly (on my stories; not on my forum posts), the comments about grammar and spelling issues disappeared. So, I assume I manage to create something readable without the use of editors. I don't feel like my stories are important enough to be perfect, and therefore I don't want to bother anyone for editing my drivel.

There's one other Lit-author with whom I exchange beta-reading favors on a regular base. I'd read their work anyway, and I enjoy discussing those stories, so it's win-win. Sometimes, for specific topics, I might contact people from here directly via PM, or in my 'Silly Question Corner'.

I'd never offer to do editing, as I know my limits, but since I do know how to get a story accepted, I sometimes offer Beta Reading for writers who've expressed despair about the Lit system.

I started using Grammary on my newest story. It picks up stuff as I write. It's a free app and it may not be perfect, but it reads smoother. I even went back to one of my previous stories, just for fun, to see what it found. Even after my own editing, which seemed like forever, I was amazed at what it found: missing words, overuse of commas, and miss-used words (sole instead of soul).

I'm an engineer by education and training, so writing fictional stories was always a chore. Just my thoughts

 

[Emotional]

IMHO

The best editors/Beta readers are fellow authors who fall in the same category as you.

Why don't we try to help each other out?

 

[BobbyBrandt]

By the way, I should add I Grammarly has/had a free dashboard. It's not as complete as the plugin. I now use Microsoft office paired with Grammarly and can work right in the story editing as I go. I got tired of the bugs in the free versions of Libre and Apache, along with some of the other free editors available.

Are you saying that you keep Grammarly active as you write?

I find that it slows things down quite a bit as I write, so I leave it off and only turn it on every few chapters to let it do a review. I would be interested in your experience.

 

[nice90sguy]

And helo to you to, Emotional.

 

[gordo12]

Are you saying that you keep Grammarly active as you write?

I find that it slows things down quite a bit as I write, so I leave it off and only turn it on every few chapters to let it do a review. I would be interested in your experience.

Yes, the paid extension in word can be turned on or off. I'm fairly good at spotting stuff while I'm writing, but Grammarly catches things I miss. It does slow me down somewhat, although I can ignore it. I used to have sessions where I'd write a few thousand words; it just flowed. Now I've slowed down and think a little more. I'll often go back and rewrite something because Grammarly didn't like it, and after rereading it I decided I didn't like it either. All-in-all, I like it. I'm no longer the hare, I'm now the tortoise!

 

[Cagivagurl]

This is my opinion only, and worth exactly what you paid for it, nothing.

For my first few stories I didn't use an editor. I didn't know anybody, and wasn't even sure I would continue to write. Thankfully, I received a couple of very generous offers to help, and edit my feeble attempts at writing. I cannot say thank you enough to those kind souls...

I am so fortunate that the person who edits my stories now is the most amazing person and such a sensational editor. (Voted in the readers choice as the best for the last several years)
Using an experienced editor has been the best decision I ever made in trying to improve my writing. Not just for the grammatical errors, of which there are many. It's the suggestions and guidance, when I veer to far of the designated path....
I have learned more from using an editor than I would have ever learned using online programs...

I highly recommend using an editor if you can find one....

I think it probably depends on the editor. For it to work properly you need to have a relationship with your editor that allows both parties to be completely honest. I think it's important that the editor can say "WTF were you thinking. That doesn't work."

If your ego is fragile it might not work. You have to be prepared to be criticised. You don't have to accept their suggestion, but you have to be open to it....

Who knew, you would need an open mind to write erotica....

 

[Bramblethorn]

I am a professional editor but I do use an editor. He's also my primary marketplace publisher. He's a member of Literotica but not active here or in the voluntary editor program. There probably are very few actual editors here and I wish that beta readers (which are very useful and probably all that's needed for Literotica) wouldn't be called editors here. That misleads the expertise writers are led to believe is available to them here.

What do you see as the difference between the two? Is it about which aspects of the story a "beta reader" would look at vs. an "editor", or is it more about level of expertise/training/etc.?

(Acknowledging that copyediting is very different to structural editing, etc. etc.)

 

[KeithD]

Difference between having a real editor and a beta reader? Mainly a difference in the credence that should be accorded to the suggestions of the two. Editors should be giving trained guidance, trained above all else in trying to preserve as much of the author in a work as possible but also having some authority in what they are questioning or suggesting. A beta reader should just be taken at the level of "is this spelled right?" or "I don't get what is being said here" or "Didn't you kill her two pages earlier? Why's she walking around now?" The difference between seeing problems and having a trained solution to problems.

When a writer, especially one without much writing experience, looks at a beta reader and sees an editor, they already are half way down a rathole of misdirection and damage to their work. When they clearly see mainly another set of eyes in review, they can stay on the main path. When a beta reader sells themselves as an editor, you are in a whole mound of kimchee. (And that, essentially, is what the Web site is selling here in the form of the volunteer "editor" program.)

 

[EmilyMiller]

Difference between having a real editor and a beta reader? Mainly a difference in the credence that should be accorded to the suggestions of the two. Editors should be giving trained guidance, trained above all else in trying to preserve as much of the author in a work as possible but also having some authority in what they are questioning or suggesting. A beta reader should just be taken at the level of "is this spelled right?" or "I don't get what is being said here" or "Didn't you kill her two pages earlier? Why's she walking around now?" The difference between seeing problems and having a trained solution to problems.

When a writer, especially one without much writing experience, looks at a beta reader and sees an editor, they already are half way down a rathole of misdirection and damage to their work. When they clearly see mainly another set of eyes in review, they can stay on the main path. When a beta reader sells themselves as an editor, you are in a whole mound of kimchee. (And that, essentially, is what the Web site is selling here in the form of the volunteer "editor" program.)

I had a “editor” suggest I use double spaces after periods as their first suggestion

Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

You must have very dexterous thumbs and atrophied digits otherwise. Or maybe your dominant index finger still has other uses.

Just thinking. I do have small fingers.

This is what guys always claim is a secret advantage when I can climb something they can’t. Like being 5’1” is a major advantage in climbing.

Em

 

[djrip]

I had a “editor” suggest I use double spaces after periods as their first suggestion

Em

I like using double spaces! I'm not sure they are preserved in the published version on lit though, seems like it plays fast and loose with whitespace.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I like using double spaces! I'm not sure they are preserved in the published version on lit though, seems like it plays fast and loose with whitespace.

I think there is a random number generator involved.

Em

 

[Djmac1031]

I've never had an "editor." But I have had proof readers and there are a few fine folks here I converse with that let me bounce ideas off them when I'm stuck and offer their advice/ opinions.

Ultimately I still make the choices but it's nice to be able to pick someone's brain sometimes

 

[KeithD]

I like using double spaces! I'm not sure they are preserved in the published version on lit though, seems like it plays fast and loose with whitespace.

*Sigh* For the three-millionth time.

Actual print does not/never has used two spaces after terminal punctuation. It uses one space plus a small slice of leading. The typewriter couldn't handle this. So, for typing, during the typewriter era that ended two decades ago, two spaces were used. Even during the typewriter era, though, actual printing never used two spaces.

The two spaces were a temporary fix during the rather short-lived typewriter era and even then only for typing. The typewriter era ended two decades ago. The computer manages the necessary adjustments when you provide only onr space. If you provide two spaces on the computer, you're actually making even more white space after terminal punctuation than the typewriter two-space operation provides.

 

[djrip]

*Sigh* For the three-millionth time.

Actual print does not/never has used two spaces after terminal punctuation. It uses one space plus a small slice of leading. The typewriter couldn't handle this. So, for typing, during the typewriter era that ended two decades ago, two spaces were used. Even during the typewriter era, though, actual printing never used two spaces.

The two spaces were a temporary fix during the rather short-lived typewriter era and even then only for typing. The typewriter era ended two decades ago. The computer manages the necessary adjustments when you provide only onr space. If you provide two spaces on the computer, you're actually making even more white space after terminal punctuation than the typewriter two-space operation provides.

Yes but I like it.

 

[KeithD]

I've never had an "editor." But I have had proof readers and there are a few fine folks here I converse with that let me bounce ideas off them when I'm stuck and offer their advice/ opinions.

Ultimately I still make the choices but it's nice to be able to pick someone's brain sometimes

You most likely didn't have a proofreader. The sole function of a proofreader is to compare an old (dead) copy version with a new (live) copy version of the work and note the exact differences between the two. A proofreader doesn't do anything with misspellings or grammar mistakes if they are the same between the two versions. What you had, in the old publishing world, was a reviewer or a subeditor. We now call that function beta reading.

 

[KeithD]

Yes but I like it.

And it's all about you, right?

 

[djrip]

So a proofreader is the same as diff? We've had diff for quite a while.

 

[Djmac1031]

We now call that function beta reading.

Thanks for the clarification. Yeah, beta reader is more accurate. Someone to read what's written so far and offer suggestions or feedback.

 

[djrip]

And it's all about you, right?

Only in my writing!

 

[KeithD]

I think there is a random number generator involved.

Em

I'm quite sure Lit reduces terminal punctuation to the proper one space (with the system adding that skosh bit of leading). It's something their computer system is going to correct automatically. So, all that extra key tapping by the author was useless work. It takes almost no time at all to make that habit adjustment permanently.

I still occasionally get called in by an academic press to help clean up copy before it goes into the publishing system. When an author has sent in copy with two spaces after terminal punctuation, that requires one whole computer pass through the copy to get rid of them and then awareness later that they just might have tapped three times occasionally. No, this doesn't take long, but it's a tell in publishing houses of a sloppy or uninformed author who is going to require more irritating scrutiny across the board than savvy authors will. Everyone in the publishing house puts the house's authors in one of two categories on this. Guess who they treat better and with less scrutiny.

Ever wonder how Laurel decides which author's works to almost knee-jerk post in a uniform two days and who to hold for a week for deeper scrutiny? Go back through the thrice-weekly threads on "How long are your stories taking to post?" and check my almost uniform "still just two days" responses. There's a reason for that--if you want the quicker posting times (It's a generic "you" here; this isn't pointing Emily out just because she's been quoted).