Editing An Editor

[flyer333]

At work, even though we are all good training developers / writers, we make a point of passing copies of our work amongst ourselves before it goes to print. Even the best editor misses something if it is his/her own work.

I would like to ask the collective group if, as an editor, you do the same. I have been so anxious to this point to release my writings that I have refrained from doing so. I have also seen complaints from some that editors they contacted are slow to respond, which further strengthens my reluctance to do so.

I was wondering what other editors do in this position. Editing a manuscript from another editor would, theoretically, be an easy task.

I know I have been asking a lot of questions as of late. I am trying to learn so that I can be a good editor and one day attain the level of competency you posses. I appreciate your patience and, even more, your responses.

Thanks especially to BS and LC.

As an adult educator I have learned that to be fore-warned is to be fore-armed. I try and anticipate questions so that I am fully prepared when they arise.

 

[LadyCibelle]

At work, even though we are all good training developers / writers, we make a point of passing copies of our work amongst ourselves before it goes to print. Even the best editor misses something if it is his/her own work.

I would like to ask the collective group if, as an editor, you do the same. I have been so anxious to this point to release my writings that I have refrained from doing so. I have also seen complaints from some that editors they contacted are slow to respond, which further strengthens my reluctance to do so.

I was wondering what other editors do in this position. Editing a manuscript from another editor would, theoretically, be an easy task.

I know I have been asking a lot of questions as of late. I am trying to learn so that I can be a good editor and one day attain the level of competency you posses. I appreciate your patience and, even more, your responses.

Thanks especially to BS and LC.

As an adult educator I have learned that to be fore-warned is to be fore-armed. I try and anticipate questions so that I am fully prepared when they arise.

Flyer: Have you heard of the saying "Too many Chefs ruins the sauce"?

Think about it for a second....editors are only human after all....your way of editing is most probably very different from mine, and mine different from, say, Snooper or Artistca. I think it's an utopia to have an more than one editor on any stories..unless you're looking for trouble.

You could read some meaning in a story that another editor wouldn't, see a character go a certain way, whereas another editor would see the same character go another way...what would happen then? Who could the writer trust? Editor #1? #2? #3? When would it stop?

In a perfect World we would all see what everybody else see, understand what everybody else understands; unfortunately we aren't in a perfect world and we're simply human.

 

[flyer333]

I see said the blind man...

Yes, I understand. My work is technical in nature, and so in retrospect we may be checking more than grammar.

As always, THX

 

[snooper]

Re: Re: Editing An Editor

... what would happen then? Who could the writer trust? Editor #1? #2? #3? ...

I take the opposite view, and find no difficulty in reconciling different opinions of my work. As I point out to everyone for whom I edit:
Please do not take these comments as anything other than my personal view. This is your story and you are entirely at liberty to ignore any or all of the following comments. Questions are not to elicit an answer, merely what went through my mind as I read the story the first time.
and
I cannot emphasise enough that it is your story, so you are free to ignore anything and everything I say.
In the last analysis, all an editor can give is advice. The author decides what, exactly, is submitted to Literotica.

 

[sandmartin]

I edit as well write, but I recognise my weakness tends to be gramma, so I always get a second opinion on a story before I submit. I believe my usual editor finds it a relatively minor take up of his time since his recommendations are usually minor. Whilst I am very happy to help with character/plot development and spelling, I have no problem with a writer seeking a second opinion if they wished. However, since I tend to work with the same writers, I would be less happy working with a writer who constantly looked for a second opinion on my editing work - in that case I think I would politely suggest they worked with the other editor full time.

 

[LadyCibelle]

Re: Re: Re: Editing An Editor

I take the opposite view, and find no difficulty in reconciling different opinions of my work. As I point out to everyone for whom I edit:
Please do not take these comments as anything other than my personal view. This is your story and you are entirely at liberty to ignore any or all of the following comments. Questions are not to elicit an answer, merely what went through my mind as I read the story the first time.
and
I cannot emphasise enough that it is your story, so you are free to ignore anything and everything I say.
In the last analysis, all an editor can give is advice. The author decides what, exactly, is submitted to Literotica.

Of course it is and remains the writer's story. But "what if" 2 editors give two completely different analysis of a writer's story? Whose opinion does he take if he, in the first place, isn't sure?

That was my point for the "too many chefs ruins the sauce".

 

[flyer333]

Editing

My original intent for this thread was to ask if anyone runs their manuscript past another editor for obvious errors, not so much content. However I have enjoyed reading your views.

 

[snooper]

Re: Editing

My original intent for this thread was to ask if anyone runs their manuscript past another editor for obvious errors, not so much content. ...

Oh, proof-reading or copy-editing (according to continent) - yes, everybody needs that. When you read your own work, you see what you expect, not what is there.

 

[BlackSnake]

Re: Re: Editing

Oh, proof-reading or copy-editing (according to continent) - yes, everybody needs that. When you read your own work, you see what you expect, not what is there.

And this is why editors are so important. They are initially removed from the work. I constantly try to get people to see what I'm saying.

 

[elsol]

Re: Re: Re: Editing

Weird... this didn't end up in the thread I was reading...

Ignore...

 

[richhayes]

Editing an editor

When I edit a story I do not, as a rule, pass it to another editor. If the author wants another editor to look at it after I have returned it to them, then that is their business. They are the ones with their names on the story and I can understand why they want it to be the best it can be.

 

[Weird Harold]

Of course it is and remains the writer's story. But "what if" 2 editors give two completely different analysis of a writer's story? Whose opinion does he take if he, in the first place, isn't sure?

That was my point for the "too many chefs ruins the sauce".

My personal prefernce as an author is to have no less than five editors look over my work.

I've found that every editor who looks at my work finds something different and/or has different opinion on how to correct problem areas where the found the same things.

Whose opinion to give priority to when editors disagree, depends on how well they explain what they see as a problem and what change they recommend. Its not hard to decide when one opinion "resonates" with what the author was trying to say and the other opinion doesn't.

Sometimes no editor's opinion "resonates" with an author's but the combined analyses of the problem suggest a correction that is the author's own.

Every author and every volunteer editor should be aware that -- other than spelling corrections for misused homonyms -- the author's opinion is the only one that really matters.

Every author should retain a copy of their original work to compare with what their editor returns to them (a very simple and accurate process with MS Word's File Compare/Track changes function) so that they know exactly what changes the editor(s) made and can accept or reject the changes.

I do very little editing now, in part because I won't edit in anything other than MS Word format. I found that any other format -- except WordPerfect, which I am not comfortble using -- doesn't allow me to communicate with the client author in a way that I can be assured they find all of the edits and understand why I suggested the changes.

WehnI do edit something, I make as clear as I can What changed, Why I changed it, and which changes are personal opinion vs "error corrections"

I have edited for some exceptional editors -- and had them edit for me in return. It is indeed much easier to edit for an author who is also an editor in many ways and much harder in others. Editing for competent author/editor runs more to matters of opinion and style than "hard error corrections" that can be easily defended.