Editing Help Appreciated

[AsylumSeeker]

I told myself I wouldn't return, but I still edit and I am more concerned with doing the "write" thing than my frail pride, which has taken a self-inflicted hit as of late.

Okay, two questions actually, a result of two different writers.

One writer likes using double dashes instead of single ones -- acceptable? Allow me to provide an example.

"I know it’s--“

Second question. I know that pronouns are capitalized. I also think that one may refer to another in a way that is not a pronoun. I refer to many people as "Hey there guy" but if the proper name of a guy is "Guy" then it's capitalized. Same idea, but the writer is using "Hey there, sweetie..." which makes me ask what is proper, lowercase or uppercase "S".

Just trying to get it right.

Since I'm at it, a third question comes to mind. A writer uses ". <space> . <space> ." instead of the usual ellipsis. I removed the spaces. Am I right or wrong?

Thanks knowledgeable editors.

 

[snoopercharmbrights]

... One writer likes using double dashes instead of single ones -- acceptable? ...

Yes. It comes from the typewriter/teleprinter days when we didn't have en dashes (–) or em dashes (—).

... I know that pronouns are capitalized. I also think that one may refer to another in a way that is not a pronoun. I refer to many people as "Hey there guy" but if the proper name of a guy is "Guy" then it's capitalized. Same idea, but the writer is using "Hey there, sweetie..." which makes me ask what is proper, lowercase or uppercase "S"....

The only pronoun capitalised is "I"; "you". "they" etc. are not normally capitalised unless it is the first word of a sentence. The curious habit of capitalising pronouns referring to a master in D/S situations is stupid, as it takes a genius to get them all right. In the UK a pronoun referring to a deity would also be capitalised, as in "... hallowed be Thy name ...".

... A writer uses ". <space> . <space> ." instead of the usual ellipsis. I removed the spaces. Am I right or wrong? ...

You are right. An ellipsis consists of exactly three dots and is a single character in most fonts.

 

[driphoney]

I actually brought up ellipses and dashes on a thread over in the AH a short while ago. I was hoping some of those posting there would see this thread and comment. Maybe I burnt them out. While spaces between ellipses were not part of the original question, nor addressed specifically in the Chicago Manual of Style quotation that was used, it was brought up as an aside. Here's the thread:

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=674345

Not worth reading everything on the thread, as usual, it wandered off. The golden nuggets of the thread are posts #11 (Mistress Lynn) and #18 (SR).

Of course, the CMS is only used in the US, I guess; for Britain and elsewhere I'm sure it's different.

As for the em dash. This is new to me, too. I lost with someone recently about it. The abrupt cut-off thought uses the em dash, and that double dash (comes from being the length of an "m") as no space between the dash and characters it separates. You see an example of that in post #14. It looks goofy to me and I like a space between, but the Powers That Be keep forgetting to ask me. This isn't just the CMS rule, but also MLA for college writing. Don't know about APA or standards outside the US.

 

[Guest]

Given that I've been using the ellipsis without spaces for nigh onto forty years, I'm not sure that I'll ever warm up to CMOS's addition of those spaces. It is, based on my omnivorous reading, a fairly recent change.

I've always used the em-dash without a space. I actually had a reader take me to task (vituperatively, via e-mail) for using it to indicate cut-off thought or to add thoughts within a sentence that could be expressed parenthetically.

Jist no pleasin' everybody, I guess.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

I actually brought up ellipses and dashes on a thread over in the AH a short while ago. I was hoping some of those posting there would see this thread and comment. Maybe I burnt them out. While spaces between ellipses were not part of the original question, nor addressed specifically in the Chicago Manual of Style quotation that was used, it was brought up as an aside. Here's the thread:

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=674345

Not worth reading everything on the thread, as usual, it wandered off. The golden nuggets of the thread are posts #11 (Mistress Lynn) and #18 (SR).

Of course, the CMS is only used in the US, I guess; for Britain and elsewhere I'm sure it's different.

As for the em dash. This is new to me, too. I lost with someone recently about it. The abrupt cut-off thought uses the em dash, and that double dash (comes from being the length of an "m") as no space between the dash and characters it separates. You see an example of that in post #14. It looks goofy to me and I like a space between, but the Powers That Be keep forgetting to ask me. This isn't just the CMS rule, but also MLA for college writing. Don't know about APA or standards outside the US.

I was just trying to do right by you, DH.

 

[driphoney]

I was just trying to do right by you, DH.

I know.

I was having some of these questions myself a week or so ago, but I know you don't go shark swimming over in the AH, so wouldn't have seen the thread.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

I know.

I was having some of these questions myself a week or so ago, but I know you don't go shark swimming over in the AH, so wouldn't have seen the thread.

No, I get into quite enough trouble here <sigh>

 

[snoopercharmbrights]

Yet again, Rudyard Kipling seems to sum it up:

There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays,
And every single one of them is right!

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Pretty soon there'll be so many "other rules" that anything goes, thereby eliminating the need for editors. Then I can get back to more important things, like looking at dirty magazines and playing brainless video games.

 

[driphoney]

Pretty soon there'll be so many "other rules" that anything goes, thereby eliminating the need for editors. Then I can get back to more important things, like looking at dirty magazines and playing brainless video games.

Football. Don't forget football.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Pretty soon there'll be so many "other rules" that anything goes, thereby eliminating the need for editors. Then I can get back to more important things, like looking at dirty magazines and playing brainless video games.

I suggest you do it soon.

 

[sr71plt]

Given that I've been using the ellipsis without spaces for nigh onto forty years, I'm not sure that I'll ever warm up to CMOS's addition of those spaces. It is, based on my omnivorous reading, a fairly recent change.

Hmmmm. Who told you that the publishers addition of spaces around the dots in ellipses was either new (it isn't; that's what printing has always done) or new to the Chicago Manual of Style (it's not; that's how previous editions have marked it)? You just haven't been using printers' style for those forty years.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

I suggest you do it soon.

This was unexpeced. Are death threats to follow? I'd appreciate some clarification if you are at all capable of providing it. And if you think this may be a clever way of getting me to spend many hours poring over your miserable story for free, you're wrong.

 

[sr71plt]

That's just JBJ's way of posting. He's just spreading out from the AH.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

That's just JBJ's way of posting. He's just spreading out from the AH.

Not familiar with this individual, but it does seem that we have cycles here which we have to endure. Glad to see you, SR. Thanks for the input.

But getting back on topic, as an editor I am frustrated. I try so hard to do what I think is my level best for the writers I edit for. And then there are so many "styles". I just can't keep up! I was being facetious when I was suggesting editors have no place. Look at unedited stories here and this becomes clear.

I was merely venting my frustration at being unable to keep up. I work for a living, and not as an editor, so I don't have the opportunity to "keep up". All I do is the best I can. Haven't heard any complaints yet, just support. Thanks, DP!

Okay, all is well here... and within the mod's guidelines, I think.

 

[sr71plt]

And then there are so many "styles".

It's not that hard for the U.S. market to keep up with the prevailing style for editing fiction. Nearly every mainline publisher uses the Chicago Manual of Style as an authority for fiction. Those rebelling against just using this style are just making their lives unnecessarily difficult. Of course there isn't an answer for everything in the CMA.

 

[_Lynn_]

It's not that hard for the U.S. market to keep up with the prevailing style for editing fiction. Nearly every mainline publisher uses the Chicago Manual of Style as an authority for fiction. Those rebelling against just using this style are just making their lives unnecessarily difficult. Of course there isn't an answer for everything in the CMA.

I've found the CMS to be very helpful. Learning what's correct and/or acceptable improved my writing a great deal.

 

[sr71plt]

What someone needs to understand and absorb if they want to be an editor is that it isn't all about them. Publishers want standardization and clarity. They put the reader first. They are not keen on having either the author's or the editor's foibles getting in the way of a smooth read. That's why, for the most part, they would just prefer to have standard guidance to follow. The author and editor don't have to either fully understand or agree with the choices a standard like the Chicago Manual of Style makes. When it comes down to reader comprehension, it isn't all about either the author or the editor. For the editor's part, a successful edit is one in which the read is good and there's no evidence the editor has been there at all.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

I totally agree, SR. I wasn't insinutaing it's about me at all, I was placing emphasis on the importance of the writers, of making sure I get it right for them. But in the end it is the ultimate end-source, the readers, who we're all in collusion to make happy.

And therefore I will keep editing the way I know how, utilizing the answers to questions I've received here from you and others, and try and help in any way I can.

 

[sr71plt]

Naw, I wasn't addressing my post to anyone in particular. But it does make the editing job easier if you just go with the flow that the publishing industry has tried to make simple. Folks seem to want to make it harder for themselves--mostly, in seems, by trying to justify what they (think they) retain from high school English, when commercial publishing is a whole different world.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Naw, I wasn't addressing my post to anyone in particular. But it does make the editing job easier if you just go with the flow that the publishing industry has tried to make simple. Folks seem to want to make it harder for themselves--mostly, in seems, by trying to justify what they (think they) retain from high school English, when commercial publishing is a whole different world.

Yeah, one standard... I can agree with this. Military precision. Makes life easier for us all. And if I'm using this standard and the writer disagrees, this is why there's more than one.

Well said.