Editor/contributor ethics

[tan82]

These are some things I've been thinking about:

How far do you think that an editor can go? I've read about making small corrections or to improve on the grammar, but are there any limits to what's acceptable? Have you made some editorial decisions that weren't appreciated by the writer?
And have you written threads for a story where you felt that the editor went too far?


As a writer, how much is it acceptable to make up or change when contributing to a story? I have added a couple of threads to some stories I like, but I kind of feel like my threads don't fit in. It's like they are too long and set a different pace than the rest of the threads in the story.
Looking past the writers who just add one-liner threads, which I've already read about, have you felt that a writer, or yourself, added threads that just didn't go along with the rest of the story? Either because of the way the story develops in that thread, or because it was too long, written very poorly, or that it simply was heading in a direction that you didn't like?


I also have a personal issue regarding this. I have recently created my first story. I have a lot of threads planned for it, and though I started it off as an open story, I've been debating with myself whether that's something I really want. I've been thinking that I have so much planned that I probably don't want people to begin adding to it yet. I don't want someone to add a thread that takes up that fourth slot I needed to follow up. Nor do I really want someone to take the story in the wrong direction. That's why I want to add some more first, and then at some point allow people to add to it.
I arrived at the decision that I made a mistake in creating the story in open mode, and that I was going to correct that. However, now someone has added a thread to my story, and I really don't know whether it's okay to just close the thread then. I mean, that's what I want to do, but I also don't know how the writer will react to that.

I'll also add that my story was approved three days ago, and I think that it's rather soon for someone else to begin adding to it. When I've added threads it was to old stories where the creator had had time to develop the story first.

 

[Zingiber]

I think writers are scarce enough that it's not a matter of ethics so much as finding a mutually acceptable accommodation that gives editor and writers a feeling that it's a fun experience.

I'd be dismayed if a contributed thread was heavily edited by a story owner days after it was accepted, but an explanation could help me feel better.

My own sense is that the editor is the story owner and needs to pay attention to whether a thread fits into the vision or not. This sort of care includes approving or denying threads and editing threads into shape. Sometimes I've made rather extensive edits to try and save a thread for the story, since my experience with sending threads back for re-work is that they haven't been resubmitted.

You should try contributing to others' stories, if you find any interesting openings, and reflect on your experience with them. This may give you a sense of what sort of relationship you would want with collaborators.

Threads and stories don't seem to get much spontaneous commentary, so you might want to consider promoting your story here on the Literotica/Chyoo forums and asking for comments, if this is of interest to you. (Some of the threads in my own stories finish with "If you rate this thread, please comment as well!") .

If you're concerned about others' contributions driving your story off track, by all means keep it closed. If you feel lucky, open it up, but calmly apply your own standards of whether a contribution adds something worthwhile. Point to your guidelines (for example: "Caution to writers: I will only accept threads that I think are very strong contributions to the story; if you have a question as to whether your thread idea might apply, send me mail via the web-form before spending lots of time developing an idea that would never be accepted.") and let any complaints roll off your back.

If someone jumps in and takes the fourth thread slot, there are ways to add a fifth. Or simply deny the thread. You are the editor of your own story, after all. If it's too late and the thread is in, "report thread" to the Chyoo site editors and ask that it be removed. The volunteer site editors are people who are writers promoted from the ranks, are fairly responsive, and read the forums. (The site maintainers and developers, on the other hand, only seem to have enough time to keep the site up in its current form.)

I'd suggest that you deny the contributed thread, explaining that you're not quite ready for contributions at this point. Do mark the story Closed, so you don't have to do this more than once. If you like the writer's style otherwise, you might wish to say so (via the web form on their user page) and invite the writer to contribute again once you're really ready to consider receiving them.

Much of the fun of this site for me is in collaborative story-telling.

Happy writing,

-Z.

 

[tan82]

Okay, thank you for your reply. I have contacted the writer and I'm going to close the thread again. I'm not sure what to do when I want to deny the thread. I don't want to press the wrong button and accidently approve the thread so I will need a moderator to remove it again.
Is it the one where I'm asked to approve changes, or do I simply delete all the text and the question leading up to the thread?

 

[Zingiber]

There's a radio button control for "approve" vs. "deny" on the thread approval page. Choose the deny option, write in the reason and press the button to submit your decision.

Deleting all the content will fail the consistency check for a non-empty thread. What I've seen people do to their own threads is to delete the story content and replace it with a single '.'. Don't do this to this thread -- just deny it.

-Z

 

[wicker]

I had an editor add one small sentence to the end of one of my threads that totally negated the thread!

If an editor takes someone else's long thread, breaks it into two, will he be able to post both under the other person's name or just one!

 

[TwiztedClown]

I think the best ethics a write could have is to add more to my stories
Sorry, cheap promotion of my stories

 

[tan82]

I wonder how the various editors on chyoo view themselves. I'm guessing there are those who prefer to just let people do what they want with their threads, and just edit if there are manor problems with names or POV.

I'm also assuming there are those who sort of have their own idea of how a story should progress and as such make sure that the approved threads fit into that vision.

This makes me think of how people view their contributions to chyoo. Some appear to like to collaborate a lot with other writers, in that they will set up a thread and prefer others to answer the follow up questions. They might of course just never get back to finished their storyline, or perhaps they really never had any intentions of continuing it on their own.

I'm just guessing here, of course, but I'm probably more along the line of wanting to continue on my own story. Either in my own thread or by setting up a branching storyline in an existing story. All with the intention of continuing for several threads, but I've found that there are those that I just never return to, which is kind of a shame really. I'm thinking that I probably wouldn't want my threads to be edited overly much for this reason, as I probably have my own vision of my little storyline, which may in tyrn conflict with the editor's vision.

That's why I have decided to close my own story so I can work on it some more on my own. It's my little project and will remain so for a while. Then I'll consider whether I want others to join in.


P.S. Thanks for the help, Zingiber. I've got it figured out now.

 

[horny-oz]

I'm more of a nazi editor on stories that I've created than ones that I'm adopted editor of (Though I've only started a few stories) But usually the main things I look at:

Length, if its 3 lines long chances are its dead meat, unless it’s a bridge or something for a link which in context works well.

I run all entries through spell check, and grammar. I don't mind bad spelling...to a point.

Content: Make sure it doesn't touch on the taboo subjects and that the continuity is all in order.

That's not much really, I'm fairly mellow. I've been lucky in that nearly all threads submitted to my own personally created stories have been excellent, or so obviously shit that the choice of whether to approve or deny was easy. Even though some have gone on tangents I would never have imagined myself, which is the fun of collaboration. Which frankly I don't do even remotely enough.

 

[Zingiber]

If an editor takes someone else's long thread, breaks it into two, will he be able to post both under the other person's name or just one?

If the editor is in close communication with the contributing author, the editor can request that the author break the thread at a specific point.

If the editor breaks a contributed thread (as I have) and posts the second half as a follow-up, the second half is posted under the editor's name. I prefer to add as a prefatory note to the thread, (Originally contributed by [Author]) in this case.


-Z

 

[Menoetes]

My two cents worth:

I can see why some people would be very rigid about how they want their story to go, a lot of hard work can go into developing a storyline and trying to reach a point in the general plot that you've been aiming for. It would suck to have someone come in and latch on to a piece of that work and send it in their own direction.

However at the same time I can't help but to feel that if you open a story, you really are inviting others to contribute. I know I've worked hard on contributions to a story only to have it thrown back in my face with little more than a "no thanks" and it doesn't reflect well on anyone and it's down-right discouraging. I like to leave my own story open to be taken pretty much any way the writers like, just so long as they do it well. So I'm only inclined to fix spelling and grammer

I only really have one story I've been working on for a very long time (over 35,000 words of just my own work) and that's partially because I don't like the rejection of my work by others. At least this way I have control of my own work and I've got some good feedback too. I find that laying out the law in the writing guidelines (as some of you have done and I've followed that lead) generally sets a good feel for other writers. Give them freedom or give them death!

On another note, feedback rocks! I love getting it and try to give it as much as possible, people telling you what they thought of your work or pointing out mistakes that you've missed is fantastic - i wish people used it more