How much to edit

[Rstephens32301]

My stories were initially written for my lover, as such they have many references and inside jokes that a third party wouldn’t get or might be thrown off by. Do you think this kind of stuff should be edited out before submission? Does reading a reference you don’t get pull you out of a story or does it make it feel more intimate, as if you are being let in on the joke?

 

[sirhugs]

You might find more depth of response over at the Author's Hangout forum, where the craft of writing is a regular topic.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Generally speaking, very private references can pull a reader out of a story. I'd scrub through the text and make sure it is accessible without knowledge of your own relationship. A reader is a different kind of partner, but the seduction is through the words on the page.