Looking for an editor?

[dr_mabeuse]

What's with these people who write:

"I need a editor can help me edit this story i wrote 4 speeling ect."

If your post asking for assistance is this illiterate, do you really think anyone's going to be dumb enough to volunteer to help you edit something you've written? You don't need an editor, you need someone to teach you learn basic English.

Posts don't have to be letter perfect, but if you're asking for help in eidting or proofreading, they should at least indicate that you have some command of rudimentary English. I mean, use your head!

---dr.M.

 

[snooper]

I am partially in agreement with you, Dr.M., but not completely. I actually believe that most people who post such poorly constructed messages actually believe that it does not matter if postings are very 'informal'. Some even use text messaging language. However, they may use more care in writing their fiction.

Personally, I believe that any communication is improved by the use of correct grammar and spelling, irrespective of how 'informal' the context.

Oh, and by the way:

... in eidting or ...

 

[wornoutkeyboard]

Amen Good Doctor.

~WOK

 

[hiddenself]

Luke in for an edit or

I actually believe that most people who post such poorly constructed messages actually believe that it does not matter if postings are very 'informal'.

It would be interesting to put this hypothesis to a test, but I have no inclination to do that myself. My own hypothesis is the opposite: most people are truly unware of how badly consturcted or spelled their messages are (hence, an editor should expect much of the same in their writing efforts). But, by the same token, if they do indeed think that their writing is decent, how much can they be blamed for soliciting editors the way they do?

 

[HawaiiBill]

Literotica is unique. Protect it.

I know of no better source for the variety of sexual experience and attitudes about those experiences than Literotica. It's all here folks, except for the few 'forbidden topics' such as bestiality and the age restriction. No problem.

To continue and expand that valued collection it should be the case that folks with an experience but no special writing ability should receive requested help to get their offering into readable shape. Sexual experiences of value to this site aren't limited to those skilled in writing, sad to say. But that doesn't lessen their value. As a volunteer editor, I feel able to assist that process and, in my case, I don't mind if the assistance goes to a person unskilled in writing.

I can write, thank you, but I could not have told many of the stories that are on file here. There is surprising negativity in parts of the Literotica community, however, that surfaces in this decrying of the search for help in expression. That sucks, if you'll pardon the expression.

Elsewhere in these forums a writer discussion of incest has an abundance of "Ew, that makes me sick" attitude. That same forum acknowledges incest is one of the most popular Literotica subjects so could there be some classic denial at play in that pristine view? Most wrote that it is the lure of the forbidden that builds this mysterious -- to them -- popularity. Little do they know.

And, in this thread, the palpable Harvard graduate syndrome favoring purely wrought grammar and syntax may help some writers but it won't be helpful to many... including those who need help most.

Literotica is not a college writing course and it shouldn't be. It's a web site devoted to erotica and I don't see any signs at the entrance requiring advanced degrees or ability to either read or submit material.

There is also no requirement that editors accept every story. If a tale isn't to your taste, send it back with a polite 'No Thanks' and point the writer to the list of available editors. Getting stuffy about writing quality is as offensive to me as being negative on someone's sexual preference merely because it isn't shared in the almighty editor's closet.

 

[snooper]

Re: Literotica is unique. Protect it.

To continue and expand that valued collection it should be the case that folks with an experience but no special writing ability should receive requested help to get their offering into readable shape.

Help, yes, but not basic grammar, such as where to put full stops, and to make verbs agree with their subjects.

And, in this thread, the palpable Harvard graduate syndrome favoring purely wrought grammar and syntax may help some writers but it won't be helpful to many... including those who need help most.

I am surprised that you should think that graduating from Harvard offers any tendency to favour the use of correct English, and similarly that only by graduating from a relatively young university can one acquire the taste for correct use of the language.

 

[HawaiiBill]

Harvard is today's best . . .

Snooper, let me tell you a quick story.

Until fairly recently, I thought the poor spelling and grammar all around me was caused by the admittedly poor schools in this state. Not true, I'm discovering. It's national.

I see the problems complained about in this thread from obviously intelligent and competent technical people on slashdot.org and other places where the lack of training in English usage is epidemic.

So I used Harvard as an example because many other colleges seem to be churning out folks who simply can't write. It's amazing that we think a democracy can exist in a people who are quasi-illiterate but that seems to be one of the problems we must deal with.

Me? I'm a product of the University of Chicago back in the Hutchins days.

My comments are about the attitude exhibited in helping people who request assistance in getting their stories told. It seems clear to me that if you volunteer to edit in this climate then you should expect stories to be offered by folks who can't write including some who have difficulty with basic English.

I'm suggesting further that their contributions are valuable because the experiences and fantasies of the near illiterate are as real -- and erotic -- in many cases as your chilly Harvard graduate enjoys. That's true, of course, except for graduates of the Harvard Business School where all the blood seems to have been drained from their veins.

 

[fifty5]

Re: Harvard is today's best . . .

...if you volunteer to edit in this climate then you should expect stories to be offered by folks who can't write including some who have difficulty with basic English.

I'm with both sides on this issue. I can appreciate the position of editors who want to work on more advanced issues, such as exact syntax, or plot/character development -they don't want to deal with the basics of language. Fine!

I can get equally alongside Bill's point that someone illiterate (or dyslexic?) who has a hot story to tell merits help in making it readable.

Maybe this divide is something worth inclusion in editors' profiles?

Just a thought...

f5

 

[HawaiiBill]

Filling in those editor profiles

f5, I think the bottom line is that editors each decide whether copy tossed in over the transom interests them. If not, for any reason, throw it back.

The only question that comes to mind with your suggestion about putting editor desires for great copy that really doesn't need them to fool with it -- or otherwise -- would be difficult. Some folks who have no experience writing have difficulty comprehending what editing is all about.

That's true, too, of some people who have written all their lives including a few here!

There is no rule that our editors must take whatever comes. My only point is that turning away a writer with kindness and tact is the way to go rather than discouraging him or her. I sent a 'no thank you' letter today because the guy could clearly write. He was just terminally lazy, had probably sent me three stories in first draft form and expected me to clean up after him. No way.

Had he NOT been able to express himself clearly, I would have been more inclined to help him but he had some really good phrasing stuck away in interminable paragraphs. A fan of Ulysses, I guess.

Editing won't help lazy -- and it's 'lazy' that should not be tolerated.

Aloha

 

[fifty5]

Re: Filling in those editor profiles

f5, I think the bottom line is that editors each decide whether copy tossed in over the transom interests them. If not, for any reason, throw it back.

...

Editing won't help lazy -- and it's 'lazy' that should not be tolerated.

Aloha

Sure - if you're right.

But it might not be lazy, but "I can't see the wood for the trees in my own work".

Nevertheless, I do agree that the editor-author relationship has to be mutually agreeable. If either side isn't enjoying it, the results seem to me to be likely to be less than optimal.

f5

 

[bridgeburner]

I got burnt out and disabled my VE profile. I have two authors that I'm working with and both are lovely so I really don't have time to do more editing than I am already. Hell, I've been so twisted up in real life lately that I've fallen behind with my current authors.

It comes down to what you value in a story, however. Personally, I simply can't read or be drawn into a story that lacks a certain amount of literacy. It is rare that a badly constructed story will be arousing, but I have to admit that one of my favorite guilty pleasure authors has some writing troubles. He confuses "then" and "than" or forgets to make a clear transition between different POVs or occasionally forgets what tense he's writing in. All the same, I find his stories blistering hot.

Generally, though, I find that people who can't write mechanically also don't have much ability to draw me into a story, either. They tend to fall back on the cliche and piss me off if I manage to slog through. I don't think their personal sexual experiences are any less intriguing or important than my own, they just aren't any good at writing about them.

Not being able to write about your life or your fantasies doesn't invalidate either of them. It just means you're a lousy writer. I've got a friend who could put you to sleep even talking about the last days of the Apocolypse. Does that mean the Apocolypse is boring or uneventful? Hardly. It just means she can't tell a story.

She's a hell of an electrical engineer, however!

At any rate I think the high rate of poor literacy is due to the increase in television viewing and the lack of reading that goes on in the general populace. Most people simply do not read anything other than newspapers and magazines. They don't read books so how in the world would they ever learn to write them?

If you're a reader it's hard to comprehend this. There are so many things that you learn about writing just by being a good and avid reader. I'm lousy at communicating those things to someone who doesn't read --- s/he has no frame of reference.

I'm rambling on again. I seem to be suffering from chronic diarrhea of the mouth, lately. Yeesh!


-B