Revamping the volunteer editor's program and the new scripts

[KillerMuffin]

I'm sure Laurel would love to hear some ideas. If for no other reason than to print them up and throw darts at them. LOL. As the Managing Editor (sounds better than pornsite webmistress somehow) of an internet story collection, she knows what editors want. Spell check!

What are the things that editors want from writers?
What are the things that writers want from editors?
Wow those sentences are exactly the same length!

How could the editor program be improved? Other than deleting those who have sold their computers and moved to the Himilayas to become one with the cosmos. What sorts of things can would you look for in the program?

She's posted some of her ideas, and I really like them (smooch smooch).

I like the idea of sort of a standardized guideline. For instance, I never change a single word of an author's text. Instead I put my comments to the side or in the middle of sentences in red or some other method of highlighting. Some editors don't do this, they change things. I like editing through IM, it's easy and I can explain what I mean and the author can ask questions. Rather, I can ask the editor questions. (One of these days I'll figure out why she puts up with me. I keep pestering the living heck out of her.)

Any ideas people? Okay, quit ignoring me.

 

[Whispersecret]

As an editor this is what I want from a writer:

Common courtesy When I was on the volunteer editor list, people would just e-mail me their stories without so much as a "Hi! I'm Jake." You should AT LEAST introduce yourself in the e-mail. Ask if I have time to look at it. Make an effort to show me that you realize that I'm doing this out of the goodness of my heart, not because you deserve it. ALWAYS thank me, even if you didn't agree with what I said about your story. Acknowledge the fact that I spent my own free time trying to help you. If editors start feeling like people take them for granted, you won't see many of them volunteering.

A sample of about 500 words I’m sorry, but in my stint as a volunteer editor, I got a couple of stories that were just so poorly written that it would have been impossible for me to fix them. (One story that sticks out in my mind had fifteen sentences in the first paragraph. Thirteen of them weren’t even complete sentences.) To be honest, I don’t have the time, nor do I want to teach someone the basics, like what constitutes a complete sentence. If someone sent me the first 500 words of their story, I can easily see whether I can help them or not.

A document processed on Word 98 I've gotten used to the editing features on the program which enable me to make comments that don't show up on the document unless you let your cursor hover over the yellow-highlighted part. Then I can write long explanations without it looking like I've mangled your story. I don't have a lot of time, and editing features like this make editing go more quickly.

A story that is as polished as you can make it I look at myself as the second to last person who will edit your story. YOU are the last person. (After you get my comments, you make changes as you see fit.) So, don't send me a story that you haven't read/edited yourself at least twice. I will find errors for you. That's part of my "job," but if I have to spend a lot of time fixing things that you and your spellcheck should have found first, you're making me do the work you should have done before you sent it to me.

An earnest desire to improve the story Don’t waste my time if you have the “it’s just porn attitude.” I take writing seriously. I’m also a teacher by profession, and therefore good at explaining things. (If you want to see a sample, I have some instructional essays in the Writer’s Resource Section.) When I work on someone’s story, I make an effort to explain how the changes I suggest will improve the story. And I don't want to work my butt off with what amounts to a personal tutorial if you're not all that interested in making your story the best you can make it.

An objective attitude I don’t expect the writer to go for everything I suggest. You won’t hurt my feelings if you disagree with me. It is your story. HOWEVER, I do expect you to seriously consider everything I suggest before accepting or rejecting.

Patience I know it's hard when you've finished a story or poem, and you're DYING to get it posted. I'll do my best to give you an approximate "delivery date," and follow through. But, frankly, getting your story posted on the Net isn't one of my personal priorities. I have an offline life and my own writing to do. If I go past the time I told you I’d be done, feel free to check on things. I may just need that reminder. (I’ve been known to forget that I had someone’s story in my hard drive.) However, on the flip side of that, please don’t pester me, especially if what you’ve sent me is long.

 

[Gus]

As an editor this is what I want from a writer:

A document processed on Word 98 I've gotten used to the editing features etc

Can you point me in the right direction for that please, Whisper? That seems a useful tool. I would sort it out for myself but I wouldn't know where to start. I don't find the help files very useful.

KM: How do you add stuff at the side?

Thank you both,

Gus

 

[Weird Harold]

I like the idea of sort of a standardized guideline. For instance, I never change a single word of an author's text. Instead I put my comments to the side or in the middle of sentences in red or some other method of highlighting. Some editors don't do this, they change things.

First, let me say that I pretty much agree with everything WhisperSecret said except I have no problem with getting the file along with the request. If I don't have time or don't wish to edit the file for any reason, I can always delete it after telling the author why I can't help.

The reason I prefer editing in Word 97/2000 format, is that with the reviewing/editing tools available, I can make whatever changes seem appropriate while leaving the final approval of those changes to the author via the accept/reject changes buttons on the reviewing tools toolbar.

Whatever the file format, one of the primary goals for me, is to insure the author can find and reverse any changes I make and remove the comments easily. Without the hidden comments feature of Word 97/2000 or a similar capability to track changes or compare versions, it's very difficult to accomplish this without distorting the flow of the story with "inline comments."

One of the primary things an author should look for in an editor is file format compatibility. All of us can exchange text files and HTML files with some degree of certainty that the files can be read/edited by both parties. However, when both use the same file format it's much easier to devise a mutually agreeable method of insuring that changes and comments by the editor can be found and considered by the author.

I don't know what editing and reviewing tools WordPerfect offers, but I suspect there is something comparable to Word 97/2000's capabilities. If that is indeed the case, Wordperfect users should find editors who can take advantage of them in preference to editors who use Word.

Gus,
The reviewing tools in Word 97 (or later) are very easy to access and learn. You need to go to the tools menu, and turn on "track changes" and "highlight changes" so that the deleted text and new text are both shown and highighted.

You also need to go to the view menu and turn on the "reviewing tools" toolbar under the toolbars option.

when you have the change tracking turned on and the reviewing toolbar in view, click on the first icon on the toolbar to insert a comment where the cursor is in your main document. That will open a second window for your comment.

Once you've got that window open and a few changes to track, it's simply a matter of experimentation with the way changes and comments are displayed to learn how to make the best use of the reviewing tools.

 

[Gus]

Most obliged Harold, I will certainly give that a try.

It occurred to me that we were going about this editing business the wrong way. Maybe there should be a section where writers post their request and any interested editor could pick up the story. It then disappears from the 'request section'. Editor sends an e that they have the file and will return it in x days (all things being equal)That way only the 'available' editors will be involved.

In due course writers and editors will form a bond and communicate off the board one assumes.

Just a thought.

Gus

 

[Laurel]

It seems that all editors want the same things in general respect, courtesy, eetc. - but there's some differences on the specifics. Some editors I've talked to can only take text files or WordPro files, while others perefer .docs. Some want the writer to write beforehand, while others like WH don't mind receiving a submission with an editing request.

How does this sounds...Under the new system (in the works), when one signs up as an editor, they submit a short 2-3 sentence description and a longer one as well. The first description will briefly summarize their qualifications and their needs - this will be listed next to their name on the list. The longer description - many paragraphs long - will be similar to what you've all written here: a guide to what you need to edit a story, along with perhaps a short paragraph or two devoted to your 'editing philosophy' so the author knows what they're getting into. This longer description will show on your Editing Homepage, which is what the writer will see when they click your name from the list.

 

[KillerMuffin]

Perhaps you could create a separate "Author's Section" to the site, I'm not sure how this could be done. In this section you could have an "Author's Section Homepage" with links to essays and suggestions posted there (rather than the how to section), links to the editing tools available like the editors, a book list (not hard to compile just ask WS, WH, and a closet desire) that might help, like a dictionary. You may be able to get one of us, or a group of us, to compile a quick look up glossary for general punctuation and grammar questions. You can also put that thing you were talking about here, like Amazon or ebay or whatever has, that lets people comment about editors and stories. You can also have a quick question thing. Underwire.com has it for etiquette. An author can post a quick question and roving readers can give their opinions. Am I getting a little excited with this idea here or what.

 

[CRaZy]

As an editor this is what I want from a writer:

[An earnest desire to improve the story Don’t waste my time if you have the “it’s just porn attitude.” I take writing seriously. I’m also a teacher by profession, and therefore good at explaining things. (If you want to see a sample, I have some instructional essays in the Writer’s Resource Section.) When I work on someone’s story, I make an effort to explain how the changes I suggest will improve the story. And I don't want to work my butt off with what amounts to a personal tutorial if you're not all that interested in making your story the best you can make it.

Patience I know it's hard when you've finished a story or poem, and you're DYING to get it posted. I'll do my best to give you an approximate "delivery date," and follow through. But, frankly, getting your story posted on the Net isn't one of my personal priorities. I have an offline life and my own writing to do. If I go past the time I told you I’d be done, feel free to check on things. I may just need that reminder. (I’ve been known to forget that I had someone’s story in my hard drive.) However, on the flip side of that, please don’t pester me, especially if what you’ve sent me is long.

I couldn't agree more!!! When I was part of the program, I spent considerable time editing two scripts that were riddled with errors. I sent them back within the agreed time. A few weeks later, the stories appeared on Lit without a SINGLE change. The writers hadn't even bothered to wait for me to edit before posting. Nice of them to tell me - LOL.

 

[Whispersecret]

Oh, CRaZy, now that really sucks.