To Post or Not To Post

[Maximillian_Excaliber]

Okay, so here's the question for the day. You've just spent two months working on an erotic novel but can't find an editor and despite your best attempts at editing in the past, errors infest your stories like like a Bangkok hooker at an Army base on payday.

You've been trying for months to find an editor and when you find one willing to do the job he drops off the face of the earth.

After all that work, do you change the public humiliation and post it, or wait?

 

[sr71plt]

Okay, so here's the question for the day. You've just spent two months working on an erotic novel but can't find an editor and despite your best attempts at editing in the past, errors infest your stories like like a Bangkok hooker at an Army base on payday.

You've been trying for months to find an editor and when you find one willing to do the job he drops off the face of the earth.

After all that work, do you change the public humiliation and post it, or wait?

If your novel is about a Bangkok hooker at an army base on payday, you should be able to find an editor for it.

If you can see a lot of mistakes, though, why don't you develop your writing skills to the point of getting rid of most of the problems (and thus making your ongoing writing a lot easier and more enjoyable)--and then go ahead and post it if you can't find a good editor for it? This isn't the New Yorker. Most readers are mining this Web site for the story content. If you don't post a "how did I do?" request on this thread, dollars to donuts no one is going to care if it has some errors in it--if it's still a good read.

 

[Iamcanadian28]

Yeah i have to agree that doing the best job that you can of editing and getting rid of the obvious mistakes yourself is the first step. The post the story and quite often you get good feedback on what other dislike about your story. It's also easier to post your story on here and have people critique it for you after it's already been posted. You can always repost your story after you make some changes.

 

[manyeyedhydra]

Easiest thing is to put it aside for a couple of days until you're actually reading the words rather than skimming past because its all familiar. That will point out most of the typos.

Then post it. People won't mind the odd spelling/grammar mistake here and there if the story is good.

The main thing to watch out for are the 'wall of death' paragraphs. Anything longer than 8 lines turns the eyes into smoking craters I've heard. Well not quite, but it's hard to read and will more than likely put people off from reading to the end.

 

[Maximillian_Excaliber]

If your novel is about a Bangkok hooker at an army base on payday, you should be able to find an editor for it.

If you can see a lot of mistakes, though, why don't you develop your writing skills to the point of getting rid of most of the problems (and thus making your ongoing writing a lot easier and more enjoyable)--and then go ahead and post it if you can't find a good editor for it? This isn't the New Yorker. Most readers are mining this Web site for the story content. If you don't post a "how did I do?" request on this thread, dollars to donuts no one is going to care if it has some errors in it--if it's still a good read.

I actually have a pretty in depth editing process. First I run it though the word processor and let it catch all the errors it can find. Next, I have voice software that reads it to me and I correct any errors that stand out but there bugs in the voice software and some things don't stand out all the time. I usually run it through the software two times. It doesn't distinguish between 'break' and 'brake' for one thing. Some times it will miss pronounce words. It doesn't always catch typos. I do a lot of cutting and pasting during my writing and end up with typos. I am thinking about installing a second piece of voice software to read it to me and see if that will catch more errors.

 

[sr71plt]

I actually have a pretty in depth editing process. First I run it though the word processor and let it catch all the errors it can find. Next, I have voice software that reads it to me and I correct any errors that stand out but there bugs in the voice software and some things don't stand out all the time. I usually run it through the software two times. It doesn't distinguish between 'break' and 'brake' for one thing. Some times it will miss pronounce words. It doesn't always catch typos. I do a lot of cutting and pasting during my writing and end up with typos. I am thinking about installing a second piece of voice software to read it to me and see if that will catch more errors.

After that, read it a loud, and you'll find many mistakes like the brake/break one and common grammar errors if they are there, and then just recheck any word that is anywhere close to questionable in Webster's Collegiate--and then let it go.