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November 25, 2020 Writers' Two Friends November 23, 2020 Fantasy vs. Sci-Fi November 22, 2020 Keep It Private November 21, 2020 The Insomnia Song November 14, 2020 Career Announcement November 5, 2020 Early Voting Shock November 1, 2020 Before You Vote October 6, 2020 Excuses for Decisions September 25, 2020 Offense/Defense |
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SITE UNDER RECONSTRUCTION LATEST NEWS November 25, 2020 All pages, plus all blogs from November 23 on, are now linkable on social media. November 23, 2020
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November 25, 2020
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There are so many things I want to talk about. And in the last few days, I've had more blogs than I had in the month before that. Granted, working early voting had a lot to do with it, but I feel good about being part of the fundamental principle of the nation. We live in a socio-democratic republic, and we have to have people working these elections to ensure everyone has the chance to vote. But with so many things I want to talk about, I know I might never get to them all. Unless, of course, I post three to four blogs a day for a while. But that's out of the question. Meanwhile, I have a three blogs I now promised to write. One was on how my Mom humiliated me from a thousand miles away while I was in college. Another is . . . *gasp!* . . . my version of Deck The Halls. It will have plenty of warnings and disclaimers beforehand, and apologies afterward, but I now have to do it, even though I was so tired when I wrote it that I didn't remember writing that blog until I found it the next day. The last is this one, which I said I'd do in my last blog. I said that there are two people that an author can use who should help you produce a good story. The first I'll talk about is the one everybody is familiar with: the editor. The editor can rescue a bad piece, or torpedo a good one. The role of the editor is to ensure that the story flows continuously with continuity and accuracy. When the editor looks over a work, he doesn't glance over the work, make notes, and send them to you. It's a multistep process. The first time he reads the story is to get a feel for it, and enjoy it if it's good enough. He doesn't take any notes, unless something seriously jumps out at him. The second read-through is when he actually starts to notice things, especially foreshadowing and forebodings. The third time is when he starts making notes. After reading a total of four or five times, he puts as many red marks on your manuscript as he wrote notes and sends it to you. Some editors will insist they only have to read over it once. This may be true of editors with decades of experience. If they are not that experienced, and they tell you they only need one or two readings, I recommend avoiding them. When that manuscript filled with red marks reached the author . . . well, this is when inexperienced writers freak out. They expect a few notes, maybe some nice comments, and end up seeing red marks all over every page. Many writers quit at this point. But the serious writer will take it in stride. This is a chance to learn, not become aggravated, and the writer will notice repeating themes in the margins, such as avoiding passive voice, cautions about comma usage, or when to use dialogue. These are the things that save a bad manuscript. But editors do more than that: They look for problems in continuity, structure, theme, characterization, and . . . well, and everything, really. And here is where a good manuscript can become garbage: The writer has to know what the editor is talking about. If he doesn't, it's easy to make changes that create more problems. But there's another problem that an editor can cause. Let's say that he finds a continuity error. When you go back over the story, you discover that the continuity error is critical for the story to be completed! This is your mistake, and it's so glaring that it can't be avoided. Should you abandon the story? No. You've spent too much money already because editors aren't cheap. There's is usually a way around the problem, and it varies from problem to problem. Solutions include adding a character, transferring part of a character's arc to another character, or adding anything from a word to a scene that explains away the misstep. Once you're done with the editor, you go to the person who is your best friend in the final stages, and that's the proofreader. Did you know proofreading is a professional position? Neither did I until last year. The job of the proofreader is to ensure readability. Proofreaders do not have all the responsibilities of editors. Their jobs are simple: Spelling, grammar, and word choice. Their job is not to find errors or question what the writer has produced; that was done with the editor. More importantly, he editor can change content, which means things a proofreader handles can appear, but nothing a proofreader does changes anything done during editing. This is why the proofreader is always the last person who sees your manuscript before it goes to a publisher. Let's take an example. Assume they are talking about the same section: Editor (written):
Proofreader (using editing marks instead of the indicated text):
And with this, we see there is a world of difference between the two jobs. Both are important for the writer, especially the aspiring one, but the editor is the one that you have to be cautious with. One last note: It is possible to edit your own manuscript, but it's better to have someone who is trained to find these types of errors. At the very least, give it to someone who can look at it with fresh eyes. Since you know the story as well as you do, it's easy for you to miss something, especially the small stuff that can turn into big stuff. Like I said, I have a lot of things I'd love to talk about. Too many to choose one right now, in fact. So, I'll leave it up to chance. Until next time . . . |
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