Editing does not mean rewriting
Jan 14, 2024 23:58:37 GMT -5
Post by mdnoyon on Jan 14, 2024 23:58:37 GMT -5
Many first-time authors, or maybe it's better to call them authors hoping for publication with a publishing house, are terrified of editing. I too, before informing myself and after editing very short published stories, was in the same situation. Delos Books, in fact, cut the final sentence from one of my stories, effectively eliminating what gave meaning to the rest of the story. Reason? It was a catchphrase, a ploy already used by many contest participants. But in a genre story of 2000 characters maximum, if you don't use effective final sentences, how do you create a valid story? Edizioni XII, in a 200-character story, did worse, transforming my joke story into a story that no longer meant anything.
Gone times, forgotten stories. Experience Phone Number List teaches, after all. What does an editor do? Does he intervene on the text? Of course yes. The problem, when writing, is that many errors, many gaps can escape the author's attention, which an external - and valid - eye can catch. And I'm not talking about proofreading , which is the last step in revising a manuscript. Is the plot attributable to the famous 3 acts? Is there a beginning, a middle and an end, as in school essays? In the editing course I am following , non-stories were mentioned , the term of which says everything about what poor readers will have to eat. Are there sudden jumps from one scene to another in the same chapter? Is the point of view respected? The jumps in subject, from one character to another, are always "just around the corner".
Are the characters alive, realistic, do they have the right weight in the story? And the dialogues? Are they well built? Can you understand who is speaking? Sometimes I don't understand who is talking and it's not because of the missing quotes. Another job of the editor concerns writing: the style, the linguistic register, the appropriate or inappropriate use of words and expressions. The goal is therefore to direct the author towards the right path to improve his story. The cheap editing Finding entire sentences or entire sentences crossed out without any explanation. Find interventions that distort the author's style. Professional editing I like to consider it as a real help so that the novel works perfectly and does not betray the readers' expectations. Editing must not trigger anger in the author, but make it clear where the novel is weak, where to make changes to the style and language, where additions are necessary and where it is best to cut.
Gone times, forgotten stories. Experience Phone Number List teaches, after all. What does an editor do? Does he intervene on the text? Of course yes. The problem, when writing, is that many errors, many gaps can escape the author's attention, which an external - and valid - eye can catch. And I'm not talking about proofreading , which is the last step in revising a manuscript. Is the plot attributable to the famous 3 acts? Is there a beginning, a middle and an end, as in school essays? In the editing course I am following , non-stories were mentioned , the term of which says everything about what poor readers will have to eat. Are there sudden jumps from one scene to another in the same chapter? Is the point of view respected? The jumps in subject, from one character to another, are always "just around the corner".
Are the characters alive, realistic, do they have the right weight in the story? And the dialogues? Are they well built? Can you understand who is speaking? Sometimes I don't understand who is talking and it's not because of the missing quotes. Another job of the editor concerns writing: the style, the linguistic register, the appropriate or inappropriate use of words and expressions. The goal is therefore to direct the author towards the right path to improve his story. The cheap editing Finding entire sentences or entire sentences crossed out without any explanation. Find interventions that distort the author's style. Professional editing I like to consider it as a real help so that the novel works perfectly and does not betray the readers' expectations. Editing must not trigger anger in the author, but make it clear where the novel is weak, where to make changes to the style and language, where additions are necessary and where it is best to cut.