trust and respect are very important in an editing relationship :-)

[edenfalling]

The problem with getting Vicky to edit my stories is that because we grew up together and have been reading each other's attempts at fiction for over twenty years now, she knows exactly where I habitually cut corners and is wise to all my handwaving, and because she is my sister she is merciless about pointing out all the places I can and should be doing better. (Not merciless in a cruel way! She just doesn't sugarcoat, because we both know not to take each other's editing personally.)

This is also why Vicky is my best editor -- she won't let me get by with slapdash work -- but eesh, I have such a lot of fixing to do on my NFE fic now.

*opens Word documents, begins strategizing*

-----

ETA: And finished! I ended up highlighting a theme that had been in the background, adding a new background theme to make sense of an action near the end of the story, fiddling some dialogue to make character ages and motivations clearer, adding some general descriptive passages, and being a cruel and capricious god (aka, making some bad things worse). The basic structure of the story remains the same, but the meaning of certain actions is a little different, and hopefully it's a bit more immersive third-person and less dust-dry reserve.