wherein Liz talks about editing

[edenfalling]

Ha, a third NFE story edited! *collapses*

I do enjoy editing -- it's an interesting change of pace from writing and just reading for fun -- but it takes a lot of concentration to do properly. Judging the line between "I think this reads awkwardly and should be rephrased" and "you must write passage X this way instead" is particularly tricky. I tend to rewrite shorter passages while noting that these are only suggested rephrasings (and often explaining the reason I made the change), whereas with long and complicated things I'm more likely to leave a note to the effect of, "Hey, I had problem Y while reading passage X and I think making a change of type Z would help resolve the issue." (And then of course sometimes I do rewrite long and complicate things -- maybe even several paragraphs in a row -- though in those cases I always leave an accompanying explanatory note. These are not hard and fast rules.)

It's always easier to edit in person, where you can just verbally explain to the writer what the problem with passage X is and offer several suggestions for how to solve it. In writing, I find that I tend to offer only one suggested solution, because writing out three variations is way too time-consuming. (I learned that lesson in high school, when I edited a research paper for my ex-boyfriend and my edits ran six pages long for a three-page paper. He was still laughing about that years later. *headdesk*)

Tuesday evening I will edit my own fic, which is both easier and harder than editing someone else's. Easier because I don't have to worry about explaining myself (nor worry about hurting anyone's feelings), and harder because one main point of editing is to shine a light into the writer's blind spots, and you can't exactly see your own blind spots. You have to work them out by inference and extrapolation from other people's past feedback. Anyway, once I've done a preliminary pass-through, I'm going to send the story to Vicky, who can see my blind spots and who knows she doesn't need to be nice when pointing them out. Sisters are useful that way. :D

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In other news, I was offered four extra hours at the health garage on Thursday. I have accepted them. Yay work! Yay money!

Comments

[branchandroot]

*rueful* Edit overflow dogs the steps of writing teachers everywhere, too. It's really hard to train yourself out of it, so, seriously, congratulations on only doing that once. The temptation to Explain It All is mighty.

[edenfalling]

I think I still over-explain somewhat, but not nearly to that degree. (And honestly, in that particular case I was going out of my way to avoid sounding like I was ordering him around, because our friendship was always a little awkward after we broke up and I didn't want to start an argument. I also wanted to make sure the resulting paper was 100% his ideas and at least 70% his words, instead of 70% his ideas and only about 50% his words, which is what would have happened if I'd just rewritten all the problem areas. *headdesk* There were reasons he went into physics instead of, say, history or creative writing.)

[heliopausa]

Definitely yay for the hours and money. (What happened on Day Two of the weekend's volunteering? Was it craft supplies again?)

That's fantastic, that you have a sister who knows your writing really well (and what you want to accomplish in it) and is ready to edit! :)

[edenfalling]

On day two I was assigned to the toy/puzzle/game room, which involves a lot of picking up after small children. I worked there from 12-2pm, after which it turned out I wasn't needed from 2-4pm, so I bought a few t-shirts in the clothing section (two for actual daily wear, two to replace some pajama tops that are falling apart) and then headed home.

Vicky and I discovered at an relatively early age that we make terrible co-writers, but excellent editors of each other's work. (We also fare pretty well acting as sounding boards for each other's brainstorming and outlining, though we do that sort of thing much less frequently these days.) I am very lucky she has the time and inclination to help me out. :D

[lady_songsmith]

I have the same tendency to over-explain, because I'm really sensitive to not wanting to sound dictatorial. I tend to go way overboard squashing it though, and get really short instead. I am trying to train myself to just highlight passages and say WHY I find them to be an issue rather than suggesting any rewrites, though I'm happy to if asked.

I dream of finding a writer-editor relationship where we're on the same wavelength. From either side, actually. In the meantime, though, I send some stuff to my mother because she edits me well. Problem is these days we don't have many fandoms in common -- she's more into the cop/forensic shows and I like the fantasy/drama -- so I can't get any characterization or canon feedback.

[edenfalling]

I try for a balance between writing a general "hey, Thing X has popped up several times in this fic; I think it's a problem, and this is why" note, and then actually offering concrete examples of ways to resolve Thing X, because sometimes it's easier to deal with an issue if you've seen it being dealt with. (Also my explanations are terribly long-winded and I don't know the technical terms for a lot of grammar/linguistic constructions. *headdesk* I should probably fix that one of these days...)

Yeah, Vicky's a good editor in the sense that she knows me very well, but she's not really in fandom (though she loves good meta discussions) and insofar as she does have fannish interests, they're not ones I share. So as you say, that eliminates any chance at characterization and canon feedback. *sigh*