For this layer of edits, I'm absolutely blown away by the tedium/thorough job my editor did for my manuscript. On one hand, I'm embarrassed by some of the edits. I wrote this book before learning some of the things I've learned now (i.e. strike out the adverbs, strike through "was going" etc. etc.). Of course, I probably knew this even before, but wow it's hard to write an entire book without these errors and it's even harder to pick out these problems in our own writing!
On the other hand, what kind of dribble would be out there without editors? And now I'm even more paranoid about blogging. Too bad I can't submit each post to her before sending it out to you all. One time my husband pointed out I had written "deers." Wow. What a way to ruin credibility!! And then there's commenting. I'm sure most of us have written something only to realize later--much later--what we'd written to be grossly ill-written. Like my adverb there? Grossly. Grossly, grossly, grossly. At least in my second book I know the adverbs have been few. Something about the narrator's voice just pushes them away.
Hmm. The point to all this? Editors=progress, discipline, and improvement. I'll try to refrain from sending gifts or cash. (Or writing a juicy thank you letter, or organizing her work space, or clobbering her in a hug...depending on her love language.)
Anybody else feel the same way? If so, what's the greatest help an editor or critique partner has given you?
Betas, editors, CPs all provide one of the greatest resources as writer can have. They save you from yourself. :) People I trust to read my work keep me honest in story telling and respectful in characterization when maybe I've gotten a little lax in both.
ReplyDeleteOh I know, thank you for all your help with my short stories because this is something I am getting better at but still.
ReplyDeleteI gave you an award at my blog too, so you can tell more stories.
Oh, yes. I understand what you mean. I'm very thankful for my editor! What would we do without them? I've often wished I had an editor reading my blogs besides me, myself and I. You're not alone. :)
ReplyDeleteEvery time I write a post on my blog, it's essentially a rough draft. Even if I spend an hour or two on one post, it's nothing compared with how many times those same number of words get combed over in a manuscript over time. And there's no distance. I write it, change it a few times, and presto -it's on the world wide web.
ReplyDeleteAnd I almost always make a mistake. My husband e-mails me to let me know, but if it's been a bunch of hours and I've gotten comments, I cringe to know the error was sitting there. I'm sure I've committed comment errors on every blog I write on.
I entered a "Miss Snark's First Victim" contest. A commenter was kind enough to point out that I'd used "was" nine times in about 250 words. Embarrassing. People who read my manuscripts always strengthen them - seeing what I cannot. We are lulled by our own voices.
sarahjayne, thanks for stopping by!! Well put--the others save ourselves from ourselves.
ReplyDeleteDavid, it's so fun to help someone with such unique gifts. Thanks for the award! Your list was good! Now to think of something to compete.
Kathi, glad I'm not alone!
Theresa, that's great your husband reads your blog and tells you errors you've missed. My husband only reads about half of my posts just cuz he's so busy. "Was" nine times, huh? Well, you should see how many times "was" had to be crossed out in my MS!
It is *so hard* to catch our own errors. We know what we think it says, and that's what we read. For me, it is *impossible* to get a good story without dozens of other eyes on it.
ReplyDeleteSome of the best advice/help I've had is in character development. At the time, it was hard to hear but I was really grateful for it later. And I still am!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on all the editing progress. =]
My editor has helped me sooo much that each book gets better as well. I think I've finally killed all adverbs...but we'll see :)
ReplyDeleteMuch appreciate your blog post
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