Working With An Editor

Nobody knows the look and feel of your story better than you. Nobody knows exactly what you meant better than you...except the editor who accepts your story.

The purchasing editor will "get" the inner gem that is lying under the semi-polished version you sent them. Yes, you've spent a long time going through it, making sure the punctuation and grammar is as good as you know how to make it, restructuring awkward sentences, removing repeated phrases, and killing babies as required. For every conceivable method of measuring things, you have polished your story to a high sheen--and yet it comes back from the accepting market with changes, both requested and suggested.

And more often than not, writers accept the changes, agonise over sentence restructuring, and find clever ways to say what we said in the first place, only a little more clearer.

Why?

Some writers believe the editor must know better than they as why else would they be in the position of Editor. Some accept the changes and then reread the story and find it is either better or, at the very least, no worse than the baby they'd originally sent. Some writers don't care and are ready to accept any changes so the story can finally find a home and get published.

Personally, I think it's a little of all of this, but I don't think it's all true either (I'm certainly no better than the writers in this anthology-but I believe my copy editor has a great deal more knowledge in the presentation of the English language than almost anyone I've ever met...argue a point at your own peril).

We send work to critique groups, friends, other writers, et al, so we can get feedback and make subtle changes to move the story forward. Rare is the time when we go back to previous versions because we've moved too far from what we considered a brilliant idea. The creation of a story is all about evolution and about getting it out to appreciative readers. Getting paid is a bonus for everyone, except the professional writer who needs to pay this months rent.

If you are one of the few who believe that your work is exceptional as it is, if you reject suggested changes on principal as you believe it will ruin the underlying message you're trying to get out into the world - then stop sending your stories to editors. Publish them on your own blog or website. If you want to get into mainstream zines then stop being precious.

The editor and the magnificent people who work with them in reading, accepting, and in suggesting possible changes to your story are your final critique group. They want to publish your story and may even want to give you money for the honour they are giving you. Unless you have a rock-solid reason for not accepting a change, and can explain it better than 'It's just not how I saw it', then accept the suggestions or requests. If it doesn't change your voice as a writer (and a good editor would not try to do that), then accept the changes.

I've been lucky so far. The authors I'm working with are all very professional and the minor changes they've knocked back have been for very specific reasons, which, when explained in a clear and concise manner, make sense. Our editing process will be fairly quick if things keep moving as they are. And really, why wouldn't it? We purchased the story because we loved it in its originally presented form. We are not suggesting huge structural changes or major plot deviations.

So, if you've gone to the trouble of following the guidelines, formatting correctly, polishing a story to within an inch of its life and waited the long wait to finally gain an acceptance - why would you baulk at the final hurdle when an editor suggests a change? Remember, they like your story. They wouldn't have offered to buy it otherwise. They are only attempting to show it in its very best light. And, if nothing else, remember that every part of the writing to publishing process is subjective. Your name will be on the story, but the editor's name will be on the cover of the book, and if it's badly presented, it will be the editor (and probably the publisher) the who receives the most mud.

We all want to get great stories out there to be read and fawned over. It takes a partnership to accomplish that in a traditional sense. Let's work together and produce the best damn stories read by anyone. Now stop reading this blog and get back to writing!

Good luck with your submissions.

Editing

As I've mentioned before, during all this reading I'm currently doing for Dark Pages Volume 1, the first anthology from Blade Red Press (how's that for a plug), my mind continually drifts back to Inner Voice.

I guess I'm somewhat in the same quandary as KC Shaw and her Bell-Men project. While Kate is powering through her NaNo project and having reoccurring thoughts of Bell-Men, I'm working through submissions and yet Inner Voices remains a constant mental companion.

The latest thought process, which is cropping up more often, is the editing process I have ahead of me, and then naturally my mind carries forward and I begin to think about the submission process and the contract signing and the money rolling in...I'm normal, right? Right? Doesn't everyone do this? Anyone?

The editing thoughts came to the fore again while doing the rounds through my Google Reader. Ms A. Victoria Mixon has published a letter to primarily showcase her ability as an editor, but does so much more for the discerning writer. Many of you will be absorbed in the current series of posts Aaron Polson is running during NaNo, reminding writers about different things they should be including/thinking about during their mad dash to 50000 words. Ms Mixon's letter on developmental editing is a grand edition to those lessons.

As an aside, I remember someone (maybe Mercedes) posting something about another editor providing an editing, critique-type service. Whoever it was, can you refresh my memory please. I'm seriously considering using one of these services once I've finished working through it with my own team of critiquers/beta readers.

And as is my want, this leads into a thought I had about all you NaNo participants who can't help editing as you go (Alan, Bec, and others). NaNo is supposedly about the act of writing; getting words on the page. It's okay to contradict yourself during November. Fixing the inconsistencies is for December and beyond. Making sure things flow is not for now. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, not National Novel Editing Month which would be presented as NaNoEdMo - which sounds way too much like Mork signing off.

But, and this is a pretty big but, if your normal writing regime is to go back and edit the previous chapter with a light dusting of changes before you move onto the next part of the story, then you shouldn't be using NaNo as the time to retrain your brain into just churning out words. NaNo is, IMHO, all about committing time to write. It's about getting words onto the paper but it's more about a commitment to your craft, and that's easier to do as part of a huge group than doing it on your own.

So if you edit as you go, go for it. Just add that time into your calculations so you don't have to worry over it taking away from your NaNo word goals for the day. Accept it as part of the writer you are, and will probably always be, so you no longer need to stress over it and you can plan to include it in your regime. Once the stress of that is gone, the words will flow easier once more, and hitting 50K won't seem such a long way away.

Okay, enough preaching about stuff everyone is probably rolling their eyes over and wishing I'd stop sounding like some sort of self-appointed guru. Not how I intend to come across. Just an opinion you are more than free to disagree with.

Well done to everyone participating in NaNo - regardless of where you're at in the word count race, you deserve special consideration and congratulations for committing time to your craft and getting words on the paper. That is no small feat.

A Quick Update

Firstly - for brownie points, when you submit to Dark Pages Volume 1, can you please use 12pnt font, preferably Arial and double space. I also like an extra return between paragraphs - white space is a readers friend.

I currently have 42 stories still to read. This is bolstered by over a dozen new stories every week and I expect this to be doubled, if not tripled as we approach the end of  November.

The vast majority of stories are very well told with unique settings, plots and premises. Many also have excellent characters. If I chose all the stories I liked, we'd be releasing Dark Pages volumes 1 through 5 early next year! Unfortunately my mandate is to only edit for volume 1 and I've been given parameters with which to work within to achieve that.

As I work through your submissions, I pass on the story names to Blade Red Press who kindly send out the bad news for me about once a week. I try and keep on top of the reading so the notices go out in fairly big batches to give everyone a chance to submit something else if they so chose (and quite a few of you have). I don't keep track of who has sent anything in so I don't pre-judge anything if you've had one unfortunate email so far.

I am currently sitting on a quite a number of stories I want to look at again before making any final choices for a second round of reading. I'm hoping to let everyone know how they have fared, and/or if I'd like to hang onto the piece for a while longer as soon as possible after the close of submissions.

Trust me, I'm a writer, I know how frustrating it can be waiting on a response. I promise not to keep you in suspense for too long.

Keep the subs coming.

Still Reading

Not a lot to report here. I'm still madly reading submissions although I'm giving that a break for a day or two to recharge the batteries - my respect and admiration for editors of big annual anthologies has gone through the roof. Can you imagine how many subs the judges for something like the Writers of the Future contest must go through! My eyes hurt just thinking about it (and it makes me realise just how big an achievement Jason Fischer accomplished).

Still, I'm working through your submissions. Can I take this opportunity to once more thank everyone for considering us a worthy place to host your work. Because I've had so many, I'm in the enviable but hard situation where I can accept only the cream of the crop. There's only a few weeks left to get your submission in so if you want to get into what I believe will be an exceptional ToC and the inaugural edition of this anthology, you'd better get your skates on.

In other news, I got my hair cut today, which isn't the news, but while I was wandering past the bookshop, I noticed the last book in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series has finally made the shelves - naturally, it is now sitting on my shelf as well. It is huge! Now I need discipline to not start reading it before I've got this antho whipped into shape and then read and review the three books I still need to finish for HorrorScope. Oh - and then done the first round of edits on Inner Voice...why did I buy it again?

At this rate I might not write at all next year, I'll be too busy reading!

Lastly, I'm putting together a "Rules to submit by" as I go through the process of putting Dark Pages together. Without pointing any fingers I'll put together all the do's and don'ts, what worked and what didn't, how I came to decisions, etc, etc.

I intend to let you all into the process I went through so you all can hopefully gain some insight into the way one editor went about things.

For not a lot to report, this post has gone on way too long already.

For all those out there going through NaNo this year, I wave my pom-poms at you and wish you continued inspiration and lots of wordage.

Type cheerleaders into Google and see how hard it is to find an appropriate picture!

p.s. This guy is no relation to me...