| Author |
Message |
    
Jennifer Lynn
Unity Member
Post Number:
1625
Registered: 03-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, December 27, 2004 - 11:13 pm: |   |
Have you ever thought, that when an editor tells you a scene isn't working, and to redo it in another POV, that the editor doesn't realize what a shit load of work that is? I'm starting to think my slave driving (insert nasty word here) editor doesn't care.
Sheesh...
Jenn
Jennifer Lynn
www.jenniferlynn.ca |
cora morace
Awareness Member
Post Number:
26
Registered: 11-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 28, 2004 - 07:52 am: | |
Dear Jennifer,
If the editor truly didn't care he/she would probably take the easy route and skip over the inevidible whining and complaining that we authors do when we are faced with re-writes.
I know it is hard to accept that just weeks or maybe months ago you looked at your work with this immense sense of satisfaction at its completion and now it looks like that may have only been a beginning! Perhaps the amount of changes and comments out number the sentences that you originally wrote and you are wondering what the publisher saw in your work to begin with....but please think about the amount of work those insights represent on the part of your editor. I believe you'll realize only one who cared and shared your publisher's estimation of the value of your work would make that many timestaking observations.
After my first "true" editing experience I researched the role of editor from several viewpoints. I read thoughts on the subject from major authors and publishers and my self centered focus changed dramatically to one of appreciation and respect.
Many so-called publishers do no editing, that certainly is not desirable. And many major publishers allow editors to re-write until the work is distorted to the author's dismay, (but hey, at least he didn't have to do the re-writes himself, right?)
Just some thougts and I hope some comfort for you. You can do it.
CJ |
Dennis Collins
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
1250
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 28, 2004 - 11:07 am: | |
Talk about whiners...
My editor over at PA said that the first draft of my book was absolutely perfect.
Man, it's great to be good... |
Laurel Johnson
Unity Member
Post Number:
3647
Registered: 01-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 28, 2004 - 11:52 am: | |
I like editorial advice, the keyword here being advice. Even the best editor in the world is limited from the standpoint of not fully knowing what the writer intended to say. Only the writer knows that.
An editor one told a writer I know -- no it was not me -- to eliminate sixty pages of her book. As a person who knew little about the subject in that novel, I thought those sixty pages were KEY to understanding the situation. the editor prevailed, but the writer thought removing those sixty pages weakened the plot and I agreed.
Hope you get the job done, Jenn, without losing your mind. And keep firmly in the back of your mind that editors HAVE been known to be wrong about the changes they recommend.
Laurel Johnson
Author: The Grass Dance
The Alley of Wishes
Color of Laughter, Color of Tears
|
Jennifer Lynn
Unity Member
Post Number:
1626
Registered: 03-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 28, 2004 - 05:41 pm: | |
(sigh) I hate to admit it, but Cindy (the aforementioned slave-driving editor) was right. I'm not finished the scene yet, but it is already way better now than it was to begin with. Shhhhh... don't want her or that evil Joyce Scarbrough hearing me say that!
Thanks for the encouragement. And for what it's worth, she emailed me to say that she DID know it was a lot of work, since she just finished rewriting her own WIP to be from a different POV.
Jenn
(who's going back in.....)
Jennifer Lynn
www.jenniferlynn.ca |
Joyce Scarbrough
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
513
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 28, 2004 - 08:39 pm: | |
Hey! I resemble that remark!
Toyce
True Blue Forever
Read the first chapter at http://www.authorsden.com/joycelscarbrough1
Read two chapters of Different Roads at http://www.authorsden.com/visit/mtr.asp?id=7737&loc=ShortStory
Pour yourself a glass of bubbly and check out Champagne Books http://www.champagnebooks.com
Our children have only one childhood, so do whatever it takes to make it happy! |
Jennifer Lynn
Unity Member
Post Number:
1627
Registered: 03-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 28, 2004 - 09:04 pm: | |
Oh crap....
Jennifer Lynn
www.jenniferlynn.ca |
Fred Dungan
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
758
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 28, 2004 - 09:15 pm: | |
The best editors are known for their good taste. Keeping that in mind, here is my recipe for barbecued editor:
1. Get yourself a fat one, preferably sedentary (to avoid toughness)
2. Skewer the pig
3. Slather on the barbecue sauce
4. Rotate over an open fire until done
I came up with this recipe after Chris, the editor-in-chief at Atlantic Monthly stole an article on abandoned atomic bombs I submitted, had a stringer rewrite it so as to avoid having to negotiate changes with me and/or paying my fee, and published it several months later without so much as a how-do-you-do or even a nod in my direction. The topic proved so popular that there has been a whole series of follow-up articles that have netted Atlantic Monthly a considerable increase in readership and profits. But that's okay, I hold no grudges. In fact, Chris is welcome to come to dinner at my house anytime.
Anyone who doubts my version of what happened is welcome to contact Colonel Derek Duke of Statesboro, Georgia, an unimpeachable source and a personal friend, who can testify as to the exact sequence of events and who had the story first.
http://www.fdungan.com/savannah.htm |
Jennifer Lynn
Unity Member
Post Number:
1628
Registered: 03-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 28, 2004 - 09:23 pm: | |
Planning on serving a fine Chianti with that meal??
Jennifer Lynn
www.jenniferlynn.ca |
Snarzler
Hunger Member
Post Number:
58
Registered: 07-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 28, 2004 - 10:28 pm: | |
Don't forget the fartha beans.
*slurp*
If there were no creative people, would life be as interesting? |
Fred Dungan
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
784
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 11:28 am: | |
My doctor won't let me have wine because I'm taking Vicoden. I'm having a hard time deciding whether to dispose of the wine or the doctor.
http://www.sent.htm |
Snarzler
Hunger Member
Post Number:
65
Registered: 07-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 11:41 am: | |
Grape juice or a doctor who still drinks it?
Hmmm 
Dakler's Dilemma:
If you hit two keys on the typewriter, the one you don't want hits the paper. |
Fred Dungan
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
788
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 04:33 pm: | |
The chaplain dispenses grape juice at Communion. I'm talking about honest-to-goodness wine. California makes the best in the world and several bottles are beckoning to me from my refrigerator.
http://www.fdungan.com/vigilantes.htm
Fred's Dilemma:
I can no longer find manual typewriters. |
Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
1840
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 07:00 pm: | |
and even if you could find them, you wouldn't be able to use them, no ribbons.....
Claudia
MINDSIGHT MODERATOR
|
Todd Hunter
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
2127
Registered: 02-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 07:08 pm: | |
Fred, hit an auction...I see them quite often, usally going for $1-2...
as Claudia mentioned, ribbons are scarce, and sometimes you come up with a bum typewriter, but they can be found...
(although I guess I should ask whether by specifying manual, are you excluding electric?)
Mindsight Moderator
Check out Who Needs a Hero?
|
cora morace
Awareness Member
Post Number:
36
Registered: 11-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 07:14 pm: | |
Fred,
Try your local newspapers - there's usually a storeroom full at some of them. In fact I think we may have a few at work....I'll check tomorrow if you're serious.
CJ |
Gridley Schimlap (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 4.13.175.124
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 08:50 pm: | |
Tom Wolfe uses an Oliveti, still. Contrary to popular belief they could produce a superscript too. |
Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
1841
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 10:05 pm: | |
or you can try the local Military Surplus store in your area, and they might even have a case or two of the ribbons to fit the machine you get from them. Sometimes the school districts will have some stockpiled also.
Claudia
MINDSIGHT MODERATOR
|
Snarzler
Hunger Member
Post Number:
66
Registered: 07-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 10:23 pm: | |
I am not so sad to admit I still have three manual typewriters, one of which is a double for Jessica Fletcher's.
I am able to get ribbons from a local stationery store (in packs of six) for a few bucks. One takes the double (red/black) ribbons, but I tend not to use that one but for envelopes.
I have been known to stretch ribbons with grape juice though never ink cartridges.
Andrea 
Dakler's Dilemma:
If you hit two keys on the typewriter, the one you don't want hits the paper. |
Fred Dungan
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
792
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 12:28 am: | |
Thanks for the suggestions. My old Royal from Junior High School days wore out and I couldn't find a repairman. Brother still makes a portable manual but it's not worth dragging home.
http://www.fdungan.com |
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