Editing, what is this shit?
October 13th 2006 22:10
Editing, what is it? Well, for many people it is checking the spelling and punctuation in their writing.
Does this make the writing any better? Or is it the vain hope of a pedantic comma chaser that correct English will, somehow, make up for a dead boring story?
Can an exciting, well plotted story be destroyed by poor spelling or, heaven forbid, a misplaced comma?
Is punctuation optional?
I know people who can’t read the news paper without a red pencil in their hand. Hell, I know people whose total reading experience is the sports pages. But that’s another story.
How much editing should you subject your work to? A quick once over with a spell check? Perhaps even a grammar check courtesy of Bill Gates?
Is this enough? Should you spend several hours, days, months with a copy of Strunk and White?
Perhaps a more important question is “Do you in fact have a story”?
Does the hero have red hair in the first chapter and black hair in the tenth chapter?
Do I in fact have a point to make?
Well, yes. I do have a point. By all means use the spell check. Even the grammar check if you are insecure.
Then put the work away for a month or six. Then read it again and do your edit. After you have edited your work, you are ready to send it to an editor for editing.
About now you will be thinking that I am totally mad. Who knows, you could be right.
But, think about this, just because you have edited your work does not mean that it is ready for the publisher. As a writer you see what you meant to write, not what you actually wrote. You will have missed many problems. Let’s look at what can happen.
Ursula LeGuin is a top Scifi writer and the arthor of The Earthsea Trilogy.
First chapter, book two, paragraph five;
“A figure in a belted gown of white wool stepped suddenly out of the shadows at the right of the throne and strode down the steps to the child. His face was masked with white. He held a sword of polished steel five feet long. With out word or hesitation he swung the sword, held in both hands, up over the little girls neck.”
This is followed only six paragraphs later by
“The three highest steps directly before the throne, above the step where she knelt, had never been climbed by mortal feet. They were so thick with dust that they looked like one slant of grey soil, the planes of the red-veined marble wholly hidden by the unstirred, untrodden siftings of how many years, how many centuries?”
Didn't he just walk down the steps?
Does this make the writing any better? Or is it the vain hope of a pedantic comma chaser that correct English will, somehow, make up for a dead boring story?
Can an exciting, well plotted story be destroyed by poor spelling or, heaven forbid, a misplaced comma?
Is punctuation optional?
I know people who can’t read the news paper without a red pencil in their hand. Hell, I know people whose total reading experience is the sports pages. But that’s another story.
How much editing should you subject your work to? A quick once over with a spell check? Perhaps even a grammar check courtesy of Bill Gates?
Is this enough? Should you spend several hours, days, months with a copy of Strunk and White?
Perhaps a more important question is “Do you in fact have a story”?
Does the hero have red hair in the first chapter and black hair in the tenth chapter?
Do I in fact have a point to make?
Well, yes. I do have a point. By all means use the spell check. Even the grammar check if you are insecure.
Then put the work away for a month or six. Then read it again and do your edit. After you have edited your work, you are ready to send it to an editor for editing.
About now you will be thinking that I am totally mad. Who knows, you could be right.
But, think about this, just because you have edited your work does not mean that it is ready for the publisher. As a writer you see what you meant to write, not what you actually wrote. You will have missed many problems. Let’s look at what can happen.
Ursula LeGuin is a top Scifi writer and the arthor of The Earthsea Trilogy.
First chapter, book two, paragraph five;
“A figure in a belted gown of white wool stepped suddenly out of the shadows at the right of the throne and strode down the steps to the child. His face was masked with white. He held a sword of polished steel five feet long. With out word or hesitation he swung the sword, held in both hands, up over the little girls neck.”
This is followed only six paragraphs later by
“The three highest steps directly before the throne, above the step where she knelt, had never been climbed by mortal feet. They were so thick with dust that they looked like one slant of grey soil, the planes of the red-veined marble wholly hidden by the unstirred, untrodden siftings of how many years, how many centuries?”
Didn't he just walk down the steps?
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Comment by The Daily Sonnet
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Comment by Bullamakanka
Hughie's Ziff
Bagman's Gazette
The points you have made are not supported by the story line.
Also this example is only one of several in the Earthsea books.
All in all this is a result of publishers not bothering to do the editing required.
Comment by The Daily Sonnet
The Daily Sonnet
Lots of Sonnets