- How To
- A Checklist for a Good Editor
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Click hereAs an editor, establishing a good editing relationship with the author is of primary concern. Without trust between you, editing is going to be a disaster. The author needs to know you're interested only in making their work shine, not changing their voice, style or story. When an author knows this, they will be much more likely to accept suggestions and changes. So work hard at making your author(s) understand this and give them plenty of reason to trust you with their "babies."
1. Grammar, spelling and punctuation are paramount. If you're not sure, check it out. So if you have problems with lay and lie, its and it's, affect and effect, make sure you look it up. There are plenty of online dictionaries and places to check punctuation and spelling. Bookmark your favorites and keep them handy while you're editing. And when you change something, remember to educate your author as to why you're making the change. If you make an author aware of the difference between you're and your, they will be less likely to make the mistake again, and you (or another fellow editor) will have less to correct in their work in the future.
2. Watch for awkward phrases and unclear ideas. If it doesn't make sense to you, it's not going to make sense to the reader. Have the author clarify or rephrase.
3. "God" does not have to be capitalized if it does not refer to the actual deity. So "Oh my god that feels good!" would be acceptable. However, it would be, "I prayed to God that he would get better."
4. Purge the words "just" and "that" as much as possible. They are often unneeded. For example, in the previous sentence, the word "that" is unnecessary. It should read, "I prayed to God he would get better." However, the "that" in the former sentence, "Oh my god that feels good!" is necessary. Smoothness/readability is the most important guide here.
5. Here's a short list of words you should probably purge as much as possible from most works: a bit, about, a little, actually, almost, already, appears, approximately, basically, close to, even, exactly, fairly, finally, just, kind of, mostly, nearly, now, pretty, quite, rather, really, seemed, seems, simply, slightly, somehow, somewhat, sort of, suddenly, truly, utterly, very
6. Minimize the use of "And" and "But" to start sentences, unless it has a dramatic use in the scene.
7. A scene break should not occur if the action is still contained within the same time frame and location -- unless it's being used to indicate a point-of-view switch.
8. Highlight repeated words and have your authors choose alternates if you find them often repeating the same word throughout the mss. Also, avoid repeating words within sentences, paragraphs, or even succeeding paragraphs. Please be consistent in your highlighting, however, and explain your system clearly to your authors. (For example, one of our editors uses green highlights for repetitions and redundancies, yellow highlights for important changes, blue highlights for drawing attention to something that should be changed, etc.)
9. Correct passive voice, especially past progressive voice, as much as possible. "She was sleeping peacefully" should be "She slept peacefully". Active voice gives a reader a more immediate sense of what's happening. This isn't a hard and fast rule, but a general one, and I admit, a trendy one in the current market. Passive voice can be effective. Use your best judgment.
10. Measurements and numbers should be spelled out—pounds for lbs, ounces for oz, two for 2, etc. The exceptions to this are years: 1970 is better than nineteen seventy, and time indicators should be a.m. and p.m. (not capitalized) with a space between the time and the indicator: 2:00 p.m. This should, however, be a last resort. Try to rephrase to make it "two in the afternoon" or something like that.
11. Stephen King said the road to hell is paved with adverbs. Eliminate those --ly words as much as possible: beautifully, sexily, whinily. Ugh. Verbs and actions are always better to convey meaning. Adverbs are an emphasis technique and can easily be abused. A few adverbs here and there are fine, but if your author is an adverbaholic, it's time for a little AA -- Adverbs Anonymous. Highlight all the adverbs in the mss to give your author an indication of how many they're using and ask them to rephrase.
12. "Show don't tell" has become the mantra for fiction writers everywhere, and it's generally a good rule, but like most rules, it can be broken by a good writer. For the most part, though, showing is better than telling. It moves the story along, gives the reader a sense of the characters, and also allows them the feeling of being "in" the story. If you find an author doing too much "telling," ask them to rewrite to describe the action of the characters, use dialogue, etc. But remember, telling is sometimes appropriate, especially in instances where time is of the essence.
13. Dialogue should be punctuated like this, "I don't have it," she said. Double quotes, with a comma before the last quote if a speaker tag is used. A period is used only if an action tag is used instead. "I don't have it." She hid her hands behind her back, averting her eyes. In fact, using the generic, indescriptive verb "said" should be minimized. Action rosa-blanca.ru are usually preferred over speaker rosa-blanca.ru, and adverbs should be avoided as much as possible in speaker rosa-blanca.ru, i.e. "she said angrily."
14. Avoid repetition of punctuation, even if it's being used for dramatic effect. So, "Oh my god!!!!!!!" should be just "Oh my god!" and "What was she thinking!?!?" should be "What was she thinking?" Also avoid all-caps, bold or underline. Use italics for thoughts or emphasis. And if you use ellipses (which should be used sparingly) there should be no spaces before or after. So, "Please...don't!" would be correct.
15. The em dash has mostly replaced the colon and semi-colon in modern fiction—seen here. Like ellipses, dashes have no space on either side if they are inside a sentence. Also, em dashes are used for interruptions of speech or thought, not ellipses (which are only used for dramatic pauses and unfinished thoughts).
16. As an editor, keep an eye out for everything that doesn't relate to the advancement of the plot. In most cases, suggest removing the extraneous sections, or at least, reworking them to enhance the story rather than distract from it.
17. It's acceptable to have multiple points-of-view (POV) within a book or story, but eliminate all instances of switching POV's (head-hopping) within the same scene. It's too confusing to have characters going back and forth every other paragraph. Each scene should be from one character's point of view.
18. Watch out for illogical/missing story flows, incomplete world building, inconsistency of facts and details, lack of character development, holes in character motives, forced endings, etc.
19. Check accuracy of facts, libelous materials, plagiarism of published works (even if it's the author's own previous work), watch for anachronisms (i.e. pay telephone in WWII), and check the internal clock of the manuscript (chronological events and the time on which the novel is running). Also, especially in sex scenes, please make sure characters don't defy the laws of physics!
20. Contractions shouldn't be avoided. In dialogue especially, they're preferred. Unless the style is purposely formal, the use of common contractions will make the prose flow more easily.
21. If an author uses a word you don't know -- look it up. Make sure it's used correctly. But there's no need to change it.
22. The word "come," in erotic fiction, is used as a verb, as in, "Oh, I'm coming!" and the word "cum" should be used as a noun, as in, "She swallowed his cum."
23. The word is all right, not alright.
The best course of action when editing is to suggest changes and allow the writer the leeway to make them or not. Aside from the grammar, spelling and punctuation, which should be set in stone (unless the author is using European spellings in a European-based story -- then it's just set in a different stone!) the author should have final say in what they will or will not change.
- COMMENTS
Excellent and concise. I’ll print it out and laminate it. I’ll carry with me. I’ll give my children a copy when they enter kindergarten and make them produce their copy on demand. At the age of thirteen I will get each of them a lifetime subscription to Literotica complete with a username.
The advice about the ellipse is a matter of style and depends on what style guide you look at. I think the important thing is to be consistent. As most people are probably reading these on their phones it's probably wise to follow the AP style guide and for the same reason. Layout of text in narrow columns benefit from spaces around ellipses (and probably the em-dash too).
This is SO good...as an honors English student Selena love everything packs a lot into this page
I have several stories however I am poor at proof reading. Your advice has given me a new perspective or writing. I read as I see it in my head. I need to consider the reader who does not know my thought process but relies on spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Thank you so very much.
Do you know if we can edit stories after they have been published to correct errors we are aware of from feedback?
Thanks again.
Anachronism? There were pay telephones in WWII. Local calls were a nickel! For long distance calls, each different coin was channeled into a different small chime in the phone, which the operator counted. If she said, "Deposit 25-cents, please," she counted the tones each coin type until the right amount was deposited.
Alright is valid if used colloquially, also used to separate British and US English .. isn't it? ... and .. are both fine to use unless writing essays on say, grammatical historical use or suchlike; they are decorations if used in creative writing .. right?
:p
Thank you. I've started as a volunteer editor and appreciate this information.
every time I see someone thank one or more editors and yet they get looser and loser mixed up.
The are trying to insult someone by calling them a "looser".
Are the editors here that bad?
saw it on another author's Faves list...b looks like very sound advice by a prolific pro...
a fan of her works
5
Failure to match subjects with pronouns
First parargraph 4 examples
Second paragraph 1 example
Eleventh paragraph 2 examples
Twelfth paragraph 1 example
Last paragraph 1 example
8 Highlight repeated words and have your authors choose alternates if you find them often repeating the same word throughout the mss. Also, avoid repeating words within sentences, paragraphs, or even succeeding paragraphs.
23. The word is all right, not alright.
Merriam Webster disagrees. “It is less frequent than all right but remains common especially in informal writing. It is quite common in fictional dialogue and is sometimes found in more formal writing.” />
Opinions are legitimate, provided they are acknowledged as such.
The best course of action when editing is to suggest changes and allow the writer the leeway to make them or not.
1405 words 27 paragraphs
8 forms of edit
7 forms of they
5 forms of them
4 forms of their
Inconsistent ways to express point-of view/points-of-view. With and without dashes, acromyms, and ‘s for the plural form.
Paragraph 7 point-of-view
Paragraph 17 POV, multiple points-of-view (POV), POV's, point of view
what you wrote is accurate, but there are always exceptions, often for an individual author e.g. to cum is, to me, a verb and the ejaculate is spunk, or even ejaculate (though not sperm, as any man who has had his tubes cut, will tell you!)
An additional point is to be consistent, if an author calls her cunt her sex, keep doing so, readers might prefer cunt or pussy, but if it is always called her sex, translation becomes automatic and not an issue.
I had no idea that head hopping was such a no-no in writing. Since fixing that, I think my story has seriously improved.
Is it possible to limit one's editing to a quick review of spelling, grammar and punctuation? I'm not interested in investing more than that for most of what I see posted on Literotica.
Also, you should revise #19. At least for the United States, coin-operated payphones were in general use well before WWII.
As a writer of two stories, this was helpful, and I appreciate your taking the time to write it. Naysayers can always find something negative. This guide is well received.
This is the editor who I would like You to recommend dear author of the article. :)
Is the guidance in Item 22 still valid? I see cum commonly used as a verb and seems to me to be more appropriate in much of erotic literature than come.
I'm cumming! just seems to fit the case much better than I'm coming!
Also, did you cum? or did you come?
Or am I misreading the guidance in Item 22?
Actually, MSS stands for "manuscripts". The singular is MS, or ms.
Perhaps this is like "criteria" (pl) vs "criterion" (s), now universally misused.
Thanks for the article, Selena. From the sad evidence, I doubt that many Lit authors are aware of it.
I always feel like I'm putting my kids on the bus for their first day of school when I send anything to an editor. Once you've put that much of yourself into the work, it's hard to think about it being scrutinized by anyone.
One question. The head hopping that you mentioned is something I can't seem to get past. When I think of a scene, it seems like a movie is playing and I'm narrating it as it plays. I want to know what each person is thinking in the moment. Any hints?
Thank you for the help.
Unless you're writing a legal brief, don't use Latin abbreviations in place of the more easily understood English expressions. But if you do use them, use common ones, and use the ones that mean what you're trying to say. For instance
"e.g." (exempli gratia) means "for instance"
"i.e." (id est) means "that is"; it's used for giving a *specific* example
"etc." (et cetera) means "and other things" similar to the ones just named.
Your article, "A Checklist for a Good Editor," is also a checklist for any authors who wants to improve their writing style and skills. Thanks for the info. It was very helpful and informative. Your list identified at least two errors I often make. I will now start to change my errors and bad habits.
Great article, very informative and I made a copy for my files. Thanks! I haven't search for stories by Selena_ Kitt, I hope to find some examples of your editing skills. I'm still struggling within the Literotica site to find what I want, so if you do have stories achieved I hope to find them. Thanks, again.
An ellipsis is used to denote an incomplete thought or missing words - that's it. The literal translation of the word ellipsis as stated by Merriam-Webster's dictionary:
Origin of ELLIPSIS
Latin, from Greek elleipsis ellipsis, ellipse, from elleipein to leave out, fall short, from en in + leipein to leave
Link to the page here: />
An ellipsis should really only be used at the end of a scene or chapter though. if a character gets cut off while speaking - use a hyphen. Pauses in action or breaks in speech should all be denoted with a hyphen too.
Also, there are 101 rules about correctly using numbers in text but you can safely ignore most of them. The most important thing you can do number-wise is to be consistent. If you want to spell out 1-10, 1-20 or 1-100 even - that's fine; just do it all of the time.
One last note about numbers: avoid them as often as possible. The thing about numbers is they are overly specific. Height, weight, age, size, time of day and even the era can and should be described in a creative way. If people must know exactly when things are happening, they can google an event in the story.
This is a very informative post. I even saved a few I was unaware of so I can refer back easily. I almost skipped it because the title is for editors. I think the title should be: READ THIS SO YOUR EDITOR WILL LIKE YOU!
Thanks for this. It's great information.
I admit it: I'm an adverbaholic! Is there a meeting or a twelve step program? Lol.
To be honest, I've been trying to reduce or eliminate them altogether. Getting better with each story, thanks in large part to my wonderful editor, aussie_101.
Great info here, I like the hobby of
erotic writing, yet plenty of mistakes
in using the wrong word like they're for
their or there or bad punctuation, etc.
I frankly thought I was pretty good and
I found out I forgot an awful lot about
spelling and punctuation. One does forget
after being out of school for thirty eight
years
So even if the story is great and loaded
with erotic scenes, if the reader has to
figure what is going on, he/she will look
for a story that is easier to read.
It's nice to see that someone cares enough about both their works, and that of OTHER authors to post something like this. It actually is quite sad how many people, even during high school and college, can't figure out worth a damn how grammar works.
Seriously, thanks.
(On another note, I feel like literotica should auto-favorite helpful guides like this for every person who has an account.)
No one should be allowed to post on Literotica without having first read this. There are a few nits I might add from my years as a professional editor but these are the ones that cannot be ignored. Editors should also remember that the work belongs to the author; never change the author's voice or style. Your job is to hone the work, not rewrite it. If major revision is required, give the author your thoughts and let him/her do the rewrite.
Great for the novice writer with way too much literature and not enough writing courses in her background! Thank you!
I believe many stories would have higher ratings if the author used an editor.
When I decided to submit a story, I made a conscious effort to read stories with higher ratings. Consistently, the higher rated stories also used correct grammar, spelling and punctuation.
I love the word ‘had’. Kirk takes them out most of the time. On occasion, he would send a note, ‘I’m not sure what you mean here.’ The only time he ever suggest a complete change in a sentence was when I was having so much trouble with it and ask for help.
An exception to #10. Many years ago I was taught that numbers from one to twenty should be spelled out, but that numbers above twenty are more appropriately written and more easily read in numeric form. Overall, I think that your list was very helpful.
Thank you.
Very helpfull stuff and I recognised many faults in my story. Then I did some editing of my own! There were payphones in WW11, even in WW1! Should this be cell-phones, mobiles, handys, etc?
You've pointed out errors that I make, and I thought I knew how to write. Excellent!
I've just volunteered to be an editor and I found a few of your suggestions quite valuable, especially your opening admonition to resist the temptation to replace the author's voice with the editor's own. An editor's job is to improve an existing work, not to build a new one. I've yielded to that temptation in the past, but, thanks to your warning, I'll be more aware of the danger and better prepared to keep my instincts in check.
...especially for someone who self-edits. I could probably go down the list and find exceptions I would make to, well, some of them. I'm a big fan of encouraging authors to tinker--try writing from a different POV, try both present and past tense, and sometimes just breaking it down paragraph by paragraph, sentence by sentence, and asking, Is this helping or hurting my story?
I think writers sometimes need to be pushed to make their own choices. Of course grammar, spelling and other obvious errors should be corrected or pointed out. But every writer needs to get familiar enough with their own voice to pick out their own 'false notes' eventually.