A Meerkat's Bolthole

After almost two days of near-Spring weather, winter is coming back for a one-two punch of cold and snow tonight and again tomorrow night. Thankfully, I've got nowhere I need to be until Tuesday.

Meanwhile, this weekend I am wearing Editor Hat, working with two clients, both of whom are newbies. Oh dear. Already I have earned my fee for one, saving hir from the ridicule of any agent or editor... in fact, agents and editors should send me thank-you letters. *facepalm* But this is why they hire me....

Also, writing two guest-entries for Other Blogs, and yes, more Pack of Lies. Because that's how the gig is done.

For those of you following along on the Kitchen Follies, the stone warehouse was an OMG candy store. C and I wandered around oooing and aaahing at the massive slabs until the designer-lady took us by hand and forced us to focus on the task at-hand. I chose three variations of granite (one green-black, one brown-gold, and one green-with-striations-and-flecks), and she took a hammer to them and handed over samples. We took them back to the apartment and contemplated them in daylight, dusk, and nighttime lighting. After due consideration, and dinner, I decided on the green-with-black. It is lovely, and will, I hope, go wonderfully with the already-ordered cabinets and the floor tile I chose. And yay, for once in my life I did not instinctively choose the OMG most expensive thing on the lot.

Progress progresses. Having digested the global comments, and jotted down some possible fixes, I'm now working my way through the nit-picky details, page by page.

[for those of you who've been on the receiving end of one of my letters, you have your revenge, since mam'selle editrix learned from me... this letter feels awfully familiar. Ouch. *grin*)

But back to those global comments, and on deciding which ones to accept, and which to reject, as referenced in my last On Writing post.

Using myself as an Object Lesson (because vague examples, like vague disclaimers, are nobody's friend): In the revision letter, mam'selle editrix made a suggestion about world-building -- specifically, something about the political structure of the world, and would it be possible to do ABC regarding the interaction of my hero's profession and the antagonists' profession.

Well, no. Because the way the world is set up, the separation between them is what [indirectly] creates the scenario that allows for the conflict that triggers the story. So my immediate reaction was "WTF? Did you read this book?"

And that's where, I've found, a lot of beginning (and some established) writers stop. "You didn't get it, you weren't paying attention, you're wrong, I'm not changing that."

Bad writer, no Tim Tam.

After several go-rounds of revision letters (14 novels and counting, OMG) my MO is to mutter, to pace, to mark up the letter with a few pointy comments [using bright red ink is helpful]... and then sleep on it [and anything else that gave me a knee-jerk reaction]. Sometimes you [generic-you, henceforth] decide they had a valid point. More often, you decide that no, the beta/editor/reader was skimming and missed an important detail. That happens to us all, even when we're being careful*. So, you-the-author have two choices:

1. ignore the comment and move on,
2. go back and see if there was any way that you could draw the point forward more, so nobody can possibly miss it.

#1 is tempting, but for the conscientious author, #2 would seem to be the obvious answer...except sometimes making something Too Obvious is worse for the story than being too subtle. It's all case-by-case.

In this particular case, I decided to approach her thought [note: and it was a thought, not an editorial Command. She wasn't saying "this is broken" but "I wonder if you could..."] from a different angle. There were areas throughout the book where the specific issue she addressed was also addressed by the characters, building their own workaround [allies and treaties, etc). Maybe I could draw those instances forward, using how rare those exceptions are in order to emphasize the rule? Something to think about.

But let's return to the original suggestion. Did mam'selle editrix read too quickly, and miss a basic point? Or did the world-building simply not work for her? Was my construction flawed in a way that will fail for others, or am I being appropriately indirect? All possible. In fact, all four are possible at the same time, if you're writing with enough texture and tricksiness. Reader comprehension varies, and you can't nail it for everyone. All you can do is nail it to your own satisfaction.

In the end, I'm not taking her suggestion [which is my right, since it's my name on the byline and my reputation out there in the trenches]. I am, however, thinking about WHY she made that suggestion, and following those thoughts into an exploration of something other than what she originally proposed.

And that, dear readers, is part of what a good editor does. :-)




*in point of fact, mam'selle questioned a name as being of a princeling, when it was in fact identified when introduced as the name of a country. So, it happens....

So it looks like I'll have room to take on 2-3 new editorial clients this year (I only take on one person at a time, so they get 100% of my editorial brain). I offer everything from brainstorming/development to line editing and submission formatting, but NOT copy-editing or proofreading (there are folk out there who are better than I at that, you should talk to them first).

If you're interested, contact me at dymk-at--optimum-dot-net to discuss.
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Meanwhile, I seem to be alone in not pimping my work for various award consideration. Rest assured, it's less that I don't want to be considered and more that my short fiction output has fallen dramatically, and two of the markets that were supposed to publish stories last year have failed out. Alas.

However, for those who are curious/tend to nominate, for your consideration:

"Illumination" in UNUSUAL SUSPECTS, edited by Dana Stabenow (December 2008) [fantasy/mystery]
"Wolfling" in Abyss And Apex #26 [sf]
"Dreamcatcher" (novella) in e-format from Nocturne/Harlequin, as Anna Leonard (September 2008) [paranormal romance]

FREE FALL (Luna) [fantasy]
THE NIGHT SERPENT (Nocturne, as Anna Leonard) [paranormal romance]

And lo there was rejoicing, for Staples did deliver, and there was printer paper in the households once again. So today I will be printing out the entire manuscript of Vineart War #1 and settling down with caffeine and red pen (the only time I ever use red pen) to open up a serious can of editorial whup-ass on myself.

Editing is a funny business. I just finished a freelance line-edit where mostly I was smoothing out sentence fragments and correcting some...unfortunate word choices. But I also ended up catching a number of continuity errors and plot-support failures that should have been found in the first round of (developmental/revision) edits. That's what the editor does -- catches the things that the author's too close-up [and tired] to see.

So how can the writer also be editor? Very, very carefully, and with a few tricks on the brain, said tricks differing from person to person.

Some people, I know, can self-edit on the screen. Not me. It may be wasteful of paper, but I need hard-copy. Part of this process comes from all the years editing other peoples' work, I suppose: by turning the book into a manuscript, separating it that way from the thing-I-created, I am able to become Editor rather than Writer, and make judgments based on the presentation on the page rather than what I-the-Writer had in my head. Also, it give me my first sense of how scenes and chapters actually flow, turning pages, rather than scrolling down. There really is a difference.

So that's where I'll be. Except when I'm not.

So how do y'all edit your own work? Or do you have to hand it over to someone else? [I do some of that, too: blessed be the beta reader]

note to all writers and would-be writers:

If you let a character describe something as "demonic?" Make sure that the culture you're writing in has demons, first (or has had contact with a culture that has demons).

In fact, make sure that every reference your characters use is culturally suppported. Yes, it's a pain in the ass, and takes time. But the editor will find them and point them out and make you go back and fix them anyway, so why not do it right the first time?

On behalf of all editors, thank you.

I find myself offering career advice over at kateelliott's journal. If you're thinking about multiple-book pitches or wondering what it takes to get in as a baby author, it's an interesting discussion, and it start here.


(and neutronjockey? You may have been kidding but you hit a continual problem-spot, and so got turned into an Object Lesson. That'll teach ya [or, probably, not]).

Woke this morning to what sounded like a remake of 'The Birds' -- an entire tree filled with (probably) grackles, many dozens if not hundreds of them squalking like someone forgot to oil them all summer. I thought at first they were mobbing something (grackles are bastards like that) but no, apparently they were all just gathering there to annoy the hell out of me, and once I was awake, they all moved on, en masse.

Just another little service Mother Nature provides, free of charge.

Thanks guys.

An so another day begins. But all is not crankiness and muttering. alfreda89 has done a rather thorough [and quite positive] review of the Retrievers series here, for those of you who need a cheat sheet on what's going on. I present it less as egoboo [although there's some of that, certainly] and more as an example of how to write about/review both an individual book and a series without actually giving plot specifics away.

Reviewing is a skill I totally lack -- I am very much an Editor when I talk about books, which is why I tend to do it only on request. Editors see things differently than reviewers do, and I'm not sure it's possible to switch between one and the other. I can move between Reader and Editor, because an Editor always wants to be a Delighted Reader -- it is our ultimate goal, to read through a book and think "oh. Yes. Excellent" and nothing more.

I had a discussion once with some fellow editors about their reaction to that elusive Perfect Book, and how we knew it. Many if not most of them said it was an emotional reaction, a sense of satisfaction or joy. Interestingly although perhaps not surprisingly, my reaction is a physical one. If I am reading a Perfect or near-Perfect book, I am invigorated. I literally can't sit still, I have to get up and pace, and do something, before I can go back to reading.

(for example, when I read the first Carol Berg manuscript, years and years ago, I had to get up out of my home office, and walk up and down the stairs a few times. By the time I made the second round, I knew I was going to be making an offer. This was, I believe, about 30 pages in. Carol of course will howl at this, since I made her do Much Revision. But Perfect doesn't mean Can't Be Better, especially in a first book....)

Hrm. This seems to have turned into an essay. Can I count this toward my wordage for the day? No? Damn. Off to work for me, then....

"To people not in the business, editing is a mysterious thing. (Actually, it's mysterious to most bloggers, who despite having been in existence for less than 10 years, probably outnumber every writer who ever wrote. But more on them later.) Many times over the past 20 years, people have asked me, 'What exactly does an editor do?'

It's not an easy question to answer. Editors are craftsmen, ghosts, psychiatrists, bullies, sparring partners, experts, enablers, ignoramuses, translators, writers, goalies, friends, foremen, wimps, ditch diggers, mind readers, coaches, bomb throwers, muses and spittoons -- sometimes all while working on the same piece. Early in my editing career I was startled when, after we had finished an edit, a crusty, hard-bitten culture writer, a woman at least twice my age, told me, 'That was great -- better than sex!'"

"let us now praise editors" @ Salon

While sorting and tossing a bunch of old files this weekend, I came across a letter that I had written many many years ago (1996, to be exact). A business letter, specifically. Of the sort that you write, and maybe show to a co-worker, and then toss and write the 'real' letter.

I hereby share it with you, names and specifics deleted.

( the meerkat abuses the sarcasm. also the bitter. )

At this point, my boss came in and started reading over my shoulder, and laughed so hard we had to leave the office and go for lunch to calm down, so the rest remained unwritten. Alas.

Between this, and the later PaperGate incident (don't ask, it's too hot to make me froth and swear), it was mutually agreed I not talk to Hollywood any more. And everyone (except dianora2 who got stuck with the job) was much happier.

God, that letter brings back memories. How I managed not to kill anyone in that job is still a mystery....