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Getting back into . . . editing?

Okay, maybe I'm asking on the wrong site, but so far as I know, there's no Mythic Editors, so Mythic Scribes will have to do. I haven't edited someone else's stories for months now, and I'm having a hard time getting back into practice. I can't tell if characters are staying in-character, I can't keep track of where there should and shouldn't be commas, and I can't even figure out where best to trim an overlong exposition dump. I feel like my head is full of cotton fuzz. Any advice to get back on track, before the fellow I'm editing for gets fed up with waiting?
 

TWErvin2

Auror
For keeping in character and dialogue, the a method might be to read through the whole project, taking a few notes of individual actions and dialogue patterns--including word choice. Then when you go through and edit, you can assist the author in being consistent on that end.
 

Penpilot

Staff
Article Team
For myself, if I haven't touched a project for a while, I have to start from the beginning. This ensures that I have fresh view of everything and not just a faded memory when trying to determine consistency.

Also, you can't do everything in one pass. For each editing pass I make over a manuscript, I focus on just a few things, maybe one or two of the following, plot, character, world building, grammar, sentence flow. I immerse myself the things I want to focus on in that pass and ignore the rest.

Remember you don't have to have all the answers. Sometimes it's enough to just point out something that isn't working for you, and let the author take it from there. A lot of times they just need conformation that something isn't working. I know that's what it's like with me. Many of the issues that get pointed out in my stories, I already suspect. I just need a gentile prod letting me know I should be focus in on that. Also, a lot of times things that stick out aren't the actual problems, they're symptoms of something greater that's hard to detect if you're not completely immersed in the story.


As for not knowing where commas go, all I can say is study up when you encounter an uncertainty and try to retain that understanding. The more you apply that knowledge the more ingrained it will be.

And finally don't half-ass it. IMHO you have to try to understand the story as well as if not better than the author. If you don't immerse yourself into the story in a significant way, it'll show in your comments. For myself, I can tell how focused someone was on my story by how often their comments are off base and how many obvious details they missed. Make enough off base comments, and it compromises credibility.

For example, I've had people comment that they don't understand the motivation for an action the character takes, and when I double check, the motivation is clearly stated before hand. When stuff like that happens it gives me the impression the person is just skimming, and the value of their comments in my eyes goes down.

my 2cents
 
I think I've got a handle on it now. The fundamental problem with the part I was editing was that it dumped a whole bunch of "necessary information" without doing anything to make it interesting or build character. Now I've got that flagged as an overall problem, and gone on to parts that are less flawed and more readable, I'm having an easier time of it.
 
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