Story #100 coming soon... ish. Maybe. I hope. And the value of a good editor. · 1:02am May 11th, 2023
I've been sitting on 99 stories for a while now, almost 6 months, and I haven't published anything in 2023 except a couple new minifics in my anthology. But I've got one nearly ready to go!
So Present Perfect is also sitting on 99 stories, if you don't count her alt, and has likewise been there for a while. We were taking jabs at each other to see who'd finally get there first, and I wouldn't have expected that I would, given that it took me about 9 months to get something ready. In anticipation of it being A Big Round Number, I did want it to be special, so between knowing I wanted to do Jinglemas and still having some old unpublished write-off entries I'd like to get to, I wrangled this particular story into getting that number.
One good part of being lazy about editing is that several months had passed since the last time I read the draft. If you can afford to do this, it's a great effect. You still remember the general direction of the plot, but you forget a lot of the little details, the nuances of phrasing, the intent behind each paragraph. It becomes a lot easier to see when something isn't working, since you no longer have it clear in your head what the plan was. Whenever I've had the chance to put a story down for a while like this, it's inevitable I encounter sentences where I scratch my head and had no idea what I meant by it. It's great to weed those out.
But of course it's good to get other people to help you with that, too. I asked 4 people to edit this for me, 2 of them because the genre/characters are right in their wheelhouse, and 2 because they're generally good editors. 1 of each pair agreed to help, but unfortunately time caught up to NaiadSagaIotaOar, and she wasn't able to get through the whole thing. Her feedback on the part she did read was valuable, though, and I'm grateful for that.
Then there's Jarvy Jared, whose praises I've sung before as an author and editor/reviewer. He left a bunch of good comments in the document, and the story is much better for it.
When I first started reviewing in ponychan's Training Grounds, most of the stories there needed proofreading help. To a degree, it's kind of pointless to do that if the story needs a significant rewrite, because the same mistakes will probably pop up again, but really, proofreading was all I felt qualified to do. I picked up a lot of knowledge by reading what the other reviewers there said, but taking that step can be intimidating. So when I reviewed a story for Chris, that's precisely what happened. It can be intimidating anyway to advise a writer to change more advanced things than spelling mistakes, especially in this case, where I knew the writer was far more experienced than me. But he's not someone where I'm going to find many proofreading errors anyway, and while it does feel good in a way, if the extent of the feedback you get from a reviewer is "cool story, bro," then it isn't helpful. Sure, it's entirely possible the story is so perfect that there aren't any improvements to be made, but still. The first time I reviewed for him, I had to work hard to make useful suggestions. It's a tough hump to get over, but once you're there it does add a lot.
All that is to say, it's valuable when you find someone who can tell you to make substantial changes to your story and come up with convincing arguments to why you should. Obviously that second part is key. You've all seen countless times where someone left a "lol, this sucks" comment on a story, but if there's a justification given for why, it rarely amounts to more than the story not meeting the person's tastes. And, of course, you don't have to change something just because someone says to.
So yeah, Jarvy Jared did a bang-up job. It's not every editor who will tell you this scene needs to be restructured because it isn't working as is, and that scene could be entirely cut because it isn't accomplishing anything. And states their case in a way that doesn't just expect you to take their word for it, so when you think about it, more often than not damn if they aren't right.
In short, yes-men don't help you (and no-men don't either), but someone who's not afraid to suggest substantial changes and engage in a constructive back and forth is worth their weight in gold.
ah yeah, I love putting years between drafts for exactly the reasons you outline XD not to mention I cannot focus on a project for long
the cycles of angsting about #100 and completely forgetting about it are very strange, they come and go, maybe I'll get there someday :B
Looking forward to seeing another great story from you!
Finding someone who can not only pick out issues but then explain them is such a rarity. It takes a whole different tier of skill to not simply know but understand what it is that makes something not work (or make something work better!). And then be able to put that into actionable words? Instant friend for life right there.