I officially edited something.

I've never done it before, but I decided to help out an author who's native language was not English.

I enjoyed the story, but the grammar and spelling left a lot to be desired.

The story itself got a few comments. Some were the usual "good story, more please." Others were "I can barely read this."

I could follow along, but even I had to admit the grammar and spelling errors were detracting from the overall story.

So I offered to help.

The results can be found here.

This story has the original version as the author wrote it and what he now calls "the definitive" version...the version I edited/rewrote.

After I started editing, I realized how difficult it can be. Many questions kept coming up...

• How much do I change this sentence?
• Is it enough to correct the grammar?
• Is it too much of a change?
• Is the overall story still what the author intended?
• Do I add a bit of my own style?

This made the editing process take three times as long. But I think the extra time I spent, and the line I drew between keeping the author's original intent, and coherence, won out.

There were several times that I had to hold back from adding too much. After all, an editor's job is too correct, not to rewtite. There were other times that I needed to change and add words to solve redundancy.

Then there were times that I corrected one paragraph, that another paragraph no longer made sense.

I'm the end, the author agreed with my edits and it's now published.

I think it's neat that you get to see a before and after.