A few things I learned recently · 9:13pm Oct 3rd, 2012
So recently, I've been editing a story for a friend of mine that is one this site, and I realized something...
Being an editor, at least for me, is nerve wracking.
Let me explain. When I write, I have a blank sheet of paper, a canvas if you will, that I am free to paint whatever I desire onto. If I want Twilight to cast a spell to solve a problem, BOOM! Done. If I want Fluttershy to creating a Sonic Shyboom (lots of pink, but very very quiet), then I do it. If I want Pinkie Pie to turn into a sandwich, use Twilight and Rarity as meat and cheese, and go about making everyone's lunch delicious... ok that might be to far, but you get what I mean. Further, once I'm done, while I can go back and fix things, they are MY things, and I know why certain things happened. If something is not explained right then and there, then I know why. If I want to change a paragraph to be in another style, I do it without worry.
Not only those things, but after I go over my story a few times, and I think I have most of the mistakes worked out... I send it to someone else to look at. Sure, I look at it again after he's done with it, but that step of taking the responsibility partly out of my hands is enough to calm my nerves. Subconsciously, if someone points out a mistake to me AFTER it is posted, I realize that it wasn't entirely my fault, and it was missed by the editor as well. Sure, it's annoying when a mistake is left in a story, but it never bothers me too much.
However...
When I was editing the chapter the past two days, I found myself getting more and more... let's go with anxious. At first, I was fine, and was going about without a worry in the world. Of course, as I went by, two things happened. First, the number of corrections I was putting into the story was going up and up and up, to the point where sometimes a paragraph would have more red and blue text (I use red for deletions, and blue for additions in "track changes") than black. Obviously, this meant that I had literally made that chapter more of my own writing than his own. It's not true, but in my mind, I couldn't help to sometimes think (in a very worried tone), "That isn't my job! My job is supposed to merely point out the spelling and grammar mistakes, and let the rest be!" Of course, I would find a sentence that sounded weird, so I would fix it, expanding my tight perimeters even more.
The second major thing was I noticed was, after I did all of the changes, I decided to do one more read-though, but this time with every single edit of mine accepted. Wanna know what I found? MORE ERRORS!! Some of them were even my doing!! I can't begin to tell you how much I freaked out a little when I saw that. This moment made me "realize" that if the chapter was posted with mistakes, those mistakes would be on MY shoulders. I would be the one responsible, for I didn't fix it, or worse: created it. Obviously, I made minor edits to the story during this "final" read-through, and then read it again. This last time, I think, was acceptable enough, but it wasn't without a shaky hand that I clicked the "send" button on that email.
It also put something else into perspective for me. When I write, I do it because I seriously enjoy it. It calms me, I enjoy it, I love putting the images in my head onto paper, and when they are posted, I can't tell you how much I LOVE seeing people comment. I don't care if I get 100, or 100,000 views (WoC trends much much closer to that first number), if there are comments, I love it. I would rather have comments with low views than high views with no comments. HOWEVER, when I am editing the story, I feel much more... mechanical. I am not doing something I enjoy (specifically), but I am doing something that is an important job. I guess... the best way you could put it is the difference between an art class and a math class. In an art class, you are free to do whatever you want, and within reason, anything is correct. In a math class, you are given the material, and there is one right answer, and if it isn't right, hell itself will break open, unleashing Satan incarnate upon the Earth to subjugate all of us.
So what is the point of this entire blog, minus the whole, "I'm bitching! listen to me!!!!11!1!"? Namely, it was an eye opener to what the other side of the writing process goes through, and while I believe I got WAY too stressed over it, I now realize what kind of work it goes through? Does that mean I'm never going to edit again? Of course I will! I made a promise, and I intend on keeping it. However, even IF I felt no shame in breaking the promise, I still want to do it. Not only does it help my writing skills and my friend's, but I get a strange sense of satisfaction of taking a chapter, and helping to mold it into something that shines that much brighter.
Oh, and reading the chapter a week or so early is nice too :P
PS: I totally intended to have this blog be about as long as my more recently 2-5 sentence ones. Heh... guess I got a little into the subject XD
As an editor, I feel your pain. On a side note, your idea about the ponies becoming a giant sandwich... This needs to become reality. If you won't do it, I will.
400025
I have to ask... as of my typing of this, I posted this blog 3 minutes ago... and you commented 1 minute ago. Did you reeeeeaaaaally read the whole thing?
400032
I skim for the main points, then come back later and read the whole thing when I don't have a screaming four-year old in the same room.
And you just pointed out why math hates me. And why I hate it.
But I see where you're coming from. I haven't done a ton of editing in my time as a fanfic writer, but I have dabbled in doing so here and there. You're definitely right that it is a bit nerve-wracking. After all, something you find in the story might seem weird to you, but it could be exactly what the original author intended. And yeah, if there are some mistakes to be found that you yourself as the editor made, it's definitely something that would eat at your gut. I know the feeling.
When you're editing your own work, that's one thing. But with someone else's work. there's a lot to consider and you have to do your best all the more. If anything, it's good because it does help build your skills as a writer and as an editor.
It's great that you are willing to go through with it.
It might be tough, but I think we all have faith in you. I know I do! I guess it's just where you have to sit back for a minute and calm yourself. After all, working under anxiety and stress isn't going to work. But I don't blame you for feeling that, not at all.
Good luck!
I sort of know where you're coming from here. Whenever I comment on a story with advice, I always reread it to see if what I'm doing is advising or just telling the author what I want them to write. If it falls into the second category and they didn't ask specifially for that kind of feedback, I don't post. For example, a couple of WoC chapters ago I prepared a comment along the lines of "Killing Rainbow is bad and you should feel bad," at which point I smacked myself and RickRolled you instead. However, you are right when you say that helping to make something better is satisfying. I love seeing people react to my comments.
400036 I see... so you didn't... *pulls out the pitchfork*
400189 Heh, and yet, I'm studying economics in school. I think I messed up somewhere along the line in my hunt for money!
400234 Not going to lie, I would've died laughing if you had not only posted that, but a picture of Zoidberg with that quote (yes, I got the reference!)
402223
That's okay, I think I did the same once upon a time!
402223
*kneels obediently* just make it quick...
402223>>402233
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