Quote:
Originally Posted by DaringNovelist
Um, apparently you didn't read that post. (Or any of the other posts in that series -- which drew on my experience reading slush and judging competitions.)
The answer to the question "Do indie writers need editors?" in that post was an unequivocal (and bolded): NO!
Which isn't to say that indies don't need language skills, but what kind of skills are dictated by the story and venue, and writer's goals, not by style books.
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Um, actually I did, and the previous ones too, plus the comments, which didn't universally agree with your stance
You say indie writers don't
need editors, which I agree with - very few things in life are actually
needed, but you also point out that 'if hiring an editor helps you get on with writing those words, that's fine too'. And that is really the editor's job - to help the writer to get on with writing.
Also, despite your assertion in the article that writers (well, you) don't need editors, you then go on to agree with Scalyfreak that:
Quote:
Originally Posted by ScalyFreak
What I meant was that anyone who wants me or anyone else to read what they've written needs to have someone else read it before we do. Someone who's not afraid to call the writer on short-cuts, sloppy character development, boring interludes that add nothing to the plot, et cetera. You know what i mean. I'm talking about that one trusted person who reads your first draft, and then looks at you and says, "this makes no sense, why is it even in here?"
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..which is exactly the sort of thing a good editor should do. This, plus your comments that 'they get an editor to fix grammar mistakes' and (in the article) 'hire someone to take over the annoying proofing jobs' lead me to think that I did misread the article in one way - that is, that I thought you had a better understanding of an editor's function than you do. An editor doesn't deal with the 'annoying proofing jobs' - that's a proofreader's role. Neither do they just 'fix grammar mistakes' - they work with an author on all aspects of writing, including all those enumerated by Scalyfreak, to help the author produce the best work of which they are capable. A good writer won't necessarily be a good editor, or vice versa, so most authors will consider it makes sense for them to concentrate on what they
are good at, and hire someone else to do the bits they aren't good at (or just don't like).