Quote:
Originally Posted by Sil_liS
You don't quite understand my point. Since you are there, ready to do this for them, the authors pay less attention than they normally would.
And they never learn. It is like having training wheels on a bike: to be able to say that you are cycling, you shouldn't be needing them.
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Not true at all. Most writers believe in improving the craft EVERY SINGLE TIME WE SIT DOWN. We want a better book EVERY book. We want to hand off a perfect book. I just got back changes from my editor a couple of weeks ago. I was DISMAYED to find she had changes. THE BOOK WAS PERFECT. I had edited it over a hundred times. THIS time, I was smug. I knew her skills. So I was ever so careful to FIND those problems before she ever saw it...Oh, I was wondering whether I maybe had one too many characters? Was it confusing because of it?
Well, geez. That wasn't even mentioned. She honed in on word choices. She focused on REDUNDANCY!~ WHAT??? I said that already?? WHERE??? Hmm. There it is in black and white...
It DRIFTED??? WHERE??? Hm. Yeah, that spot could be tighter. Yeah those two chapters (three chapters apart) DO actually prove the same point so one of them needs to move the plot forward in some OTHER way or there is no point to having them both.
Most writers don't have sloppiness due to lack of training or due to lack of trying. We have sloppiness or errors due to reading it too many times. Due to focusing in on our own pet peeves. I know what I meant to write and THAT is what I see--it just might not actually be the words that showed up on the computer screen. And yes. I can misread that same paragraph 12 or 13 times. My editor reads it once. And apparently it glares...