Quote:
Originally Posted by caleb72
I think anyone who isn't a professional editor (or beta reader) would be a saint to go through all the passages like this and point them out.
My dissection of this passage alone was several paragraphs. And I didn't think this one was that bad.  |
Generally speaking (with my editor hat) I would point it out in a few places and then let the author go back over it. There's no point in going through storyline editing to mark every spot and then have to go through it again to see if it is corrected. At least that is the way I work. My own word choice editor tends to read through the whole thing and give it back, but she only does one pass.
Most authors want to change it BEFORE the editor reads the whole manuscript, but every author/editor relationship is different. If I'm finding that the author does something chronically in the first 5 or so chapters, I usually give them the option of taking it back for another read. It saves us both a lot of time. That way if problem spots still remain, I can spot them and the story is still "fresh." Since I (and most editors) charge by the "pass" or "read" it also saves money.
And for authors who are used to editing and beta reads, they don't need to be told every instance--just a general, "watch this word use" or "you have a tendency to..." And they then know what to look for.