Sime~Gen(tm) Inc.

Where Sime and Gen Meet, Creativity Happens

WorldCrafters Guild

Workshop:

by

Karen MacLeod

This Q&A was arranged by Margaret I. Carr
Editor of T-Zero http://thewritersezine.com 

 

Focus is on Editing.   (asked by Margaret I. Carr)

What is a free-lance editor, anyway?   




Right now I am under contract (and I also do freelance) to NBI books (www.novelbooksinc.com).  Freelance work:  An author has written a novel.  They wish to find an editor to polish that novel before a potential publisher sees it.  They have heard of me through "the grapevine" or through a publishing house or some other means (for example, my name is in all the NBI books I have edited, listed on the copyright page as editor).  They contract with me to edit their book, and pay me an agreed upon amount, in portions, to edit the work.  I have done a recent title that way.  I have also done freelance work when a publishing house says "I have a novel.  It needs an editor."  They give me a synopsis of this book, and ask, "Do you want to do this book?  If so, what will you charge, and what will you do for that money?"  They then negotiate the contract for me, and have the author contact me with the manuscript.



What do you do?




I copy edit (grammar and spelling) of the content of the manuscript.  I check for continuity errors.  I pare all extraneous words out...and point them out.  All the little IF, AND, BUT, THEN, THEY    etc.  I check for smooth flow, and help tighten the manuscript, WITH the author.  I make suggestions...  I question what the author "means" if something is unclear.  Do you mean "a"  or do you mean "b"   I do try to encourage the author with their work.  If I see they have potential (in my opinion) I try to point that out, and urge them to continue to write when they get discouraged.  That's "Karen" and not necessarily what every editor does.


What do you not do?


I am NOT a book "doctor."  I do NOT re-write the book.  I do not LIKE to give writing lessons to the author that truly writes dreadfully...giving writing lessons is not the job of an editor. 


How did you get into it?


I originally started as a fan editor for one of Jacqueline Lichtenberg's publications (A Companion in Zeor).  She, Jean Lorrah, and Sharon Jarvis (currently of Toad Hall, formerly of Doubleday) taught me how to edit by using the fan written fiction as a model.  I also helped edit the original Sime~Gen novels back in the 1980's.

Interview with Sharon Jarvis can be found --
http://www.simegen.com/writers/spotlights/nonfiction/1101/sjarvis.html

A Companion in Zeor
http://www.simegen.com/sgfandom/rimonslibrary/cz  


What background should someone considering it have?


A person should READ, READ, READ, READ.  Diverse material. When I was a child, books were my best friends...so all I did was lots of reading.  I would also say this applies to potential authors.  Editing the work of budding authors is a good starting place. Many of the fanzine authors went on from fan fiction to professional publication.  Reading "bad" fiction (where the reader knows "something is wrong with this book") helps you see what works and what does not work within a novel. 


What skills are essential?


Good grammar and english skills.  Use of typing skills, and word processing software.  Use of a Thesaurus, use of other editing tools, including a dictionary.  (I have specific books I can name that I  use in editing).  Patience and tact to work with authors. 


What do you wish writers would do and not do before you see their
manuscript?


DO:  Spell and grammar check the entire work.  Cut as many extraneous words, and make the work flow before an editor sees it.     Write your work, and let it sit for a time (probably about a month) and then re-read it with a "fresh eye" to see what changes might be made -- and make them.

NOT DO:  Expect the editor to write their novel for them.  They can take the editor's questions about what is already written, and the editor's comments of what the editor has read.  Using that information they craft the work; an editor does not. 



Time permitting, I may ask T-Zero's Interview expert to do an e-mail
interview with you ahead of time. (If she can be dragged away from her
sailboat long enough!)


Perhaps she can go sailing, now that I provided some of these answers.  (smile)


Current Editing Credentials

"Vampire's Friend" by Jacqueline Lichtenberg in HEAVEN AND HELL, an
anthology of humorous stories, paper published by Speculation Press,
Nov. 2001.
http://www.speculationpress.com 


"Lions of Judah"  -- Elaine Hopper  (NBI)  
Apology for the Devil --  Stuart Thomas (NBI)
Tyburn -- Stuart Thomas (NBI)   -- publication pending
Married by Mistake - Laurie Alice Eakes  (NBI)
Allude To Murder --   Karen Davenport  (NBI)
Angels Unawares --  Priscilla A. Maine   (NBI)
Head over Heels -- Cindy Procter-King  (NBI)
Pleasures of the Heart  (NBI)  -- one of many editors of this short story anthology
AN AMERICAN REDNECK IN HONG KONG  -- (NBI)   Michael DellaRocca  -- publication pending

Attack of the Rockoids - Gene and Grayson Steinberg,  Toad Hall, Co./Making the Impossible

NovelbooksInc. Contacts:
( http://www.novelbooksinc.com  )

K.G. McAbee
Executive Editor, NovelBooksInc
www.novelbooksinc.com 
gailmcabee@yahoo.com 

Novel Books Inc.
P.O. Box 661
Douglas, MA  01516



 

 

 

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