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Topic Tuesday #21: Working with a Team.


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My team is AC Benus and @mollyhousemouse . AC is my editor and molly reads for me.  They are great. 

 

One thing about writing anthologies, is that you get work with your own team and then whoever is in charge of pairing you with another editor.  Currently that's @Valkyrie and last year @Parker Owens read my anthology piece for me. It's good to work with people who know you well, but it's also interesting to work with other people too.

 

Other editors i've had were skinnydragon, @Kitt, parker and @JayT. Other people you can add to your team are subject matter experts who can give you special insight when you need it. So ask around if you need info on Horses, marathons, or social work, like i have in the past. It's another way to meet more of the variety of people we have on GA.

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Finding a good beta/editing team is invaluable to growing as a writer.  Knowing your strengths and weaknesses and finding a team to complement those can be a lengthy process.  It's important to find people who aren't afraid to speak up when something isn't working, and who have a good eye for spotting grammatical and spelling mistakes.  If language use is a known issue, find an editor strong in that area as well.  Some editors are good at spotting misused or misspelled words, but are not as good with incorrect verb tenses, misplaced modifiers, passive voice, or run on sentences.  

 

I've formed a close relationship with my beta readers and trust them to tell me when something's not working.  I write very cleanly, so my editors also make sure any changes I've made after beta comments make sense and fix any editing mistakes I missed.  So my process is to write a story/chapter, send it to my beta reader, make changes, send it back for a second beta read, if needed, then it goes off to my editor for a final look.  

 

We all use MS Word with track changes/comments.  When I edit, I always write a paragraph or two at the end of the story/chapter with my overall impression, areas I liked, and areas that need improvement.  

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4 minutes ago, Mikiesboy said:

One thing about writing anthologies, is that you get work with your own team and then whoever is in charge of pairing you with another editor.  Currently that's @Valkyrie and last year @Parker Owens read my anthology piece for me. It's good to work with people who know you well, but it's also interesting to work with other people too.

 

 

Sometimes it's nice to get another perspective, because when you have a close relationship with your team, some comments can almost be anticipated.  I'll write something and think "I know Cole is going to comment on that" and sure enough, he does.  He even told me once to add in something I had meant to, but forgotten about before I sent it.  I like getting other perspectives every once in a while, because they might point out something I never would have thought of.  

 

Just a note about the Anthology Proof Team--I know regular anthology participants are aware of this, so this is directed at authors who are new to participating in the anthologies.  We proofread stories that have already been through an author's team (as Tim stated).  We don't edit stories, since that has already been done.  We are just looking for spelling errors, punctuation, misused words, and the like.  And we're happy to discuss any changes made.  If anyone has any questions about the process, please feel free to contact me.  

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I'm teamless. A one man show. I've never had beta readers or editors. Not so much because I don't see the benefit, but more because I have the mindset of doing work on my own, relying on myself. Plus, I suppose I don't feel like putting the burden of having to read through my nonsense on anyone else. 

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For me it's always great working with an editor.  Especially one who sees where you want to go for the story, I have had relaxed editors I have had uptight editors, I have had some who didnt want to call me on it, I prefer honest ones like Rusty he wouldn't hesitate to tell me dude this sucks you write better redo it, and of course he was correct I would be lazy and he would push me to do better, to write better.  I have never had a beta wouldn't mind though.  

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