Popular Post Brayon Posted September 4, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted September 4, 2018 (edited) This week's topic is working with a team. Since I've joined GA, I've had several people that have helped me with my writing. When I was still in the moderation queue, @Cia gave me some great advice on one story, we took it down, and I rewrote it. She's been invaluable with story related questions on content, and speaking with some new authors to GA, they praise her for being fair, and knowledgeable. Most of my first story I posted on GA Aeris - Guardian Force, I used family members to help edit. That was a mistake. After that, I started working with @Kitt who has helped me on almost every story since. She gives great pointers, and uses MS Word, with it's "track changes" feature and comment bubbles, to show me what needs to be changed and why. Then I can go in and using this editing feature accept or reject the changes she's made. Most often, she's removing my extra commas. After Kitt, a good friend of mine, I met here on GA, tim aka @Mikiesboy who helps me with content. He'll go through using the comment bubbles, to highlight areas. He'll make a note about words or phrases that need to be deleted or changed. He'll suggest different ways to work what I'm trying to say in a more condensed and simple way. Both of them, have said several times to me, "A... You're better than this, rewrite it." And they have been right. Having an editing team, that listens to you, knows your style, and gives good feedback is critical to the success of your story. So how do you work with a team? Edited September 11, 2018 by BHopper2 Added a tag 7 Link to comment
Mikiesboy Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 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. 3 2 Link to comment
Site Administrator Valkyrie Posted September 4, 2018 Site Administrator Share Posted September 4, 2018 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. 4 1 Link to comment
Site Administrator Valkyrie Posted September 4, 2018 Site Administrator Share Posted September 4, 2018 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. 3 2 Link to comment
Popular Post Brayon Posted September 4, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 4, 2018 4 minutes ago, Valkyrie said: I'll write something and think "I know Cole is going to comment on that" and sure enough, he does. I've started to notice I do this too. Recently, I wrote something, let it sit overnight, and when I saw it the next day, said to myself, "tim and Kitt are both going to say this needs to be better." I end up changing it up before I sent it to them. 5 1 Link to comment
Site Administrator Popular Post Cia Posted September 5, 2018 Site Administrator Popular Post Share Posted September 5, 2018 It's almost impossible to edit for yourself since seeing the words for the story in your head is extremely difficult. There are some tricks, like using a different medium (print instead of digital, change the font/background color or size and style, etc...) or start from the end and edit backward paragraph by paragraph. But a team helps in many ways. I love working with authors with a similar style as a beta (or betas with a similar style) because it makes throwing around ideas a dream and they just get my style. In my mind, editors have to pick things apart and judge everything from the setting to characterizations to scene actions to timeline jumps to editing issues or standards being maintained. Sharing what works and what doesn't work is vital; it can't be all negative. That's the hardest part of being the staff member in charge of the moderation queue; I have to be the one who forces authors to review their work or make changes to their submission which can come across as critical. I try to come across very friendly as compensation. 3 3 Link to comment
MacGreg Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 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. 3 2 Link to comment
KD_stories Posted September 15, 2018 Share Posted September 15, 2018 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. 1 1 Link to comment
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