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Writing: The Virgin Editor
Apr. 18th, 2010 06:37 pmAs some of you may recall, last summer I and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pbray took it upon ourselves to pitch an anthology idea to Tekno Books, who then pitched the anthology to DAW Books, who decided to buy it. The anthology is called After Hours: Tales from the Ur-Bar and will be edited by me and Patricia. This whole editing thing is new to us, but we thought it would be fun and would give us some insight into the editing process.
We contacted some authors and asked them if they would be interested in writing stories for the anthology and gave them a deadline of April 16th. You'll notice the deadline has passed. So far, our editing experience has followed the path that we expected. We invited a few "extra" authors, with the idea that a few of them would want to do the project, but due to life and other, more important, deadlines would be forced to drop out. This is exactly what happened. So even though some author, regrettable, had to drop out, we have enough stories to form an anthology.
Last night, we go together to discuss the stories we did receive and decide on what kind of revision advice we would give them. I have to admit I was a little concerned about this part of the process. I mean, these are published authors, most of whom have more success in the business than I do, and yet I'd be telling them how to "fix" their stories. I was also concerned that Patricia and I would start the process friends and be ready to tear each other's heads off by the end.
None of this happened. In fact, we pretty much agreed on everything for each of the stories. What was the most common comment/revision we suggested? That the beginning of the story be trimmed or condensed. Too many details were given, or it lasted too long. In some, we suggested they lop off the beginning and just start at a later point. Others it was more like "combine these three scenes into one," etc. All in an attempt to get to the more interesting parts of course. By the end of the night, we were joking about being mohels. "Just trim a little bit off the top there, yes." *grin*
In any case, so far editing has been rather fun. I think we'll propose a few other anthology projects for the future. In the meantime, we'll be spending the next week contacting the authors with revisions letters, so we'll see how that other concern of mine pans out. How receptive will the authors be to criticism from fellow writers? I'm sure the responses will vary.
pbray took it upon ourselves to pitch an anthology idea to Tekno Books, who then pitched the anthology to DAW Books, who decided to buy it. The anthology is called After Hours: Tales from the Ur-Bar and will be edited by me and Patricia. This whole editing thing is new to us, but we thought it would be fun and would give us some insight into the editing process.We contacted some authors and asked them if they would be interested in writing stories for the anthology and gave them a deadline of April 16th. You'll notice the deadline has passed. So far, our editing experience has followed the path that we expected. We invited a few "extra" authors, with the idea that a few of them would want to do the project, but due to life and other, more important, deadlines would be forced to drop out. This is exactly what happened. So even though some author, regrettable, had to drop out, we have enough stories to form an anthology.
Last night, we go together to discuss the stories we did receive and decide on what kind of revision advice we would give them. I have to admit I was a little concerned about this part of the process. I mean, these are published authors, most of whom have more success in the business than I do, and yet I'd be telling them how to "fix" their stories. I was also concerned that Patricia and I would start the process friends and be ready to tear each other's heads off by the end.
None of this happened. In fact, we pretty much agreed on everything for each of the stories. What was the most common comment/revision we suggested? That the beginning of the story be trimmed or condensed. Too many details were given, or it lasted too long. In some, we suggested they lop off the beginning and just start at a later point. Others it was more like "combine these three scenes into one," etc. All in an attempt to get to the more interesting parts of course. By the end of the night, we were joking about being mohels. "Just trim a little bit off the top there, yes." *grin*
In any case, so far editing has been rather fun. I think we'll propose a few other anthology projects for the future. In the meantime, we'll be spending the next week contacting the authors with revisions letters, so we'll see how that other concern of mine pans out. How receptive will the authors be to criticism from fellow writers? I'm sure the responses will vary.
