Wistful Wednesday

Deep in the Land of Edits

Hello, just dropping in briefly to let you know that I'm deep into the edits of my next book, Sloane Wolf. So in lieu of an actual post, I'm just going to tease you a little bit. I just viewed and approved the cover yesterday and it is gorgeous! Perhaps I'll share the pictures with you soon. To whet your appetite, here is a little bit on the story:

For more than a hundred and fifty years, the gray wolf has failed to roam the hills of Massachusetts, leading to the belief that they are extinct. But with a spattering of sightings across the Berkshires, the legend of the gray wolf comes to fruition. The product of that legend, Micah Sloane will go to great lengths to protect his kind from the threat of outsiders, who seek to exploit the legend for their own interests. One thing he didn’t count on, however, was finding his soul mate in the company of such men.

From the first time she predicted a stranger’s imminent death when she was little more than a child, Shiloh Beck knew she was different. Wishing to cultivate her gift, her parents made the fateful decision to enroll her in a private school for paranormally gifted children. Unbeknownst to them, the school was just a front for a research facility simply called the Institute, whose secret board members weaned gifted children from their families to exploit their gifts. Shiloh has spent the better part of her life trying to escape the Institute and reunite with the family she was told had abandoned her.

From their first meeting, Micah and Shiloh share a connection that goes beyond the normal to bond them in a way that love alone cannot. But before they can build a life together, they must deal with the fall-out when the legend of the wolves collides with the men behind the Institute.

How's that for a teaser? Oh, and for anyone who might want to read my first book, Nora's Soul, from today until June 8, it's available at a special price - just 99 cents! Check out the details here: http://secondwindpub.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/second-wind-publishing-99-kindle-sale/  (You need to scroll down to get to my link) or you can go directly to the Amazon page (if you're not interested in checking out the other Second Wind titles on special) at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0024NJVRY/sr=1-1/qid=1306812373/ref=sr_1_1_oe_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1306812373&sr=1-1

Happy reading!

Mystic Monday

Distractions
Okay, many of you have heard - oh what a fantastic web we weave when we practice to deceive - or something along those lines.

Why do I bring this up? Because I think tasks fall into this category. Seriously.

Here's the deal -
1. just thinking of cleaning makes me want to read
2. Editing (reading something that hasn't been printed yet for errors) has the uncanny knack of making me want to clean.

It's an unending cycle that drives me crazy. I swear it isn't that I dislike editing. I actually enjoy it. So why the issue then?

For a couple of weeks, I honestly had no clue why that would happen. Then, like a brick, the truth of it hit me. So what, you may or may not be asking, in all my brilliance did I discover was the answer?

Well, I've pinned it down to two things and they are in no particular order:
1. I just don't like what I'm editing.
2. I'm saturated on the genre.

There's a simple cure for saturation, read a different genre. I do that all the time. Unfortunately, there's really no fix when you don't like the story you're editing. You have to set aside your likes, biases and anything else that could get in the way and just edit. I have determined that cleaning is my way of clearing my mind of biases and tastes that could negatively effect how I edit something.

So, what about all of you out there - does anything like this happen to you? Do you ever find that you only seem to feel like cleaning a closet that's been messy all year when you know you're going to have company staying with you? It could be any weird and wacky similar type of paradox. How do you work through your behavior?

Mystic Monday

Editing and Voice

I was all set to write about something else today, but an email that I stumbled upon last night made me change my topic.

To say that the email was a surprise was an understatement. Yes, when you are part of an author blog, interview and write reviews for authors that you connect with them. When you contact an author to mention some errors you've found, and that author asks you to be more specific, that's really super cool, but when an author wants your opinion on her next WIP, that's something more. This is a whole new level for me, that an author would respect my opinion enough to seek my advice.

Yep, that was the email I received last night. An author contacted me because she wanted to know what I thought of some new proposed edits for the second book dealing with a specific character. I read the previous book about this character and really liked the book and the character.

What was this author's dilemma?

Well, she has a different editor and she felt that the new edits were awful. However, she wanted to be sure that her feelings weren't biased (at least that's my take on it, or she wouldn't have asked me) and wanted to get an outside opinion.

So, I read an excerpt of her original story and compared it with the edited version of the same section. It was an "author vs. editor" problem.

So, which side did I fall on?

I did take the writer's side in this, but not because I am a writer, but because it was the right side to be on, for the sake of the character.

Let me elaborate: Yes, I've read about this character before, but it had been awhile, so I couldn't remember every little nuance when I started reading. I was glad that the author's original version was first because it helped me to reconnect with the character that I really liked and appreciated. This connection is important because it helped me to make an unbiased decision.

In my opinion, the person who edited the piece isn't necessarily a bad editor, just someone who didn't know the character. The changes to the character's thoughts made it seem like the character was possessed or something. It was a total 180 spin in personality.

But that wasn't all. The personality of the character wasn't the only thing lost, the author's voice was too. That was what was most disturbing to me. The editing that took place wasn't to fix word choices and stuff like that, but it changed the perspective to someone else's or what someone else thought it should be.

It's one thing to contact an author and say, "It would be (have been) really cool if this (had) happened to that character (or set of characters)!" I know, I've done that, but it was usually saying that I would have liked to see the secondary couple in a story have a book of their own. But it's a completely different animal to go to an author and say, "I didn't like what you did, it should have happened this way."

To me, that's what this editor did to this author when they edited the book the way they did. They didn't take the time to get to know the characters, the author's voice or the product in their hands before taking a red pen to it, they just wanted to say what they thought was wrong.

Is there more than one way to say a sentence? Sure, but not from the same person/writer/author. From my experience, people are fairly consistent in how they speak (with or without an accent), talk (eloquently or street slang), act and think. [Yes, I know that speak and talk can be the same category, but I classify it differently because one is something they can't control (dialects, stutter, accents, etc. - for the most part, but anyone who knows their stuff can spot a fake) and ones that they can control (how eloquently they do or don't speak - this can be a conscious choice. The most educated person can still use poor English when alone or with closest friends).] So, a character isn't going to change much from one book to the next, especially when there hasn't been that much time elapsing.

In the technical editing courses I took, the first thing we learn is the importance of editing a piece without altering the author's voice because when all is said and done, the document needs to reflect the author's voice and not the editor, unless of course you are contracted to "ghost write," compose, or completely revamp the document. My philosophy as an editor is to make sure things are working, that the words are flowing, and that they are the correct words for the situation. However, if I find mistakes, I don't change them, I suggest and offer explanations for my suggestions. If something sounds awkward or doesn't quite roll off the tongue when reading, I mention that too and offer suggestions, but I do not rewrite. That's for the author to do.

Now that you know my theories, what are yours?

Have you had a similar situation with an editor? What happened? How was the situation resolved?