It's Been a Long Time Coming

It's been a long time. Probably too long, but I've been so engrossed with healing and finding my path in life, I haven't been keeping track of how long it's been since I last created a story. To be honest, I didn't think I would ever write again. I thought that part of me had faded.

It hasn't.

I can't remember the last time I had a manuscript in front of me that was ready for edits. The best part about it is knowing that I did that. I put words onto a page.

The story needs work. It is far from perfect, but I have a start. I have a stack of papers.

I have no idea where my writing is going from here, but it won't be the same place it was before. I need to get through this story. Get my legs back under me, and then go from there. At this point, it's all about baby steps. This first one feels amazing.

Re-evaluating My Career Path

When I was an undergrad, I remember sitting in one of my English classes and having guest speakers tell us what kinds of jobs we could get with an English degree. One of the speakers was an editor (she was also one of my classmates and fellow English major), and I remember being a bit jealous of her and thinking, “That’s what I want to do.”

As I continued through my schooling career, I had dreams of also being a fiction writer. I took several writing classes and workshops—and had my dreams of writing crushed. I still wanted to be in the writing world, so I figured editing was my best option. After earning my master’s, one of the first jobs I got was as a document production specialist. It’s wasn’t editing, but it was still working with manuscripts. And my editor friend was my coworker, which was an added bonus.

As time went on at that job, I eventually became a technical editor. My duties included reading reports for the normal stuff—grammar, sentence structure, proper English—in addition to ensuring that the information in the text and tables/figures was the same, that references were cited and included the works cited section, and that acronyms were properly defined.

I loved it. It was exactly what I wanted to do. The work was repetitive, but I didn’t care. I was formatting and editing reports. It was amazing. In fact, to do this day, I still freelance edit for this particular company.

I continued to believe that I wanted to edit and took on roles as a freelancer for indie book companies—doing editing from content to proofreading. I enjoyed that also, but it was a lot of work for very little pay. And by this time, I wanted to focus on my own fiction, so I drastically reduced the amount of fiction editing I did.

I took a job at the university where I was called an “Editor,” although editing wasn’t my only duty, I also wrote quite a bit. Again, it was a good fit for me. When I had the opportunity to work at home as an editor, I jumped. It was my dream job.

Well, without going into details, that job didn’t work out, and it seems since then it’s been a downhill slide. I’ve applied for multiple editing positions, and I can’t pass the editing tests. More often than not, I don’t get the results back so I don’t know what I missed, but I’m worried about my future as an editor.

Getting terminated from my at-home job was quite a blow. I’d never been fired before, so it messed with my self-confidence. Continuously failing editing tests doesn’t help at all. I don’t know if I’m having a mental block and subconsciously failing them or if I’ve always been a terrible editor but good enough to get by. Either way, it’s made me rethink my career choice.

I want to switch my focus back to writing. Of course, I’ll always write fiction, but I want to see if I can be successful getting paid to write other stuff. I’ve been a freelance writer in the past, and I’m finding some places to do it again. It’s strange to think that the reason I originally wanted to edit was because I lost confidence as a writer and now I want to write because I lost confidence as an editor.

On one hand, it feels really good to turn my focus away from editing. It’s freeing to not fail any more tests. On the other, I’m not good with change, so I’m freaking out internally that I’m never going to find a job. I need a sign, I guess, to let me know that I’m making the right decision.

What is a “beta reader”?

There are a variety of steps when it comes to writing, and depending on the author and the story, it can take hours to years before that story is complete. The first step, of course, is the writing phase, which consists of putting words on the page. After that comes editing, which can go through multiple drafts and versions.

Once the author has finished editing the story and has it at a place that they are fairly content with how it reads, it may be sent to a professional editor, or it might be sent to beta readers—it depends on what the author wants to do. Beta readers, like editors, will read the story and look for ways to improve it. They may look for plot holes or character mistakes or issues with grammar and punctuation, but unlike an editor, they might not be professionally trained.

Beta readers are an important step in the writing process because they help the author perfect the story before it is published. For me, most of my beta readers are individuals who have read my work before and know what to expect, and I trust that they will let me know if something has gone awry in the story. Beta readers are important because as readers, they have insight into stories that reflect what the reading public wants to see. Editors have that ability too, but I trust editors and beta readers for different reasons.

How does one become a beta reader? Well, I don’t think there’s any trick to it. I chose my beta readers because they are dedicated fans and have read all (or the vast majority) of my work. Beta readers can also be reviewers (I have one who is). It just depends on what the author is looking for.

The most important part about being a beta reader is having constructive criticism and getting back to the author in a timely fashion. We’re all busy people, I totally understand that, but remember that the author is biting her nails waiting for you to get back to her with suggestions on how to improve the story. And the way to do that is to tell the author what you liked best about the story, what was confusing or unclear, and perhaps suggest ways to improve it.

The author may not take all of your advice or suggestions for the next round of editing, but I speak from experience when I say we deeply appreciate the time you took to read it and comment. For me, if the reader doesn’t understand what I’m trying to say in my story, then I’ve failed. I want the reader to enjoy what I’ve written and be inspired and/or moved by it.

The relationship between the author and beta reader is a close one. It involves lots and lots of questions and a little bit of nerves. You’re seeing work that probably isn’t close to perfect, so the author might be afraid of how you’re going to react. But the goal is to find ways to improve the story and make it better, and it’s a big responsibility to be part of that process.

Are any of you beta readers? What has been your experience with the process or author relationship?

Editing-mania

As some of you know, not only am I a writer, I'm an editor.  I freelance for a local environmental consulting firm and an online fiction publisher, Musa.  I really enjoy editing.  I love being able to help other authors out, and I learn a lot in the process.

One of my interview questions I ask authors is what is their least favorite thing about writing, and I've noticed that a lot of them comment it's editing.  I can understand that.  It can be tedious and you have to read the same story over and over and over again.  And you always find mistakes.  It's never perfect.  It's an unending process.  That can be a little frustrating, but a story is never going to be perfect.  You have to get it to a point where it's good enough.

Personally, I really like editing, and not just because I'm an editor.  I like it because it means the hard part is over.  It means the story is on the page and ready to be fixed.  I enjoy going back to the beginning of the story after I know how it ends and making sure everything flows right, foreshadowing is in the right places, and the characters are consistent throughout.  I like knowing I'm one step closer to having the story finished.

Don't think that just because I'm an editor my stories don't need any work.  They do.  All stories do.  I enjoy having my work edited.  I enjoy working with an editor to get it into near-perfect shape.  I like learning new things.  So often I'm too close to a story to see my mistakes, and that's where an editor is invaluable.

Soon, I'm supposed to get edits back for The Appeal of Evil.  I can hardly wait.  It's one step closer to being released into the world!