Hello, friends and fans!
A few months ago, I submitted two short stories to a sci-fi anthology, and this whole exercise has reminded me just why I don’t like dealing with publishing companies and why being indie is so important to me.
That said, you must be wondering the same thing I am: Why did I do it? Well, the answer to that question is a simple, unfortunate one – I felt I could use the exposure. The only question I find myself trying to answer now is, “to what?”
To what indeed.
You see, for the past month or so, I’ve been fielding emails from the publishing company managing the anthology in which they send me edited copies of the original short stories with in-document comments and suggestions from the editor. Publishers doing anthologies will typically accept manuscripts free of charge, and most (if not all) will perform some measure of editing on stories submitted to them. Very generously, most of them will perform this task free of charge. Mostly they will just make sure there are no glaring typos or brazen mistakes, which they will edit out, and they will just send you the completed edit – you check it out (or not) and just say “Yay” or “Nay” – and everyone’s happy before the book goes to print. Many publishers have also simply skipped these steps and just published the story (with or without edits) and emailed me copies of the finished eBook afterwards.
Only very rarely have I ever had to do such persistent and nagging back-and-forth reviewing of several rounds of edits with a series of different editors as I have in this case. It’s annoying and frustrating. Let me tell you why.
Imagine, if you will, dealing with a series of editors who crane over your work, rip it to shreds, change contexts, and rewrite whole paragraphs of the story, then pass it on to another editor who works off what THEY did, not what I did – and then they send me notes in an utterly violated copy of my work in which they complain “oh, there’s too many words in italics in here, we simply can’t have that!” and demonstrate a complete lack of appreciation for the context of the work they’re the second or third editor who has casually ripped apart and changed for no apparent reason.
Here’s example of what I’m talking about:
“Added ‘looking’ here so we know how Jake knows this info – okay with change?”
Corby didn’t NEED to “look” at Jake to see that he was shaken – because it is implied in the text – it actually says so. Hence the reader knows he is shaken, as does Jake. He was there – in fact, he’s probably shaken too. It’s obvious. Who wouldn’t be shaken by the scent of burning human flesh? Why state the obvious if it doesn’t add any value to the story?
Here’s another. This is an excerpt of the original text I wrote before they edited it:
“Okay?” Jake nodded, noticing that several soldiers on the other side of the gates had been amused by the antics of the crowd, and were laughing so hard at the casualties caused by the injudicious activation of the aforementioned flamethrowers, that they were holding their sides.
This is what the editor did to it:
“Okay.” Jake noticed several soldiers on the other side of the gates were amused by the antics of the crowd, and were laughing so hard at the flamethrower casualties that they had to hold their sides.
“Re-arranged the wording here for grammar and clarity – please check I’ve interpreted your original meaning correctly. Okay with change?” The editor said in an editing comment.
No, I am bloody-well NOT okay with this travesty, thank you for asking!
My response: “You’ve ripped the soul out of that sentence, kicking and screaming.” Why change it? Don’t people understand the word “injudicious” anymore? How about “aforementioned”? Argh!
Here’s another example:
They were saddled, and looked like they’d been left there by riders who presumably were from somewhere fairly nearby.
“You could have ‘somewhere nearby’ or ‘somewhere fairly close by’ – which would you prefer?” The editor said, as though delivering an ultimatum. Apparently “somewhere fairly nearby” is all sold out and not available.
“I honestly don’t see much difference between ‘somewhere fairly nearby’ and ‘somewhere fairly close by’. Do you?” I replied. Why not just leave it as it is? I mean, seriously – come on!
I went through the “corrected” document file’s comments, fielding questions like, why did I use a question mark here instead of an exclamation mark or full stop? Why, because of context, my dear. It’s in conversation. People say things posed as questions because they seek affirmation and support from their audiences. People do that in conversation, didn’t you know?
Then, finding sentences they complained didn’t make sense in one way or another, I went back to my own original manuscript to compare. Not only did the original version actually make sense, but in most cases, changes had been made to the edited version that didn’t make sense, and THAT was what was being complained about. Did one editor not know what the other was doing?
Adding insult to injury, imagine having to explain all this to someone who (for whatever mind-boggling reason) has been set up as an editor at a publishing company. I’m tempted to think that an editor hamstrung by literalism and being unable to discern the subtle might produce fiction of the order of the childhood “Fun with Dick and Jane” stories we learned to read on as kids in the 1970s. “See Jane run. See Dick play” etc. Having been round the block a few times, I damn well know a Dick when I see one.
I am not okay with this sort of thing. Stories are my craft. Writing is my main creative expression. It’s a short story, not a technical manual that has to be specific and clear, plodding and plain, without any hint of life, emotion or subtlety, or even mystery.
Yes, I sometimes write long convoluted sentences – but they make sense, if you know how to read them. If you know how to read, that is.
Apparently a lot of people felt that way – over 2 million worldwide, as a matter of fact – so much so, that even despite the ridicule and the seemingly common-sense warnings of friends and relatives – the statement by the originator of the event to indicate it was intended as ‘a joke’ – and especially in the face of warnings from law enforcement, the FBI and the US Dept. of Defense (who pointed out that they were authorized to use “deadly force”) – a considerable number of them came anyway.
Come on, it’s not that hard.
Looking at this train smash, my only conclusion is that these editors at this particular small press feel their jobs are in peril and have to show that they’ve been editing submissions – even ones that DON’T NEED editing. The job of an editor is to correct FAULTY spelling and grammar, and to improve the work SUBTLY without making it their own – not to just rip out as many words from the story as they possibly can just to shorten it while more or less maintaining the story line! In this case, I think, they’ve gone to town just to show that yes, they have been doing something to earn their salaries or stipends or payments or whatever – look at this long list of edits I’ve made to this already published and previously edited short story!
…and since we’re on the subject, what the hell is wrong with using an interrobang?!
“Another way in?” Jake repeated. “You mean, like actually go inside?!”
“Changed interrobang to a question mark here – his surprise comes across without the exclamation mark.” They said. That’s the fucking point of an interrobang! Taking away the interrobang and replacing it with just a question mark removes the emotive impact of the interrobang – and alters the interpretation of the sentence.
Perhaps they’d understand the difference if I illustrated it using pictures:
Here’s the way the editor changed it:
Here’s the way I wrote it:
I hope that clears it up!
Apparently people don’t read between the lines anymore (if they still read at all) or think abstractly – which could go some way to explain why the world’s in the bloody mess it’s in right now – but as I so often do, I digress.
The more I work through this bastardized ersatz corruption of my work, with every one of the two or three issues marked up on every single page of the story, battling through evaluating each of them – referring to the original manuscript to see what they changed – struggling to contain my outrage, the less I feel inclined to submit myself or my work to this sort of affront at all – and in fact… nope, nope! That’s it! I’ve just decided to withdraw my submissions! For one thing, my head is pounding and trying not to swear in my comment responses in reply to the editor comments has taken too much of a toll! I’m supposed to be on holiday, just by the way.
I’m done! DONE! Indie all the way, baby! Yeah!
Look, I can understand picking up on a typo or a faulty sentence here and there – and I’m not saying I’m perfect and don’t make mistakes – but don’t deconstruct all my sentences to “dumb them down” for literalists and people with all the IQ of a kazoo, and don’t change the wording for the sake of just changing it to your own taste – this is my story, not yours – and above all: Don’t. Fuck. With. My. Style!
MY stories are written by ME – not by some damn committee.
There are a lot of advantages to being an indie author – just as there are many disadvantages. What disadvantages? Well, having to do everything myself for one thing, not making the big bucks for another – but after today, I can see the advantages – such as not having to put up with “committees” of editors ripping into my work – far outweigh the disadvantages!
Now that’s all done with, it’s time to go back to our regular programming… where was I? Oh yes – getting ready to scrounge in my attic for old PC parts! I have a few projects on the go!
With that, thanks a lot for all your friendship and support, I hope you know it is deeply appreciated – and remember, keep reading!