178 Answered Questions for the topic editing

03/26/19

What exactly is an editor "summary"?
An Australian literary agent just knocked me back after reading my debut novel manuscript. He advised me to find an editor and said he'll entertain reading my work again but would like to first see... more
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03/26/19

How can I edit my own, very old work?
I have about a hundred pages of a novel I wrote in high school, I like the concept behind the writing but I'm finding it extremely difficult to go back and read/edit it again. I last edited the... more
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03/26/19

emacs for creative writing?
Does anyone know a good emacs configuration for creative writing? I'd be looking for the ability to write, edit, and export to libre office or word (so the less technical people get edit/view). I'm... more
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03/26/19

Hyphen or en-dash?
What is the correct dash usage when naming a title?I have an essay with the title:*The success factors for successful e-commerce - A Linux-based e-commerce platform from an economic... more
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03/25/19

Style when intentionally misspelling?
I am copyediting and doing layout on a play that includes a few plays on words and intentional misspellings. At first glance they read like typos. I am wondering if the convention is that I should... more
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03/25/19

Which techniques can I use to become a better editor when editing my own writing?
I'm looking to improve my ability to edit and correct my own writing. What are some techniques I can use to help me with this?
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03/25/19

Do I have any control over the grammar of my novel?
English grammar is generally pretty black and white, but there are a few areas under debate. For instance, should a series of three have one or two commas? For example: >The coach was black,... more
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03/24/19

Rewriting a scifi story to fit with actual science, should I do it as I go?
Rewriting a scifi story to fit with actual science, should I do it as I go, or just write first and make the needed changes while editing?My world exists in my mind, clear and palpable. but I am... more
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03/23/19

First-time meeting with publisher & editors (What to expect)?
My fiancée is a first-time children's book author. What should she expect from her first meeting with the publisher and editors? Any advice? They've already seen some samples of her unpublished... more
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03/23/19

Submitting a novel for publication: do editors still expect Courier font?
About ten years ago an agent told me not to submit manuscripts in fonts other than Courier (or Courier New) and to double-space lines. He said editors were prejudiced against manuscripts that... more
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03/22/19

What is Writing/Editing Backwards Really?
I'm curious to know because I was thinking that when people say this, I'm thinking they start editing the last chapter of their work to the first, and see if it all makes sense in the end. When I... more
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03/21/19

How do you avoid the problem of a collaborative work having separate voices?
I've not done collaborative writing before, but I've read several works, and sometimes the text strikes me as having a split personality: some parts were clearly written by one author, while others... more
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03/21/19

Is Scrivener involved in the editorial process, or is it strictly a writer's development tool?
Is there any reason that an editor should know how to use Scrivener? I generally see manuscripts after they're out of draft but before proofreading. (I'm an editor.) However, I see a lot of talk... more
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03/20/19

Is there a resource where I could find myself a checker and critic, or check somebodies else text to exercise?
I need a checker and some kind of beta-test editor and critic. Is there a resource out in the web, where I can find myself one?
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03/19/19

Where do I go looking for an editor?
I have several completed short stories, and I'm considering having them line-edited before I submit them.But I have no idea where to look for editors. How do I know who's any good? Where do I look,... more
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03/19/19

Techniques for lengthening or merging chapters?
When I'm working on a novel, I have a tendency to write short chapters (1k-3k words). This is not a problem, per se, but I sometimes feel the need to have one or two longer chapters to slow down... more
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03/19/19

What are tips / techniques to manage the consistency of a plot encompassing several subplots ?
When I lay out a plot consisting of interwoven threads, one of the most annoying things is to manage effectively the factual, logical consistency of the whole.In order to be more effective and... more
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03/19/19

When writing on paper, how do you move things about?
I am amazed thinking how people used to write before the computer ever came about. Before that, everyone was forced to write on paper. I'd very much like to write on paper but my ideas come in a... more
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03/19/19

Tips to identify "noise" or "clutter" in your story?
I'm a fan of minimalism so I tend to write stories which are as simple as possible. And sometimes I add elements that don't have a concrete explanation. I leave that to interpretation of the... more
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03/19/19

How can I distance myself from an article published under my name, with edits I disagree with?
I wrote an article for a university newspaper that summarizes incidents involving racism on campus. After edits, the sentence structure became uniformly long instead of varied, straightforward... more
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03/18/19

How to respond to overenthusiastic copy-editing?
I was approached by a science magazine to write a long-form critical essay, and I gave them a 6000-word piece with extensive endnotes. After two months of being with the editorial team it comes... more
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03/18/19

How much leeway can be expected from an editor regarding my preference for nonstandard punctuation?
As I hope to present a unique style to the world, as I am not especially tolerant of being told I'm doing things "wrong" when that's a subjective statement related to writing style, and as I've... more
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03/18/19

Does 1957's 12 Angry Men consist of only one cut?
Does 12 Angry Men consist of only one cut? Apart from maybe an opening scene and closing scene, when they are in the room, I don't see any cuts.If that is so, does it mean when some actor makes a... more
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03/18/19

Is it a bad idea to write and edit chapter by chapter?
I am beginning to write original novels after writing fanfictions and posting them online for about six years. My usual process is: write chapter, edit chapter, post chapter, repeat. This means... more
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03/18/19

How to communicate two elements of different general syntactic/semantic type in the same sentence?
I have the following sentence, > NAME is a community that helps each other code better by rating each> other's efforts and helps managers pair with other fellow developersI was suggested by... more
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