reggie... anyone writing with a 'partner' should have a collaboration agreement in place beforehand... to not do so is courting disaster at worst, risking damage to a friendship at best... the amount of input the 'partner' provides will decide the division of royalties and how the credits will read... the best collaboration agreement available can be found here: http://www.wga.org/uploadedFiles/writers_resources/contracts/collaboration.pdf it's for screenwriters, but with a few words changed, will fit any writing medium... kb... i do rewrites of screenplays and books for writers whose first language isn't english, so i understand what you mean and why you feel the need for an 'editor' [in most cases, though not necessarily yours, it takes a lot more than mere editing to get the work up to publishing levels]... but, as i caution all my clients, before taking on their work, you have to know that even with the best rewrite possible, there's still no guarantee the work will be accepted by a publisher or producer... the writer will still face the same crap shoot as any other new writer must... and cog is right in that every writer wanting to be published must at some point be able to turn out a polished ms on his/her own, since any editor/rewrite specialist good enough to turn out a ms/script good enough to be accepted won't be cheap... for a book or movie script, the fee for a really good one will be in the thousands, not just the hundreds that some who advertise charge... the bargain ones will be no bargain in the long run...
I received the edited version of my novel back today and I'm just about to start going through it, but my first reaction is, not quite what I expected. When I read through the book "Self Editing for Fiction Writers" it talked about Show And Tell, Characterization and Exposition, Point of View, Proportion, Dialogue Mechanics, Beats, Voice, Sophistication, Interior Monologue, etc., and gave great examples of how they took basic problems new writer have and turn them into a sound piece of literature. After reading the book, I knew my novel was far from being in any kind of publishable condition, so I thought, if these editor's that wrote this book do all this to their client's novels, they are truly miracle workers. So I did some research and hired an editor. As mentioned above, what I got back from my editor wasn't what I expect. I don't know if it's because I overhyped what an editor does or because the self-editing book made editors sound like they can turn a bag of flaming dog turds into diamonds, but what I got was a standard edit and a bit of advice. I appreciate what the editor did to my novel, I'm sure the changes they made were definitely needed and I'm sure as I go over these changes I'll learn something and it will be helpful...but I still have a sub-par novel that just so happens to be grammatically correct now and is far from publishable. I suppose what I really needed was a writing coach, not an editor. Someone that is willing to sit down with me and say, "Alright, here are the problems and this is how you fix them." So I suppose I'm saying the board was right.
sounds to me like you needed much more than a mere technical edit, which seems to be what you paid for and got... if the novel is subpar overall, then what you need is a total rewrite... and that would cost you lots more than just an 'edit' and still wouldn't guarantee it'll ever be taken on by an agent, or picked up by a paying publisher... i did just such an edit on a very poorly crafted novel last year... i told the author up front that even if i fixed all the many major errors in grammar, etc., it would still not be marketable, but he wanted it to at least be 'correct' so asked me to go ahead anyway, which i did... so now he has a novel that while it is 'correct' in all technical aspects, it is still a poor story with banal to hopeless dialog, that will never be marketable... but he was happy with it, nonetheless, put it up on one of the e-book sites where no one but friends and family have bought it... i'm doing the same for another book at the present time, but the author feels it's worth the cost [$2,000 USD] to do the 'first' edit [for technical probs only] and wants me to then do a 'rewrite' to make it marketable... which, in his case, i'll be able to do, since the book itself is publishing quality in concept and content, his main problem being just a language gap one, due to being pakistani and not fluent enough in english... so, the bottom line here, indy, is that if you want to upgrade your ms, you'll need to hire a rewrite expert, not just an editor... and that'll cost ya big bucks... with no guarantee it'll ever be published, unless you do it yourself...
(MADE NAME CHANGES) Here is sort of what he had to say about my novel: Hi, (INDY): I have now edited your manuscript. The file is attached. In some respects, this story has a lot going for it. It’s unique. Not that nothing like it has never been done before, because there are always somewhat similar stories, but it is unique enough to make a good story. It is creepy, scary and holds the identity of the killer at arm’s length throughout. Now, according to your own notes you realize that a good novel is more character driven than plot driven anyway. Having said that, you should stop trying to make the plots twists and turns (although some are necessary) so many and so mysterious. Let’s face it. There are only seven main characters. Two of them, the cop and the kid are unlikely suspects. The others, then, the parents, doctor, editor and janitor of course are. But if you remember the old Columbo TV series, the intrigue is basically in finding out early on who the killer is and then to find a clever way to trap and expose him/her. It was a simple formula, but easy for readers to follow. As for this reader, understanding all the twists and turns gets real complicated. The last thing you want to do is confuse your readers. In this book, the reader has to carefully study and reread passages in order to get it. If at all. And that's a problem. I have a few other problems as well. At the opening of the book, I know the kid is really bright but the story that is related sounds way above the intellect and experience of a nine year old. You point out in one of your notes to me that the cop is ‘out of the know.’ That's true, but that’s where he should be as he painstakingly uncovers clue after clue to put it together. And he is a logical good guy. Of course sometimes he is not. That’s okay. Some of the best heroes are flawed anti-heroes. In your re-writing you should keep these factors in mind. Remember to always to show the story, don’t tell it. Don’t try to fit your characters into a pre-conceived story. The characters should be so clearly defined that they do what they do in the story because that is who they are. And can do nothing else. They are driven by who they are to operate as they do. There is more, but you get the idea. Looks likes it's time to rewrite my story. On a postive note, I was alway from the project for 5 weeks while he made the edits so I'm going in with fresh eyes.
