Thursday, May 20, 2010

Edits

Well, today provided the first time I've gotten to work with an editor on some changes to one of my stories. Fred Coppersmith of Kaleidotrope sent me an edited version of "Fire Eater" this afternoon. He is the second person who has shown me that I shouldn't use "must've." I like my contractions, though. People speak in contractions unless they're emphasizing the words for various reasons, so I write in contractions. But "must've" seems to be the one that bothers folks. I think it's lovely. Oh, well. Better obey the boss.

Because the story was accepted well over a year ago, I noticed, while peering through those red marks, the copious amount of ellipses I used to use. Ick. It's a habit I've dropped since then. Not sure when or how gradually that particular change in my writing took place. Though poor Mr. Coppersmith has had to wade through a useless amount of ellipses like a universe of little black stars on the page. How silly of me.

But if "must've" and ellipses and one spelling oversight were all that he had to complain about, I'm more than pleased. Of course, I've read reviews of earlier issues of the zine, and depending on the reviewer, it's gotten vastly different receptions. Please, God, a kind reviewer would be nice.

I'm waiting on pins and needles for the next issue of Realms to come out in print, and now only a couple more months for the special summer addition of Kaleidotrope. I just love that feeling of anticipation!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was very happy with the edits performed on my first story sale, and I'm interested to see what, if any such changes take place in the two stories I sold recently. Both, one especially are older pieces which I find both interesting and ironic. My writing has definitely changed some in that time and there are things I would do differently...but apparently even in the older stuff, we did something right!

Court Ellyn said...

Amen to that! :D

Stephanie Thornton said...

Reviews are scary! I tend to take criticisms to heart, regardless of whether they're writing related or not. To have a negative review of my writing in print for the world to see is going to take some serious thick skin. I'm working on it!

Court Ellyn said...

No kidding! Learning how to take critiques at writing forums has helped enormously in that area, but I still think that a negative review from an official critic might make me cry. Teehee.

Well, we'll just have to see how thick the skin has really become...