Hiring an editor for some short stories

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mesh138

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I met a local editor and have since been contemplating whether or not to have her edit two or three short stories to help my chances of getting published. I've already done four or five drafts on each one, so they are tweaked as good as I can get them. My mother, being a teacher, has checked all the grammar for me. Even if I were to sell one of these stories, I'd probably not get more than $100, but money doesn't matter (as I'm sure you all know). My question is whether or not anyone has paid an editor to fix up some short stories that weren't going to be part of a collection. Am I wasting my time and money there?

Thanks peoples.
 

Cathy C

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Well, I'd have to say yes and no. You would be wasting the money on those two stories. But you might be gaining invaluable insight into recurring problems that you could fix in future stories. If you could learn one or two things by paying for a short story edit (whether it's fix gaping plot holes or creating realistic dialogue) then it could be money well spent.

I don't normally recommend a paid editor for a full-blown book. But for a short couple of pieces, it might just help. It just depends on whether you trust the editor's judgment. Do they normally work with short stories? That's a VERY critical element to your decision. A short story editor is a totally different animal than a feature article or book editor.

Good luck!
 

Jamesaritchie

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Editor

You're supposed to be the writer. As such, you need to learn to write and edit your own fiction, not rely on an editor to do it for you.
 

Cathy C

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Jamesaritchie said:
You're supposed to be the writer. As such, you need to learn to write and edit your own fiction, not rely on an editor to do it for you.

Agreed. But this might just BE the opportunity to learn. Sometimes, it's easier to have someone point out a problem one time so you can correct it thereafter. A qualified editor of short stories can be an excellent teacher, because shorts are a very different sort of writing than anything else.
 

brokenfingers

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My thoughts:

I think a very good critique group would serve you better. Not some free site where everybody throws their stuff down and pats each other on the back. Find a site that deals with the genre/type stories you want to write and has writers dedicated to improving their craft and not stroking their egos.

There are some good crit sites out there. Some may charge a small monthly fee but I think that's even better cause it keeps the riff-raff out and keeps the serious ones in plus there's little chance of a risk that your story's value might be lessened due to posting it on the 'net.

In my opinion this would be money better spent than paying for an editor for a short story - especially when editorial services don't come cheap and there's no guarantee that the stories will even ever be used.

Plus with the give and take of a good critique group, you will learn, by critting stories and also through the give-and-take process involved with other people critting your work, how to self-edit your own work.
 

JAlpha

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Jamesaritchie said:
You're supposed to be the writer. As such, you need to learn to write and edit your own fiction, not rely on an editor to do it for you.

Oh man that hurts,
bigcry.gif


I worked so hard helping with the content edits for the SOS anthology, and the writers I worked with did such a great job adding that extra gleam to their work. And I was working with some mighty fine writers, and some very strong pieces to begin with.

Why are you so down on getting an editor to step in and help add some extra polish? It's hard to always be objective about what we write, no matter how experienced we are. I can't imagine that I will ever reject "out of hand" a fresh look at my work.
 

Jamesaritchie

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Cathy C said:
Agreed. But this might just BE the opportunity to learn. Sometimes, it's easier to have someone point out a problem one time so you can correct it thereafter. A qualified editor of short stories can be an excellent teacher, because shorts are a very different sort of writing than anything else.

If you want to hire someone to teach you, a hired editor is the worst choice. The track record or hired editors producing salable fiction is abysmal, worse even that writers who never receive any instruction.

If you want to shell out money to learn, that money needs to go to professional writers who are also teachers, not to someone who is a hired editor. I have never, in all my years, encoutered a short story writer who ever advanced by using a hired editor. For that matter, hired editors generally do novelists no favors, either. The track record there is laughable.

If you want to learn how to write short stories that sell, the best way, by far, is to read as many as possible, and then to write as many as possible. The seond best way is to learn from a professional short story writer. People who can, do. People who can't call themselves hired editors.

Take a course, such as one of the Writer's Digest courses.

You do not learn by having someone else do something for you, and this is triply true when that someone else can't do it himself. You learn by doing it yourself. There is no other way. You get the right kind of help from a professional writer/teacher who does not, ever, for any reason, do it for you, but who does show you how to do it for yourself.

Learning is good, but hired editors are not a good way to learn. Just look around and see how many bylines you can find that come from writers who used hired editors. This istrue in the novel field, and even truer in teh short story field.

Editors, no matter who the editor is, cannot teach you how to write. It's not an editor's job to even know how to write. New writers seem very confused by what editors at publishing houses and magazines do. They do many things, but two things good editors never, ever do is rewrite a writer's work, or try to tell that writer how to write.

Hired editors exist only because there's a market. New writers are willing to give them money, so hired "editors" are willing to take it.

Learn, yes, but not by hiring an editor. Fired a qualified short story WRITER who will teach you how to do it for yourself. They abound.
 
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macandal

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Find a site that deals with the genre/type stories you want to write and has writers dedicated to improving their craft and not stroking their egos.

There are some good crit sites out there.
Can you recommend one?
 
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