Happy Friday
Wranglers! My post-RWA Conference weeks have been a flurry of activity and I
can’t
believe we’re already well into August! Aside from catching up on my z’s and pondering all my conference learnings, I closed on my mother’s house, sent the kiddos off for their first few days of school, returned to writing on my third book with a surprising amount of renewed focus, and promised hubby I’d start a serious job search this month. So, to recap: yay, yay, YAY, blech. ;-)
Let’s get some dialogue going here… Are you able to look past poor editing (Nan, I think I know your answer ;-)
believe we’re already well into August! Aside from catching up on my z’s and pondering all my conference learnings, I closed on my mother’s house, sent the kiddos off for their first few days of school, returned to writing on my third book with a surprising amount of renewed focus, and promised hubby I’d start a serious job search this month. So, to recap: yay, yay, YAY, blech. ;-)
But what I really
want to talk about today, and which fits nicely with this week’s National Book
Lover’s Day, is my renewed interest in reading. I’ve heard it before and it was
stated many times during the conference: a good writer is an avid reader. While
my current level isn’t anywhere near “avid,” I have been reading these past
couple of weeks. For fun. Which means I’m not counting the “How To (Insert
Writing Skill)” books I purchased based on the recommendations of the many
workshop presenters… you know, the books that will surely kick my career into
overdrive just by the sheer fact that I purchased them.
I have been
reading actual books. Romance (go figure) books. And my take-away from this
renewed experience? PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY GET A GOOD EDITOR!
I know I’ve said
this before, and my heart hurts having to scream it again. And maybe I’m just a
picky bitch. Oddly enough, this isn’t a traditional vs indie published issue.
In fact, the books that were represented by “publishers” seemed to be the worst
offenders. And it’s not newbie writers either. I read a range, from new author
to established, bestselling author. And, no, I am soooo not going to name names
or titles…Just because I winced every time an author breaks one of the many writing
commandments I’ve been taught doesn’t mean that another reader won’t be able to
look beyond and enjoy the story.
But I truly think
the books could have been stronger if they had been more thoroughly edited. One
book didn’t even have an editor listed… just a proofreader. Well, that
proofreader missed a lot. So much so that my head has a permanent welt from
banging it in frustration. In these books, I found spelling errors, little
words missing or added (like when if we type to quickly an forget should reread
for correctness… see what I did there?), head hopping (seriously, just because
the reader can keep up with whose POV we’re in, doesn’t mean an author should
hop around with each paragraph), passive sentence and verb structure, flabby
writing, blasé verb choices…. The list continues and my reader enjoyment
plummets.
Now, I know I’m
not perfect. I’m sure my books have errors in them (just as I was about to hit “publish”
on my first book, my eye caught a sentence talking about my heroine’s “wonton
dreams.” Apparently she was hungry for Chinese food, Lol…). But not because my
editor, writer friends, and I didn’t scour the story with a fine-toothed comb
to prevent them. Stories that are rife with these issues tell me that the
writer either didn’t know these basic writing tenets (yes, I’ve been that writer before!), or that they don’t
care. They raced to get the story published without stopping to truly craft the
best book possible. As a reader, I feel cheated. And I personally won’t be reading those authors again.
So, rant over. I’ve
since cleansed my offended reading palate with a couple books by local writer
pals, and thoroughly enjoyed them (Here, I’ll name names: Jillian Jacobs and
Gina Drayer). Cleanly edited, well-crafted stories which immersed me in their
characters. Yes, I’ve lost a lot of sleep this week because I couldn’t put the
books down. And I’m a satisfied reader because of it!
Let’s get some dialogue going here… Are you able to look past poor editing (Nan, I think I know your answer ;-)
Yay for you! I just left a review for a book written by a local author who should have known better. He wrote for a newspaper, for heaven's sake--he should have hired an editor! It could have been such a good review...
ReplyDeleteI hate feeling this way because I really wanted to like those books, but I just can't!
DeleteUm, no. Feels like I should add more to this, but anything I said would sound like promotion for own editorial services, so just no.
ReplyDeleteUnderstood! Some suggestions on how to find a good editor might be helpful (not that I'm looking... mine is awesome!!) ;-)
DeleteThe rare and tiny flaw in an otherwise engaging story I can likely forgive. But omg I am totally with you otherwise.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that was part of my problem... Either the stories weren't engaging enough to keep me overlooking the issues, or the issues kept me from immersing myself in the stories... Whichever the case, that was money and time that I'll never recoup!
DeleteNothing takes me out of a story faster than something where the editing is either horrible or nonexistent. I can't see spending the time on writing a book and not investing in a good editor.
ReplyDelete"Investment" is the key, isn't it? Any new business or career requires that a person invests time and money in order to be successful, and I feel like these authors cheated or sought to cut corners, at the reader's expense...even if they did so unintentionally.
DeleteI can look past a typo or two, but consistently missed little things - yeah, that drags me right out of the story.
ReplyDeleteI have to confess I felt like a little kid declaring "unfair!" because I can't also get away with the same stuff! ;-)
DeleteI was reading a book, and everything I got hammered for, was in this book. So I looked up the editor and fees, and figured out the author paid somewhere around $4000 for the service. I began to wonder what exactly she changed. For that reason, I had a hard time with it, even though the plot was interesting
ReplyDelete*Gasp!* *Choke!* $4000?!? Yep, that's a LOT of money to spend on editing... especially for a final product that was less than stellar. Of course, our editors can lead us to water, but they can't make us drink. Right?
ReplyDeleteSince I'm currently working with an editor on the first book in a three book series that I'm planning to self-publish, this is a very timely discussion for me. Fortunately, I'm not paying any where near $4000 (*choke*), but I'm definitely getting my money's worth. Both of us are working very hard to get rid of mistakes and errors and just bad storytelling. Getting this right is too important. I don't want to be one of those writers you never want to read again.
ReplyDelete