Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with writing and editing

Help me get a handle on this mass of writing!

sister nunchaku of love and mercy — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:07:31 -0800

WriterFilter: I need help organizing this large, sprawling, and motley set of Word files into the first draft of a novel. I've written about 450 pages of what I hope will be a novel. I'm one of those people who has little trouble getting words onto the page, but organization and revision can be really difficult for me, especially with a longer piece of writing.

Right now the novel-to-be consists of dozens and dozens of separate files, each containing multiple scenes, single scenes, or even fragments of scenes. I also want to weave newspaper reports, interviews, and letters (all of which I've written) into the narrative.

In my mind I have a pretty good grasp of the content and flow of the whole. It's the process of organizing the mass of writing that has me cowed. I feel like I'm looking at a huge skein of yarn that I have to untangle before I can make use of it. I can see the beginning and the end of it, but the middle is a mass of knots.

Can you recommend ideas/techniques/strategies/software/how-to books to help me stitch this thing together into a draft? If I can do that, I think I can then revise it from beginning to end (as many times as necessary).

Bonus: fear of failure and the knowledge that this is going to be somewhat of a slog is paralyzing me to an extent, so I could use some suggestions to help with those issues, too.

FWIW I'm a Mac user and own the text editor Scrivener, which I think is awesome, though I haven't yet used it that much.

Thanks in advance, hive mind.

How do you write for your blog?

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:17:28 -0800

How do you write for your blog? I'm just starting out and would like to know how others approach writing and editing ...and maybe if there is a secret Bloggers Bible no one's told me about? After hanging around the sidelines for a while I've plunged in and started publishing posts on my very own wordpress blog. It's a personal/individual blog, but will likely be related enough in topic to get linked in to my career identity/professional life (ie: it's not about trolls). I listened to an inspiring little podcast by merlin mann and john gruber which talks about being-your-bestest at your one true thing. I can't say exactly what that thing is yet, but I'm okay with the probability that my blog is going to suck for awhile. So I'm keeping it off the market and not telling anyone (nope, not even my SO) until I'm convinced I can keep it up. I feel like my biggest challenge is getting my once-weekly post done and posted. I'm hoping if I just keeping writing I will hear my "voice" more clearly, and figure out wtf my blog is actually about. Does that sound right?

I'd like hear from some long-term bloggers (I know you lurk around here. I've read your blogs). Extraneous advice is also very welcome, and you can email me at whachameanwhatsablog@gmail.com, but here are my concrete questions:

1. Do you write on the fly, or have an editing process? While there are no doubt people in both camps, did you maybe start out your blog one way and change process? Any thoughts on one way or another? I can't decide if writing on Monday, editing Wednesday and re-editing for the post Friday is going to yield better results or just strangle me into dullsville.

2. What keeps you going? I'm sure there are more reasons for starting than you can swing a cat at, but (assuming you don't make cash-money with your blog) what keeps you at it? Any advice on getting through the slumps that will no doubt assault me? Any big no-nos here (like, maybe: Don't write about writer's block)?

3. Can you recommend a book/blog post/podcast/something that really helped you with blogging? I like reading. If you don't have the answers, please, give me something to read. (And yes, I read blogs ;). And if the aforementioned Secret Blogger's Bible does exist, then an Amazon link would be kindly appreciated.

Thanks.

Sources for short prose for public editing practice?

colinmarshall — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:02:32 -0800

Where might I find real-life examples of 300-700-word pieces of prose that are neither perfect nor unsalvageable — "problematic," let's say — on which I can practice the craft of editing? I'm starting a project on my blog: a series of posts wherein I dissect and try my damndest to improve a variety of shortish texts in order to publicly shed an additional shaft of light on the craft we call writing. It doesn't matter where they came from, how old they are, or what their subject matter might happen do be. In fact, the more diverse, the better: reviews, stories, blog posts, observations, dialogues, tracts, anything. The trick is to find material that hasn't already attained the status of "good" but isn't so broken that I'll be forced into an exercise of turd-polishing; I want a sound core of ideas, but a noticeably less-than-perfect execution. Any ideas?

Recommendation for a book on putting together a memoir?

adfeb — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 21:34:14 -0800

I need a recommendation for an instructional book on putting together a memoir. I already have a good portion of it written. The area I need help with is what to do with the various experiences that I've written about. Right now it's a bunch of stories with a central theme. I need to pull it together and make it a book in other words.

Marginalia for those without graduate degrees

fantine — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 01:08:23 -0800

Will I ever be able to draw an excellent marginal brace without going to graduate school? I once had a professor who insisted that graduate school was necessary to learn how to properly draw a marginal brace.

This is the mark I mean (the second from top) but of course, in the margin to mark off a section of important text. I do a lot of underlining when I read and my braces always end up looking really ugly.

Will I have to go to graduate school to achieve my dream or is there another way?

Do you edit collaboratively?

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:21:29 -0800

In search of collaborative editing software -- online (cloud) preferred -- for a small/medium-sized news department. We've been using Outlook email crazytrains for years now and it's just not fun anymore.

Our work flow is as such:

- Researchers create rich text post
- Multiple editors collaborate edits
- Senior editors mark FINAL version
- Editor smooths out rich text
- Webdudes import Word text to site via TinyMCE

So far we have tested Google Docs, Zoho, Windows Live, and Basecamp. Google Docs fails because the exported Word, html, etc doesn't play nice with TinyMCE ... Zoho, I dunno ... Windows live, problems with version history. We've covered a bit of ground but are wondering if there are any big names we've missed.

Posting anonymously because, you know, it's squeamish stuff.

Published author who moonlights as Websmith--good idea or better to try editing?

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:33:05 -0800

What's valued more in the freelance marketplace: editing or Web stuff? My friend is a published book author/ex-reporter, who is talented at editing. But he has read warnings by editors, on old Metafilter threads, that it is hard to break into their brutally competitive field.

So even though he'd rather sell editing services, and his official credentials are more writing-oriented, he's instead been going on Craigslist peddling his workmanlike competence at things like CSS, XHTML, Wordpress and Photoshop CS4, in the belief that these skills carry greater market value. He has been known to write a PHP script or two. He's no graphic designer or coding whiz, but he keeps up on design trends, and his years of experience messing with Unix have given him some flexibility. He's at least good enough to help people out with a variety of Web issues, and has landed a site-design job or two so far in his quest for a modest freelance income, though it has been difficult.

What he is trying to figure out is whether it's worth competing with all the excellent copywriting and editing services out there, or if it will be relatively easier to continue to try to do Web sites, read a few more O'Reilly books and pick up more technical Net skills, even though he's a relative n00b at it...good enough for government work, as they say, but not likely to bring home a Webby Award.

On E-lance you can see for yourself how many employers are asking for any one skill, and can compare that with the number of contract-hunters. But it's still hard to get a sense of the real value, in terms of meaningful and not chintzy offers. Is there a dramatic difference between the demands for editing and Web work, or are both these areas equally hard to crack? There are so many providers around the world promising to build sites for cheap that it can seem dizzying and bleak. Or maybe it depends on where you look, and is E-lance's outlook just markedly grimmer?

How to Become an Editor without University...or experience.

nikksioux — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:01:00 -0800

I'm very interested in becoming an editor, please help...yes, I've read the previous posts. I have an innate ability to edit (other people's) writing. Grammar, spelling mistakes, run-on-sentences, nonsensical phrases, (what I've been told is) constructive critique, I encompass all the skills.

Here is the caveat: I don't have a degree (though I do have some college, and am extremely well-read and self-educated) or "official" experience. I would prefer not to have to finish the drudgery of college, since I feel that I already possess the necessary skills, and that a degree (in a lot of cases, not all) is simply an unnecessary requirement of the modern world. I have read previous AskMefi questions regarding this subject, and also had a question regarding the "samples of previous work". How does one showcase them, exactly? Does one have a portfolio of "before" and "after" editing? How does one offer editing services to, say, non-profits for sample-work-building, while making them feel confidence that the job will be well-done, even though one may be inexperienced? Thank you, hive mind, in advance.

Total writing noob.

Metroid Baby — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:31:17 -0800

I’ve always wanted to be a writer. Always wanted… but never actually worked towards it, so I have no writing-specific experience or training. I’d like to transition to a career that somehow involves writing, but I’m not sure how I can get my foot in the door. The details: I have a bachelor’s degree in art from a well-respected liberal arts college. When I started college, I had every intent of majoring in English, but it was nearly impossible to get into the tiny writing classes, and I just drifted off on a different track. I’ve been out of school for six years and held mostly admin assistant-style jobs since then—nothing really resembling a career. Currently, I work in advertising, though my position is nothing particularly exciting. I’m looking for a new job. Though I’ve been looking for positions similar to my current one, it’s really not a career path I’m excited about.

Writing, however, is something I could get excited about. I don’t need to write Great American Novels or New Yorker columns; I’d probably enjoy writing frothy copy for catalogs and potato chip bags. I consider myself a good writer: I can express my thoughts clearly, I have a solid intuitive grasp of grammar and usage, and I’ve had good feedback from friends who have read some of my writing. I’m also the kind of person who gets worked up over "definately" and pronouns without antecedents, so I think I would do well as an editor or proofreader.

However, I have absolutely no "real" experience in writing or editing – nothing that I would feel confident listing on a resume. The best I have, sadly, are intermittent blog entries. This lack of experience has proven to be my downfall: a while back, a friend recommended me for an editorial assistant position; though I interviewed well, it was obvious they were looking for someone with writing experience already on their resume, and the job ultimately went to someone with an English degree. Bascially, I’ve run into the classic the-chicken-or-the-egg employment paradox.

I’d appreciate any practical suggestions you may have, both on types of jobs that might get me started down this path, and on things I can do to develop my writing, particularly if they’ll look good to a potential employer (or publisher, should I choose that route). I know next to nothing about careers in writing—even previous AskMes on similar subjects are a bit over my head—so no advice is too obvious for me.

Thanks in advance!

Looking for a resource to have a graduate admissions statement of intent read and critiqued please.

iamkimiam — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 10:11:26 -0800

I am applying to grad school. The deadline is approaching. Where can I go to get my letter of intent (personal statement) read and critiqued? I am seeking some feedback on what I've written. Is there a resource out there for this? Preferably at minimal cost, with a very quick turnaround, and knowledge about the system and what the admissions professionals are looking for.

Other info: I'm applying to SF State for the Masters Program in Linguistics. Any specific info or resources about this program and/or graduate studies is also very helpful to me!

I've got a mini-door stop, now how do I revise it?

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 12:55:07 -0800

I've just finished my first novel, now how do I revise this thing? I've spent the past three months furiously writing my first novel. I was quite inspired, and managed to put down a little more than 90,000 words. The book is a true rough-draft.

I believe in the plot and am attached to the characters--I really think I have a good book here--but every time I sit down to start revising, I end up quitting after an hour feeling defeated. The process I've been using so far is to simply go through, one chapter at a time, and take a red pen to the printed copy before sitting down at the computer and making changes. This just doesn't seem to be cutting it. I'm bogged down and frustrated. The sheer size of what I've written overwhelms me, and though I'd like to polish it, I'm unsure how to continue.

What are some other methods that successful authors have used to revise their novels? I'd love to hear any tips or suggestions, personal or from the greats.

I need some tips for writing fiction that's appealing.

gregb1007 — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 11:14:17 -0800

I need some tips for writing fiction that's appealing. I've recently learned that my fiction is unappealing to most readers. It turns out that I have an overly "cinematic style." I imagine all kinds of details: things on walls, hallways, how bodies look and move, clothes.

The problem is that when people start reading my story, they complain that it's all description and very little plot. They also would prefer me to get rid of most of my descriptions because they consider them unnecessary.

The visual stuff is what comes to me when I free write and thoughts of concrete actions/character features/events don't. How should I get myself to integrate plot elements into my writing?

(The way it works so far is that a storyline is the last thing I add to my writing because it has to be there. But it feels inadequate and fake.) Btw, he text that I am talking about is online at http://home.comcast.net/~gregb88/sparrow.html, if you want to get a better idea of my overly-visual writing style.

Excellent disjointed writing

Aghast. — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 09:57:15 -0800

Can you think of any examples of "disjointed" writing -- writing with abrupt transitions -- that works? Faulkners Sound and Fury is a good example but shorter pieces are better for my purposes. Can be fiction or non-fiction. For those who want some context, I am leading an exercise with some writers and it goes something like this:

First, you take the reader on a tour of a place that you know very well.
Then, mix ("splice') into your own writing passages from Jamaica Kincaid's A Small Place where she is taking the reader on a tour of Antigua.
Then, mix into that passages from Mike Davis' "Sinister Paradise" where he is taking the reader on tour of Dubai in 2010.

Confused? So were they but I eventually got the idea across ("It's as much about the selection and arrangement of other people's writing as it is of creating your own text.") and the exercise is going swimmingly. The transitions between passages are abrupt in a good way and I would like to show them some other examples of this.

Remixed literature?

callmejay — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 08:47:09 -0800

Has anyone vastly improved -- or just changed -- someone else's already published writing by editing? I'm not the best writer, but I frequently come across blog posts, articles, and even books which I believe I could make better -- or just interestingly different -- through editing. It occurs to me that there's a fascinating potential genre out there for re-edited works and I'm wondering if anyone's done this.

What would a Stephen King novel look like if it were edited by a "serious" literary editor? What if someone decided to edit DFW's Infinite Jest down into a 400 page novel without footnotes?

I realize there are copyright issues, but it seems like this sort of thing must go on. Point me to some examples!

I want to convert from Word to Pages

partner — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 11:24:05 -0800

I'm a professional writer and book editor. I'd like to buy an Apple Mini and at long last get out of the grips of Microsoft. This means I want to use Pages as well. Does anyone have experience converting from Word to Pages.? I now use Word for simple writing and editing of .doc files. I sometimes use the "track changes" feature of word and occasionally footnotes and indexing. Does Word have any trouble reading a file generated in Pages? Will I encounter problems converting my present Word files to Pages?

Other sites like Fiction Bitch?

Khalad — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 09:19:07 -0800

Show me the way to other writing critique web sites, where there are red-lined drafts of writing samples, or even better, rewrites of less-than-stellar writing. greb's thread reminded me of the dearly departed Fiction Bitch, whose site seems to be gone. She was a professional editor who spent time going over short stories submitted by her site visitors. She would comment on them, mark up gaffes, suggest improvements, etc. It was particularly nice because she didn't just savage the schlock but also pointed out the parts she really liked, even in otherwise awful stories.

I would love to see other sites like this. There are lots of sites with writing tips but not so many with fleshed out writing samples, particularly ones that weren't just cooked up to prove a point.

Bonus points if you can point out ones where full rewrites are demonstrated. Identifying problems is nice, but showing how to do it "right" is even better. And if the rewrites are substantially different, where they offer more than just incremental improvement, you'll make my day.

(I love the difference between "Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out." and "You must kill all your darlings.")

Ink-Stained Wretch-to-be

Miko — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 08:07:16 -0800

Career change advice sought! Help me make the switch to editing/publishing. The background: I'm presently employed as Director of Ed. in a mid-size history museum, and have spent the bulk of my career in museum program administration. After recent soul-searching, I've decided that I'd rather manage content more and people less. I'd like to work more with words, I enjoy finite projects with deadlines, and I also would prefer to work more independently - perhaps with a small team, but with greater direct control over project outcomes than I presently have.

My inclinations seem to lead me in the direction of publishing, media, editing, etc.

My skill set: I have some background in the world of print media, but it's mostly from some time ago. Through college, I worked for a large daily paper in various roles --reporter, feature writer, proofer. I come from a family of journalists, and edited my college paper as well. It's been more than ten years, though, since I was employed in that field. I have done some freelance writing since them, and will be doing more this year, so I should be building a fresher clip file. However, I know almost nothing about book/textbook publishing and other related fields. I'd be interested in learning about the types of jobs that exist.

Through my career, I've built up strong knowledge of American history and literature, cultural history, arts, music, foodways, and traditions. I've done quite a bit of writing within the museum field -- promotional literature, research summaries, grant narratives, and curricula.

So at this point, my questions are extremely general. What varieties of jobs are available in editing and publishing? Should I be looking at educational publishers (given my background)? At what level might I be employable? What are the important web sites and job boards for people in publishing? Should I be considering web content developers? How can I show transferable skills? If you do work in publishing, what do you like/not like about it? What cautionary words do you have for me? All feedback encouraged. I'm at sqaure one with this idea, so assume I have not yet done any major research.

Also, I live 1 hour from Boston. I'm willing to commute up to an hour or so, but would rather not relocate. It seems as though there should be a fair number of opportunities in this region, but I'm aware. It might mean thinking outside the obvious sources of employment.

is emacs worth it?

bonaldi — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 16:35:32 -0800

Is emacs worth learning? I do a whole lot of text editing, and soon I'm about to have to do a whole lot more, this time in the form of academic essays. Just now I'm using TextWrangler (a Mac app similar to BBEdit) for Perl, PHP, HTML and other code stuff, and QuarkXpress for writing where the presentation matters.

However, I know that the frills of academia -- footnotes, bibliographies and the like -- are going to be tedious to do by hand, and can't be bothered with the hassle of repeated typesetting, so I'm planning to use LaTeX for this (I've used it before).

I hear emacs has "modes" for working with all these disparate types of text, and does folding to boot. This sounds quite groovy. But, given the many advances in GUI editors since ye days of serial terminals, is it still worth the effort of learning emacs (and is that as hard as it is made out?) If it has any bearing, I should point out that I don't know any LISP.

AcademicWord freelance editing experience?

loquacious — Mon, 23 May 2005 00:30:26 -0800

Does anyone have any experience or first-hand knowledge about working for the AcademicWord company? Is it a legitimate operation or is it too good to be true? I'm confident I have the skills, do they pay their bills? (MI) If not, does anyone know of any other similar contract editors? I enjoy proofreading and editing. Something about the process triggers some pleasure center in my brain - it feels like the same spot that gets tickled when I play Tetris. I could use the extra income. I have experience editing online and off. I've done technical writing, marketing copy-editing for Statements of Qualifications and proposals for engineering firms, user manual creation, resume creation/editing and more.

Methods of self-editing to be a better writer

pomegranate — Thu, 17 Jun 2004 07:57:50 -0800

I want to be a better writer, but I don't like laboring over every sentence until what I was trying to communicate is dead, dead, dead. How do you self-edit for your website, memos, or letters?