In his WIP, A Better Man 1, G Younger gives credit to XofDallas and Bud Ugly as "Developmental Editors." What does a developmental editor do?
In his WIP, A Better Man 1, G Younger gives credit to XofDallas and Bud Ugly as "Developmental Editors." What does a developmental editor do?
I suspect they have the power to change his mind when he gets crazy ideas as to the directions the story is taking. You'd have to ask him if you want his definition of the term.
In commercial publishing, the developmental editor (often but not always also the acquiring editor, who contracted the author) works with the author on the big-picture things: whether the plot hangs together or are there holes that need fixing, is the characterization consistent, are there pacing issues, and so on.
Once the developmental editor is happy, then the copy editor goes to work: the line editor who checks that all the I's are crossed, and the T's are dotted, and the grammar is cromulent.
cromulent.
From Merriam-Webster
"Words We're Watching
Cromulent
'Cromulent' is a perfectly...well, cromulent word.
There are plenty of TV catchphrases that have seeped into our lexical consciousness, but none of them has been as sly as cromulent.
Cromulent first appeared in the February 18, 1996 episode of The Simpsons called "Lisa the Iconoclast," in what could be considered a throw-away line given during the opening credits. The schoolchildren of Springfield are watching a film about the founding father of Springfield, Jebediah Springfield. The film ends with Jebediah intoning, "A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man." One teacher at the back of the room leans over to another and says that she'd never heard the word embiggen before she moved to Springfield. "I don't know why," the other teacher replies. "It's a perfectly cromulent word."
cromulent
Though 'cromulent' originated as a joke on The Simpsons, it's a perfectly cromulent candidate for future entry in the dictionary.
The word cromulent ended up in the script courtesy of a showrunner's challenge to the writers. According to the DVD commentary for The Simpsons, the showrunners asked the writers to come up with two nonce words that sounded like words that could be in actual use. Writer David X. Cohen came up with cromulent as one of those words. It means "acceptable" or "fine."
The joke was so sly and subtle that as "It's a perfectly cromulent word" was repeated, it wasn't necessarily clear to the hearer that it was a joke. In the years following the episode's debut, cromulent showed up in campus op-eds ("The words were struck down as 'too hard,' although both are perfectly cromulent." Patrick Friel, University Wire, 10 Feb. 1999), reviews of movies ("This film enraged sci-fi geeks because it has almost nothing to do with the Asimov book it stole its title from. But this I, Robot is a perfectly cromulent bastardization..." John Scalzi, PlayStation Magazine, 1 Jan. 2005), and even in the name of a theater company. Cromulent has crept so deep into the language that it has even shown up as a hypothetical example in a Supreme Court amicus brief.
While we don't yet enter cromulent into our dictionaries, it's a perfectly cromulent candidate for future entry.
Words We're Watching talks about words we are increasingly seeing in use but that have not yet met our criteria for entry."
A Development Editor looks for plot holes, whether characters are believable, and other aspects of the story rather than grammar, sentence structure, typos, and such. Often the Development Editor works off a synopsis before the story is written.
A Development Editor looks for plot holes, whether characters are believable, and other aspects of the story rather than grammar, sentence structure, typos, and such. Often the Development Editor works off a synopsis before the story is written.
That's a great summation of the title, but developmental editors is something that's greatly needed on a site like SOL. A common issue here, are stories which are never finished, and this is often due to the fact that, for extended stories, authors frequently paint themselves into a corner and eventually discover there's no way to reconcile the contrasting issues in a story. And with no way forward, they simply walk away from the story.
With luck, a developmental editor will detect those issues early, before the author gets too involved, however it requires bringing the DE into the story early, often when they're still formulating the story, again once they have a 'rough draft' of the story, and for those who write a chapter at a time, they also need to do frequent updates to see if the story is going off in an unsupportable direction.
My own DE has, because of various and health issues, hasn't really been doing the necessary DE, though he's also an excellent copy and line editor, so I'd like to contact these other DE to see what they're availability is (at least until mine manages to get back up to speed.
Unfortunately, DE editors are VERY expensive! They charge at least twice to 2.5 times as much as any other editor, and they have to read the entire manuscript once, to figure out where the story is going, then take another pass to flag any plot issues, and another pass for any line edits. And then, they need multiple passes, when the story is first proposed, when they review the first draft, and whatever any significant changes are made to the story.
Luckily, for most traditional publishers, the final manuscript is largely limited in scope, unlike the majority of SOL stories, especially the better rated Epics, which make them much easier to review rapidly. Anyone who wishes to use one should always write a full first draft, and fully edit it, before even considering posting, giving time for DE to catch any issues before they begin bogging the story down.
Another type of editor not mentioned, and desperately needed on SOL, are Beta editors, these are editors who'll read over the entire story, looking for any issues the author hasn't anticipated and doesn't even recognize (ex: such as negative character traits likely to piss-off select groups of editors). That doesn't mean you need to dump those traits, instead, knowing what they are, the author can address the issues, giving readers time to fully flesh out the characters.
I've been searching for a SOL Beta Editor for some time, and have yet to find ANY!
A common issue here, are stories which are never finished, and this is often due to the fact that, for extended stories, authors frequently paint themselves into a corner and eventually discover there's no way to reconcile the contrasting issues in a story. And with no way forward, they simply walk away from the story.
Another common issue is a lot of stories which were obviously intended to be longer stories that never post more than the first chapter. I don't think you painted into a corner theory can explain those.
Another common issue is a lot of stories which were obviously intended to be longer stories that never post more than the first chapter. I don't think you painted into a corner theory can explain those.
Nope, those are abandoned for other reasons. Maybe the score for the 1st chapter discouraged the author. Maybe the author thought he had an idea but really didn't. Maybe the author lost interest after writing the first chapter.
Maybe the score for the 1st chapter discouraged the author.
Or critical comments after the first chapter is posted.
Maybe they expected more downloads.
IMO a sure way to have few downloads is to announce in the blob there will be more chapters if the first is well received. I don't waste my time reading those 'first' chapters.
To avoid negative impact by low scores or abusive comments an author writing multi-chapter stories should turn of voting and comments for the first few chapters. The type of readers that vote low or send abusive comments after the first chapter will not continue reading the next chapters if they would have to wait until the author turns on voting and comments.
HM.
IMO a sure way to have few downloads is to announce in the blob there will be more chapters if the first is well received.
I can see why authors do that and I've been tempted to do it myself. I would expect most of those first chapters to be by first time authors making typical first time author mistakes. But a few might be original and innovative and worth encouragement,
Agents and publishers like to have typically three complete chapters so they can make a better assessment.
AJ
Maybe they expected more downloads.
No one expects the first chapter, especially by a new author, to get sterling ratings and stellar reviews. First chapters are nothing more than a start, many stories are promising, but many fall flat on their faces soon after. Traditionally, scores tend to increase, often in direct relation to the length (number of chapters) posted.
Low ratings are a much more common cause of disillusionment, as authors don't feel appreciated, but even there, you can't base much on the first chapter, before they've even discovered their fans. True, certain stories (ex: waterspouts, gay erotica, etc.) almost always draw exceptionally low scores, but still, tossing out a chapter for a few days before cutting and running is a recipe for a one-time author.
Unfortunately, the problem with turning off scoring, is that often, readers aren't nearly as likely to rate the story once it's turned back on. The hope is that only the dedicated fans will vote, but that's like praying for a pot of gold suddenly appearing in you living room. You earn your scores, and dismissing readers' opinions isn't the best way to achieve them.
Writing is based on trust: readers expect you to complete the story, they expect the universe to behave by the rules you created for it, and they expect the story to maintain it's quality. Quitting mis-story is virtually guaranteed to earn reader derision and a life-time of low scores!
But most of all, you write for your fans, not for your scores. We all earn low scores for a variety of reasons. If a gay author writes a terrific story, they know they'll earn terrible ratings on SOL—which is why so few gay authors bother with the site. That said, the point isn't being a best-seller for ever post, it to make a different in people's lives, and develop a close relationship with your fans, who'll support you for years!
But most of all, you write for your fans, not for your scores.
Some of us write for ourselves, and if we acquire a few fans along the way, that's just icing on the cake.
so few gay authors
I think there are quite a number of happy authors on this site. I realize that you often write stories regarding mental depression and illness. Maybe you should become gay!
which is why so few gay authors bother with the site.
How is it that you can determine the authors sexuality? Is there some place where authors here register such things?
Another common issue is a lot of stories which were obviously intended to be longer stories that never post more than the first chapter. I don't think you painted into a corner theory can explain those.
No Developmental Editor will help with story abandonment!
Unfortunately, DE editors are VERY expensive!
Naval games I have been watching on line like Axis and Allies in a lot of different editions from 1936 to 1942 and one with Zombies use DE to indicate Destroyer Escorts. I assume editing a Destroyer, even a small one like an Escort, would be very expensive.