Just wanted some honest feedback about story edits once a story is published. I promise I will not be upset by the response.
Is it annoying for you to have to deal with edit requests or is it quick and not a big deal?
If it’s annoying I will start sitting on my stories for a few days before publishing them. I do proofread before publishing. But then I always find multiple annoying typos over the course of the next couple days after I publish. It never fails. I found two on the story I posted today, on separate read throughs. Seems like no matter how many times I read the story I can only find one typo at a time. It’s maddening. I’m annoyed at myself and I can only imagine how annoying it is to you all. Plus, I know you all have a lot more stories coming in than it used to be.
I’m not a reviewer. But speaking personally, it’s mildly annoying when I see a story has unpublished edits. I find that I almost never go back and read the story once the edits have been approved.
So - knowing of your finely and carefully crafted prose - I would recommend that you sit on your chapters for a bit you’re absolutely sure you’ve not missed any typos/mistakes. It’ll create the impression that you’re a better writer (for not having mistakes/typos).
As the self appointed King of malaprops and typos, I haven’t the patience or clarity to edit m own. It’s only once a story was published did I see my …plentiful mistakes. If I like the premise of a story, I’m anxious to see what changes you’ve (anyone) has made so I happily go back and re-read it. Sometimes, if the story is good enough, I’ll come back to it months or years later. I just finished one on another site called “21 year old Scotch” . I remember the author had submitted a couple of re-edits. and here, several years later, I’m still pleased with his efforts
In truth, these edits of mine are extremely minor. Typos that the reader probably glazes over (hopefully). I should probably just leave them alone. Many better authors than me on this site have occasional typos that I spot and I’m not bothered by them when it’s someone else’s writing.
That’s why my question was aimed at the reviewers. If story edits impact them then I’ll stop and try to do better proofreading (but as I said, I do proof-read a lot before publishing). But then after publishing I do even more proof-reading, I can’t seem to help myself.
A little trick I found to help myself proofread my stories and catch silly mistakes is to re-read it through an online “read out loud” tool. There are a number of websites that lets you copy/paste your text and read it back out loud. I found that it helps me a lot; it’s almost like I’m reading over it with another person, forces me to go through it word by word and it gives me a slightly more removed perspective at my own work. In addition, it would be easier to catch any typos you make because it’ll read it out as is and you will hear the oddities. Hope this helps!
Though we technically have to approve every change - just to make sure nothing gets sneaked on the site without us knowing - the interface I’ve created allows us to see any changes the author made right away. So we don’t have to reread stuff, we just check what has been changed, and that’s a matter of seconds usually.
So go ahead and edit away. It’s no problem whatsoever.
Edits are super easy to approve. Genuinely like 10 seconds from start to finish. It’s a lot of what we deal with as approvers, it comes with the territory.
I seem to have the same problem Amul mentioned. I read and reread, and when I publish a part i reread it again to rearrange the text to highlight paragraphs for better readability, and I still seem to oversee typos. If i find them after the text is published i correct them if necessary, but not if it is just one missing „ u“ or „a“ , just if it really is bothering me.
But, i must admit, i toy with the idea to reboot my first story „ Dickson Enterprises: Dylan“ since i find the old parts less satisfying, compared to my newer parts.
So question to everyone: What would you guys do?
I get what you’re saying about edits that just slip by you. No matter how many times I proof a story, there’s always something that gets by you. I chalk it up to the fact that my brain automatically glosses over things. However, that said, if a reader’s brain is focused on typos, rather than edging into an orgasm, then the entire story is probably a failure.
Grammarly is my best friend when it comes to typos and grammar. It goes a bit crazy with hyphenated words and insists on using the “oxford comma” rule. But, I just ignore its advice if I don’t agree.
I’m new on this board and am not sure about posting links. So, adding the normal dot com after Grammarly will get you to the site.
Also, I use their Chrome (any chrome based browser) extension, and in about 90pct of online text boxes, Grammarly will check spelling and grammar on websites. For example, it’s checking this text box that I’m typing in - again, that only works if you use the extension.
But, if you don’t want the extension, the free web-based version is very good.
I use it too. Since you can use it for free, in its simplified version, it’s useful for any aspiring author.
However, you have to be OK with the idea of asking an online tool to check your smut texts. They actually do a really good job of fixing smut words and sentences, and I guess a lot of dirty stuff is going through their servers on any day.
So no one is going to bring up the disruptive AI built into all programs that add typos after you have looked over a piece 15 times? That after Grammarly, spellcheck, five visual passes, sacrificing a copy of Chicago manual of Style over an open flame that they just randomly pop up? No one huh? That’s a little rude, I mean there is no way I missed all those errors on my own.
Shhh!
You’re not meant to mention the “ego-deflator” AI that Martin secretly coded in, just to make sure that no Author ever thinks that they’re perfect and never make mistakes!
