#15 Being an Editor

            This semester I had a screenwriting course and luckily I had the surprising pleasure of editing another student’s work. We exchanged 20 pages of our work and edited them for each other. It was a surprisingly enjoyable endeavor to plod through their work and correct the many errors I found. Through what I learned, I helped a fellow student get their work up to a higher level.

            Much of the mistakes I revised were ones of laziness and lacking in common sense. As the semester comes to a close, the work piles up quickly and the load can become overwhelming. Unfortunately, that can result in poor work turned in right before deadlines. Cramming work into the very last minute can cause people to make common mistakes that they would not normally make. My main advice to the writer was to slow down. The story was interesting adventure of a man trying to save his friends and himself during a zombie apocalypse. It would never win Oscars, but very fun nonetheless. Therefore, I made suggestions and advice, while building up the idea that his story was unique and intriguing.

            Under our professor’s instruction, we met in person to go over the finer points of our stories. Having face to face conversations help to get the dialog flowing. We did a little editing through text, but that stayed short and choppy. Without being forced to interact like you are in person, the conversation can simply stop after a phrase or two. When we sat down with a cup of coffee, the conversation will expand and delve deeper into where the story can go. Although, it will also cycle around what needs to be fixed. The writer’s work I looked over, left names out when writing dialog, failed to capitalize names, and had a multitude of run-on sentences. Taking time to work with the writer, I found it much easier to critique the mistakes when I could shift focus back to the positives often.

            During the interview, I asked as many questions as I could. The reading was proven true when I used questions to show the writer his mistakes. It helps to ask for clarification in the writing instead of putting out problems bluntly. I have a habit, not sure if it helps, but I generally preface my questions with, “I might be dumb but…” and shifting the blame to me seems to help. Asking a question under a pretense of their higher intelligence, allows them to explain pieces of the story rife with errors, which can illuminate the errors to them on their own, or I will bring it up during their explanation. This method might not work for some because of the perceived dim-witted mask you must wear.

            The Working with Writers chapter may not be solely the most important reading of the semester, but it is the culmination of what we have worked toward. Through using what we have learned about grammar and editing, we combine that with this chapter, and see how it all comes together. You cannot do the job of an editor without the other lessons, but this lesson brings it all together, showing us what we can be with all we learned.