Editing in Style

I had decided to attend the Advanced Copy-Editing and Effective Project Management workshop, organized by the National Book Development Council in Singapore at the National Library.  I wanted to fill any gaps in my knowledge that might exist because, although I'm well-qualified to comment on whether text works or not, I've never had any formal editorial training of any kind and I feel that lack.

Susan Keogh, who came all the way from Melbourne to give the workshop, is a very experienced editor and wrote the Lonely Planet in-house style manual. She not only knew her stuff really well, she was a very engaging speaker.

She stressed from the outset the necessity of good, clear writing - even in academic and technical texts. We looked at extracts from widely different kinds of writing including : a piece from a Mills&Boon romance, a fictionalised biography of an Australian soldier, and scientific papers, and considered how they might be improved. 

Adverbs and adjectives were too often the enemy :

... the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words

as Strunk and White have it, especially :

Rather, very, little, pretty ...

We chopped out repetitions, got rid of irrelevancies, and learned the all important art of showing not telling. We weeded out cliches and tired language, learned that detail should emerge from the narrative rather than being added to it, and needs to advance  it.  And we visited that stylistic bugbear and unintended source of hilarity : dangling modifiers. This analysis and reshaping of texts was by far the most useful part of the workshop for me. (And it confirmed my hunches - I know what I'm doing.)

On the Monday afternoon though we changed tack and looked at how to write effective blurbs and publicity material, by using such devices as extended metaphors, compiling a cheat-sheet of useful words and by using literary and grammatical effects. We took apart blurbs and wrote our own for an imaginary guide book for Singapore. And I now feel confident to tackle writing a decent one of my own ... which is just as well.

I was looking forward to the part about managing publishing projects, but it seemed to be aimed at organisations where there were multiple projects to oversee, rather than the freelance editor with just one.  But I really enjoyed Susan's disaster stories including her account of what happened when Lonely Planet published a travel guide with Westen Europe on the spine.  (They didn't recall and pulp, they inserted a humourous bookmark instead!). 

I was the only attendee from this side of the causeway, and the rest, bar one or two freelancers, worked for Singaporean publications.  It was sad not to see anyone from book publishing there as they would have found this useful (and there is a great need for such training to raise professional standards).

Copy Editing in Singapore

The editors among you will probably be very interested in Susan Keogh's one and a half day workshop Advanced Copy-Editing and Project Management at the Singapore National Library 28-29th June. All the details are here with the form.

I'm wondering whether to go myself ...

For the Love of Books

A couple of days back I was interviewed by Shazmin Shamsuddin on BFM89.9 The Business Station - and how nice, the podcast has appeared online! :

If you want to write - just do it!



Editing Malaysian writers



Book blogging and how it takes over your life! :

Editors Are Not Magicians

Editors are not magicians; there’s no sleight of hand involved in the editing process. Nobody sees them working. They work long hours. It ain’t a nine-to-five thing. And they get insulted all the time. I do wish things would improve, but I know it won’t. Most of the typescripts I receive are not only badly written but lack content or substance; there’s not much in the way of depth or breadth or width in the writing. It’s rare that I receive one that I can sink my teeth into. I always jump with joy when a good manuscript lands on my table, something I can work with. But that’s rare.

Eric Forbes gives us a glimpse of what he has to face as an editor for MPH (see here and here), and now he gives us some more on his blog ... including the pushy parent of the J.K. Rowling wannabe, the authors who plan the food for their launch before they have written a word. Please do go read.

I really do not envy him his job ...

The Lady with the Blue Pencil

Helene had no literary theories — she had literary values. She valued clarity and transparency. She had nothing against style, if it didn’t distract from the material. Her blue pencil struck at redundancy, at confusion, at authorial vanity, at the wrong and the false word, at the unearned conclusion. She loved good writing, therefore she loved the reader: good writing did not cause the reader to stumble over meaning. By the time Helene was finished with me seven years later, I knew how to read a sentence and how to fix one. I knew what a sentence was supposed to do. I began to write my own sentences; needless to say, the responsibility for them is my own.

I very much enjoyed Dorothy Gallaher's tribute to her copy editor, Helene Pleasants, in the New York Times. Maybe all writers need a Helene to knock them into shape!

Carver's Legacy

Twenty years after his death, Raymond Carver's star is on the ascendant. His reputation as one of the best short fiction writers of all time (as well as poet, playwright and essayist) is still growing, and alongside it an interest in Carver the man, Kasia Boddy writes me in the Telegraph.

There's now an International Raymond Carver Society, and a journal online : Raymond Carver Review. His collected short fiction will be out in a single volume next year, two novelists have used him as a character in their own fiction ... and he even has a rose named after him!

Much of Carver's appeal lies in his very spare style, but James Campbell in the Guardian last December (and this was a story I should have blogged back then - sorry!) dropped rather a bombshell. Carver's originals manuscripts (which may be published) had been much more wordy, and the spare minimalism that turned the stories into classics of the genre, was due to the intervention of his editor, Gordon Lish!

But whatever the truth, Carver's stories are as near to perfect as is possible, and if you write short fiction yourself you could do much worse than let a bit of his influence rub off on you.

After all, Jay McInerney, Haruki Murakami and AL Kennedy acknowledge the debt.

Book Critiques and Freelance Editors

A week or two back, I discovered that one of the people who had joined in the discussion on a post here was freelance book editor, Rob Redman. Never one to miss an opportunity, I persuaded him to write a post for us about what a freelance editor (sometimes, especially in the US called "a book doctor") actually does, and what you need to bear in mind when you choose one.

I reckon that this is very useful for those of you who write to know about, as good editors who can give you proper advice that will help you to develop your manuscript are few and far between in Malaysia.

Here's Rob's piece :

This is how the story goes. Freelance fiction editing began to bloom a couple of decades back, when downsizing publishers sacked many of their in-house editors. Publishers were now more reluctant to take on manuscripts that were in need of development, and there were dozens of experienced fiction editors in need of work. It was only a matter of time before those editors began to advertise their services directly to hopeful writers. In an increasingly competitive marketplace, where more prospective authors than ever before compete for the attentions of fewer publishing houses, hiring an editor is seen as one way to increase the chances of success.

I think this has led to a slight misconception regarding the role of freelance editors, and it's one that the less scrupulous editors are all too ready to exploit. You see, editors aren't really there to help you sell your book, but rather to help you improve it, to develop your abilities as a writer, and progress towards that point where you can sell your book for yourself. Personally, I'd say that 90% of the critiques I do are about helping writers in the early stages of their development, rather than polishing almost-perfect manuscripts before they're submitted to agents.

It's best to think of an editor is as a writing coach, and the process of the critique as a focussed writing course, based around your novel.

HOW TO CHOOSE A GOOD EDITOR

You'll find plenty of opinions online about what makes a good editor. All good editors should have worked in a publishing house, or have an MFA in creative writing, or have published novels themselves, or... Ultimately, that's all rubbish. Any one of those might be a good founding for an editor, or it might not. What you should look for in an editor are: an understanding of the way fiction works; genuine enthusiasm for your manuscript, whatever its level; a willingness to exchange ideas, an ability to communicate clearly; and a working knowledge of your genre, both in terms of the classics, and what's happening in the market now.

The best way to find out how an editor matches these criteria is to request a sample edit. Many editors offer these for free, others charge a token sum (say £10-£20, or US$20-40) for editing the first few pages of your manuscript. I don't think there's any harm in charging a token fee for this, as it does help to weed out time wasters, but be wary of anybody who charges anything more substantial, or doesn't offer a sample edit at all. (If you end up hiring the editor, you can often get the fee deducted from the price of the critique.)

Critiques themselves can vary hugely in terms of both price and style, so look closely before making your choice (and don't be afraid to ask questions). To give you an idea of the sort of differences involved, both of these are real critiques, from real editors: For a critique of a 70,000 word manuscript, Editor A charges £175, while Editor B charges between £525 and £700. Both critiques come with a report, of about 6-10 pages, which examine the manuscript according to a checklist of factors: character, plot, opening, language, etc. At first, it looks like Editor A is the one to go with, and editor B is some kind of shark.

However, Editor A actually farms its manuscripts out to subcontractors, to whom it pays about half its fee. These guys skim through the manuscript and then fill in the form in the space of an afternoon. Meanwhile, Editor B spends a week or two with each manuscript, annotating it throughout. After the critique, Editor B is available to discuss their comments, while Editor A is not. The services are entirely incomparable, but both have the same name. In fact, Editor B is the professional, and Editor A, well, I wouldn't hire them. This is one of the reasons why it pays to shop around, and to check the small print. The critiquing business is entirely unregulated, and the only way to know what you're getting is to ask, every time.

Here are some things to consider when shopping around for an editor:

Do they offer a sample edit? (either free or for a token payment)
Do you get just a report, or a report and annotations to the manuscript?
Is the editor available to discuss their suggestions with you after the critique?
What's the editor's experience?
Does the editor work in your genre?

(Regarding this last question, my website's called "The Fiction Desk", but I still get a surprising number of requests to edit non fiction. I've even had a request to edit a hip hop video!)

Don't ever hire an agent or a publisher for any kind of critique or reading. The same goes for self-publishing outfits, who have an interest in making you think your book is publishable when it may not be.

Draw up a shortlist of two or three editors who look like they meet your requirements. Send them an email asking for the sample edit, and don't be afraid to ask any other questions you might have. (Requesting more than two or three sample edits at a time isn't really fair, because these do eat into editors' workdays, but if your first round doesn't turn up anybody you'd like to work with, you can always try again with more editors.)

When the editors reply, they'll probably have some questions of their own, about your story, who you're writing for, that sort of thing. It really is worth trying to answer these, because they'll help the editor to do a better job for you. It's also worth getting into the habit of writing professional, responsive emails about your work, because you'll need to do this when you're looking for an agent or a publisher. Sometimes an editor will turn down the sample edit request, simply because it's not their genre. That's okay.

Once you've got your sample edits back, compare both the edits and the emails you've received, and decide whose working style suits you best. If none does, start looking for another couple of editors. (If you decide not to hire an editor, it's nice to send them a quick email to let them know, and to thank them for the sample anyway.)

If you find an editor you like, ask again to confirm the details of the edit, what you'll get and when, then sign up!

Rob Redman offers editing services and advice through his website, The Fiction Desk.

He has promised to drop by and answer any questions you may have about freelance editors, so please go right ahead and ask. And some of you might have experiences of your own to tell us about.

A Post on Kindness and Criticism Written in Horribly Clashing Metaphors

I love having my friend Guat Chuah Eng back and now in the literary conversation in our Malaysian blogosphere, and now she's turning over the stones and debating whether there is a future for Malaysian literature in English.

While the larger question might now seem passe (and surely can only be answered with a *yawn* of course lah!? seeing as how a number of Malaysian authors are producing work of quality both locally and on the world stage) some of the other questions she is asking are very pertinent.

And I've nothing better to do at the moment (no need to cook dinner tonight) so I'm up for a good argue.

In her latest post she writes:

I found particularly depressing the comments on our aspiring writers' poor command of the English language and their lack of writing skills. Depressing, not because it is untrue or because it is all too true, but because--dear oh dear--haven't we been through all this before?

Where, I ask myself, would Amos Tutuola's classic, The Palmwine Drinkard, be today if the editor who received his manuscript had returned it to him for corrections? Where, indeed, would e. e. cummings be if his editor had told him he shouldn't write until he had learned how to punctuate? Wasn't it in 1963, if not earlier, that Raja Rao said, "We cannot write like the English. We should not." (Should there be a question mark here? And where should it be placed? Damned if I know--or care!) And right here in Malaysia, as long ago as 1976, novelist Lloyd Fernando, then Head of the English Department, University of Malaya, reminded us that for local literature to develop, "for some time at least, it would be more profitable for critics and scholars to confine themselves to the less spectacular role of recorders concerned to nurture, rather than critics giving evidence of their perception and integrity."

Are Malaysian writers in English so thin on the ground? Or is the ground in fact thick with writers dead and dying under the weight of hopes dashed and dreams shattered by their critics?

The balance between encouragement and criticism is crucial in a writing community as I've argued before. (My famous fishtank metaphor!) And I've been concerned with the question of when and how to criticise emergent writers since I started the blog and I'm only too aware (as someone who's been a beginning fiction writer, and as a writing teacher) that they need a safety zone and that confidence can be destroyed with harsh criticism too early on.

The dilemma is that (to use a botanical metaphor) with too much early criticism, the tender little plant will wilt and possibly die. But at the same time, without the right kind of criticism at the right point, the plant will grow straggly and no-one will want to look at it.

Where exactly does that right point for criticism come? The best first criticism is from a writing teacher and fellow writers. Possibly from friends you can trust. It should be kind and supportive and stress the positives and help you see the direction you might move your work in. It shouldn't jump up and down on your work wearing jackboots and waving it's own aren't-I-clever flag. (World War II metaphor.)

But I would say that it comes when your work is put between the covers of a book and start to charge the public for it, you have to be ready for critical open season. If you aren't, sit on your manuscript, hide it in a drawer, keep it in a file on the computer that only you know the password for. Being published is the point of no turning back.

This post I wrote on "the gentle cycle" (washing metaphor) says it all I think, and I hope that if you write, you will take a moment to go back to it.

I haven't commented on this blog about the stories in some collections by local writers I've read, and one reason is that I feel that new writers need space to try things out and yes, make their mistakes.

(As a little aside. The Silverfish collection I edited got reviewed very fairly, I thought, in the NST. Just one of the contributors got totally slammed in the piece. She happened to be the youngest writer and one I thought was promising ... but not yet arrived. I never told her about the review and I don't think she saw it. I just didn't want her to be discouraged. Now, years on, I can laugh about it with her because she is proving to be a very successful and in demand writer. Would she have given up if she'd seen the review? Or was she made of far tougher stuff from the beginning?)

I did review the Silverfish collection News From Home the other day (and honestly with trepidation) largely because it was interesting to see how Mr. Raman's new venture was working. Raman (who asked if I would review the book on my blog) felt the comments were fair, but I hope that I haven't stepped too hard on the toes of the writers in question who all have promise ... but like all writers are on a journey.

A good editor will not put out work that is rough around the edges, and will gatekeep so that the writers who are published are ready for public scrutiny and are in that sense protected. And the editor as I've said before has a responsibility not to put crap work before a public paying good cash for their copy. (Remember - a locally produced book generally costs only a bit less than an imported mass market paperback of a top international author which the reader could be enjoying instead!)

Now as a book-buyer, I don't want to see books with a multitude of typos and tense mistakes. It isn't necessary. And this is how painful the reader finds it.

Now about the two authors, Guat mentions:

E.E Cummings' lack of capitalisation (in his poetry though, not his own name) was a deliberate stylistic choice, much like Cormac McCarthy's annoying trickiness with apostrophes.

I love Amos Tutuola's The Palm-Wine Drinkard which is written in West African pidgin English as I have loved other books, comics and poems written in that dialect. A good editor will see immediately whether it does or does not work.

So encouragment and criticism - where should one end, the other begin?

I think you do everything possible to encourage the writer, but only publish, in the end, the very best.

Over to you, Guat.

Postscript:

I've put together an index of all my posts about building a writing community in Malaysia, which you can find here.

Local Writers Sometimes Do Suck! Sorry Jamil!

A response by Md Jamil Abdullah to the interview with MPH editor Eric Forbes last week in Starmag. The letter misses the point so badly that one wonders why it was published in the first place. Indeed, one wonders if Encik Jamil had actually read the interview!

MPH Group Publishing should encourage local writers rather than make such sweeping statements which will mislead readers into thinking that local writers suck.

Well, dear, they try to. But it's hard to find something worth investing the money in among all the substandard stuff. Some local writers succeed brilliantly, both here and overseas, and Eric (who by the way has read all those books Jamil listed, and a great deal more!) did give praise where praise is due. Others (and I know because I also see many manuscripts) certainly do suck, sometimes spectacularly.

And the worst part of it is they don't listen when people like Eric try to give them advice that might make all the difference to getting published.

This is the very lack of understanding that keeps those wannabes in the slush pile. I wonder if Encik Jamil is there himself? He exhibits all the humpfy attitude so typical of the long-term frustatti.

Finding Writers

How nice it was to see my good buddy and MPH senior editor Eric Forbes in Starmag talking about the often search for local writing talent. He gives sterling advice about the necessity for writers to make sure their work is carefully proofread before submission - an obvious fact that seems to elude many wannabes:

Not having to plough through bad grammar and poor punctuation helps tremendously. The fact is, the editing process can be very monotonous and people who submit manuscripts are often not open to criticism, no matter how constructive. ...

He adds:

Being good at language is not good enough. You have to stretch yourself further before your writing sings and shines. The great writers of the world struggle every day with what they produce. And they have doubts all the time.

And he once again hammers home that much-repeated piece of wisdom which too many wannabes close their ears to:

Read as widely, deeply and omnivorously as possible, both fiction and non-fiction.

Omnivorously. Got that?

From time to time I've linked to some of Eric's horror stories about wannabe writers. See here and here. I don't think he's got the end of his supply of horror stories yet!

Meanwhile, MPH are inviting submissions for two anthologies:

The first is a collection of short fiction and creative non-fiction tentatively entitled Urban Odysseys: KL Stories. Writers should focus on life in the city, specifically Kuala Lumpur, with works that show images of the new juxtaposed against the old, urban living with contrasting bright lights and shadowy realities and other short fiction or creative non-fiction that best encapsulate the spirit of the national capital.

Stories must be original and between 3,000 and 5,000 words. The deadline for this anthology is Jan 31, 2008.

The second anthology is of short fiction that will be published under the tentatively title Chinese Stories. The theme is Chinese life in Malaysia, Singapore and elsewhere, with writings that explore questions of fate and destiny, culture, spirituality, language, human longing and its consequences, ironies of life, identity and family. And love, of course. Stories could be sweet or sour. Or a combination of both. Or they could explore issues that have not been addressed before.

Stories must be original and between 3,000 and 7,000 words. The deadline for this anthology is March 31, 2008.

Guidelines for submission can be found here.

When an Editor has to be Hands-Off

I do believe that every writer can benefit from a good editor. I really do think that writers should accept criticism and consider how it can help them improve their work. I do not, however, think that a writer must act on every suggestion made by an editor.

In Starmag today, columnist and children's author Daphne Lee shares her experience about working with an editor who saw things rather differently from her:

I think it’s so important that an editor understands what the author wants to say and how he wants to say it. If your story is about baking an apple pie, it won’t do if your editor thinks it’s about how people get fat by eating too much dessert. ... An editor, a good one anyway, should help bring out the best in an author and help him make the most of his story. It’s the author’s story, not the editor’s.

My (albeit) limited experience of editing has shown me that there is indeed a back-off point. You cannot push too strongly against the author's will, although you must of course make your feelings about the text known and there should exist an atmosphere of mutual respect.

At the end of the day it is the author's name on the cover and he/she must stand by their book long after your role in its production is forgotten.

(I had to self-indulgently sneak in this lovely picture of meself with Daphne (looking tiny!) which I nicked from her blog!)

Why Editors Matter

It's nice to take a look inside other people's fishtanks to see what lessons you can learn, and how you can improve your own.

I am of course that I'm talking in a metaphorical sense, again using the analogy to show the interrelatedness of all aspects of a reading/writing/publishing ecosystem. (I really like my fishtank idea!)

I found Michael Heyward's article in The Age an extremely interesting glimpse into the Aussie publishing fishtank, an overview of what's happening, and what needs to happen there.

There's much good news, and the industry has much to celebrate, not least some excellent authors and a reading public that really does read enthusiastically:

Government research shows that almost 80 per cent of Australians read for pleasure most days of the week.

But what's missing?

Simple: more editors, more Australian books.

How can we develop the great editorial cultures our cultures of reading and writing deserve?

Editors matter because writers matter.

The creativity of writers will always be at risk if they have to work in the absence of editors who know talent and can market it.

We don't publish enough books in Australia because we haven't trained enough editors and publishers to find the writers, nurture them and sell their work.

We haven't valued what editors do because we haven't had the chance to watch them in action.

Editors and publishers are much more than suppliers of printed paper: they are catalysts, cajolers, bearers of standards, trend-spotters and makers.

How can you write the history of literary modernism without telling the story of T. S. Eliot at Faber? Or of American fiction without Maxwell Perkins or Alfred A. Knopf or Roger Straus?

We are beginning to understand that these are living traditions on which to draw.

The same need for editors - those largely unsung heroes - exists here too. Not just to tidy up the grammar and give recalcitrant authors a poke, but to spot and nourish new talent. And to gatekeep to prevent the less than excellent from reaching the market.

Heyward points out that the Australian government needs to be proactive in promoting its publishing industry at all levels ... and importantly, that this will be a money-earner in the long run, not merely a cultural artifact that requires propping up with infusions of cash!

And as a little coda to Datuk Ng's speech the other day:

You can't sell international rights in books that don't exist or aren't good enough.

It will be interesting to see how out fish tank develops over the next few years.

Here's more on Heyward.

Daphne's Rap on the Knuckles

Daphne Lee writes in Starmag about last weekend's Hi-Tea for Authors, and points out:

One huge stumbling block Malaysian writers face, in my opinion, is the inability to take criticism. I believe that it’s impossible to improve if you refuse to consider your weak points. I do think it’s important to believe in what you do, and in your style, your own voice and your stories, but it’s imperative to listen to others’ opinion of your work and take into consideration their point of view.

I know local writers who feel that a bad book review shows lack of support, but I feel that all writers can learn from an honest review, good or bad, but especially one that clearly points out why the reviewer is less than thrilled with the book. After all, there is always room for improvement and if one receives nothing but praise, how can one know which areas need work?

I agree. She adds the following horror story:

A self-published writer recently e-mailed the manuscript of her second novel to me, implying that it was ready for print. I found countless mistakes but when I asked her if she was going to get it edited or at least proofread, she replied, “I am satisfied with everything. From the characters to the setting to the words used ... right down to the punctuation marks.”

The book has been published, complete with all the mistakes that I spotted in the manuscripts. It’s been suggested that the writer doesn’t realise the mistakes are actually mistakes.

What is really worrying, though, is that someone said to me that the mistakes might not matter since the book would probably be read by teenagers.

(I wonder if this was the same book that so horrified my friend!)

Daphne picks up a quote from me about demanding your money back from the bookshop if you find more than five mistakes! I was sort of joking, but I wonder what would happen if everyone did that??

A couple of other interesting posts on the MPH event: Antares reflects on Datuk Ng's book guild proposal, and my favourite squid, BP, enjoys the chicken mayo sandwiches.

Instant Author, Just Add Water

Conversations with budding authors. (What follows is fiction, thinly disguised as life.)

Author 1 (of potentially best-selling thriller) :

Can I meet up with you? It's about an organisation for writers I'm thinking of setting up. ... I wonder if we could set up something to local help writers to market their books overseas. ... You know enough, you could be an agent. ... What I'm bothered about is getting ample rewards for the time and effort I put into it. What kind of books are they looking for overseas? ... Harry Potter, I read it and it wasn't much. What kind of books do you like? ... Annie Proulx? What do you see in her writing? ... No, I don't have time to read.

Author 2 (Graham Greenish wannabe)

I spend several hours reading his manuscript, meet up with him, brace myself to tell the truth ... which is that I don't find the characters credible, the attempts at writing local dialect don't sound right, parts of it I find downright racist, there are a lot of confusing sentences and I'm not too sure what it is trying to say.

Him: Do you think I need to revise it before I send it out? (He has big American publishers in mind.)

He pays for my air limau.

Author 3 (Short story writer because it's all he has time for)

I meet him in passing at an event for writers and give him my card. A few days letter I find a story he's written in my inbox. Please critique this, he says, I have a deadline. The story has to be in on Monday. He keeps calling me and calling me to see if I've done it. I'm busy so I finally sit down and go through it with him over the phone - there's a fair bit wrong with it, so this takes some time. (I later find that he's sent it out to every other writer and enthusiastic reader he met at that event.)

The story gets published. He's made all the changes I suggested. He doesn't say thank you. His stories keep arriving in my inbox.

Author 4 (Travel writer wannabe)

I meet him at a booksigning.

I have this great idea for a book. Can I tell you about it?

He does. He sits and tells me all about his great idea . It's quite good actually - but it turns out that he hasn't written a single word yet. He finally plucks up courage to ask the question he's been waiting to ask:

Could you be my ghostwriter?

For People Unclear on the Concept of Editor

As far as I can remember, I have always wanted to be a writer. But I’m so busy with work commitments and all that I have no time to write. Writing is so hard and time-consuming. Do you think you could pay somebody good to write for me? But please make sure my name appears on the cover of the book, okay?

In a post I'm sure editor Eric Forbes really enjoyed writing he lifts the lid on some of the most horrifying (and funniest!) things that would-be-published writers have said to him. The kiasuism is astounding, the arrogance staggering, the misunderstanding of what the role of an editor actually is, extremely worrying.

Wise up! Don't talk about being published until you have a manuscript. And the responsibilty for knocking that manuscript into shape is all yours!


Related Post:
From the Lips of an Editor (19/10/06)

(Pic nicked from here.)

From the Lips of an Editor

Eric Forbes, bibliophile to eclipse this bibliophile, and editor extraordinaire, has a piece up on his blog which should be compulsarily engraved on the hearts of all wanna-be publisheds.

In an August 2006 interview with Lauren Andrew of the University of Wollongong, Australia, Eric, editor with MPH publishing, revealed how Malaysian writers just aren't up to the mark. Most writers, he says, lack basic English language skills, are too lazy to knock their manuscript into decent shape, and simply don't read enough. He says:

The main impression, for what it is worth, is how very little good writing there is. That’s not surprising, really, if truth be told. Let us not kid ourselves any longer: writing is difficult, and there aren’t many people who can do it well enough.

Fractured, mangled English has been (and will always be) the bane of my life. Most manuscripts are so atrociously written that I prefer not to look at them at all. A bonfire, that’s where they belong. Either that or I flush it down the you-know-where. I hate myself for saying this, but step into my shoes and you will understand what I mean. Editing bad manuscripts is such a waste of life and natural resources.

Strong words from one of the most sweet-natured guys I know: bad writing takes you that way.

Read his whole piece and learn what you should do to get your manuscript accepted. And while you're there, also check out his excellent piece on how take the first steps to get published.

Eric's really not trying to put a dampner on your writerly spirits, and he does your want manuscripts.

It's just that he'd like much better ones.

Those Who Can, Write; Those Who Can't, Edit

An article that makes important points about the role of the fiction editor.
Author Blake Morrison makes the point that:

A culture that doesn't care about editing is a culture that doesn't care about writing. And that has to be bad.

He argues that editors are an endangered species in the UK publishing industry. The intense collaborative process between author and editor that used to be a feature of the publishing industry no longer exists in Britain and "everyone from JK Rowling to David Eggers suffers from the lack of scissors that might have been to their benefit".

I must say I have to agree because I find myself yelling at many of the authors I read for various annoyances, length coming near the top of the list. (Not that yelling does much good now that the printed book is in my hand and I have spent the equivalent of ten good bowls of my favourite fishball noodle soup on it!)

Morrison says that because of the pressures they're under, modern-day editors simply don't have the time to edit and in some instances authors are encouraged to pay for the services of a freelance editor!

It's a truism, he says:

All writers need editors. So why isn't the matter more discussed?

Partly, as he says, because the contribution of editors:

...goes largely unacknowledged - a nod in the preface or a thank-you from the author at the launch party and that's it. They're the ghosts in the machine, the secret sharers, the anonymous power behind the throne.

And partly also because writers have done little to clarify the role of editors in their work ... unless the whole process has gone badly wrong for them.

Those who can, write; those who can't, edit - that seems to be the line. I prefer TS Eliot. Asked if editors were no more than failed writers, he replied: "Perhaps - but so are most writers."

There is too, he says the romantic image of the writer "as a solitary creative genius" and the editor as a "meddling middlebrow".

Morrison goes on to give examples of writer-editor partnerships which ensured the quality of some of the most important C20th classics - Sons and Lovers, The Waste Land and The Great Gatsby.

This lack of editorial assistance, he concludes, is probably what is fuelling the growth of creative writing programmes in Britain in recent years. Where else are writers going to get the help they need to improve their manuscripts?

And where, I wonder, are our Malaysian writers going to find the editorial help they need, because it seems to me that this is one of the most pressing issues for the local writing scene.

Giving Writers a Chance

Minishorts raised some important issues in her comments to my entry about Silverfish writers and I thought I'd like to answer them. She wrote:

i'm not sure how silverfish does the screening process, but somehow when i read the anthologies, i feel many others could have been given a chance.

as for every 20-story anthology, where are the other 100 stories that got rejected (and there would have been more than just a hundred submissions, i believe). there have been multiple opportunities not to waste these works (whether or not they're works of art). sometimes, all it takes is a small recognition from a significant publishing house to fuel a spirited writer/author.

as for writing a novel, let me put it this way... i've come this far (which is not very far at all) to notice that there's a great deal of 'knowing the right people' to get that dream off the ground. Seriously.

I'm just being honest about this.

I can tell you about the "screening process" because I was editor of one of the collections, Collateral Damage.

Now let me say at the outset that editing is a very personal thing. Every editor has his/her own set of prejudices about the kind of fiction they like and this will be reflected in the selection made. It's for this reason that any publisher of anthologies will make sure that each collection is edited by a different person - as Raman has done.

I received all manuscripts submitted - there was no prior screening, and did not know the identities of the writers involved. (I was able to guess one or two from the style and subject matter, but was careful not to let this influence me.) I read all of them. There were, if I remember correctly just 97 manuscripts, not at all a large number. (I think many got put off by the title of the collection, which had been chosen before I came on board, and which I decided to interpret as widely as possible to give everyone a fair chance.) A large number of the manuscripts came from non-Malaysians and Malaysians living overseas. How many local writers actually grasped this opportunity? And a large proportion came from writers who had already been published in the series. How many new writers made the effort?

Now quality is important: you can't put out an anthology and expect people to pay just for the kindness of it. Each story has to earn its place. I describe my criteria for selection in my forward to the book.

Some of the stories (fortunately, a minority) were so badly written that it was an effort to read beyond the first couple of paragraphs. Attrocious grammar and spelling, cliched language, the point of view jumping all over the place ... how much of a chance do such writers deserve?

Some stories were excellent (a larger minority) and earned their place in the book immediately.

The rest of the stories I reread, reread again. There were tough decisions to make. In the end I went with what I felt were the most interesting pieces to make up numbers. (I'm the first to admit that there is a certain patchiness to the collection. The reviewer in the NST compared the collection to Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans - an analogy I quite liked!)

Of the stories I selected, I felt that some of them needed to be edited or worked on further and contacted the writers with suggestions that I felt would improve their work. It was entirely my own decision to do this. I did not have the time or opportunity to actually sit down with any of the writers (and many were overseas anyway) so we corresponded by e-mail. Most of the changes I suggested were made. But where writers didn't want to make changes, I respected their decision. All this was very time consuming, but worthwhile. (And Robert Raymer who edited the next collection was perhaps even more supportive to his writers.) My point - isn't this giving writers a chance? Would editors in the UK or US, where the pool of good writing to choose from is much larger, have taken the trouble?

Now let's think about the stories that didn't make it into the collection.

Minishorts writes "there have been multiple opportunities not to waste these works" and I think she's got a point here.

Some promising stuff got rejected. I did indeed feel sad about it. (And have been on the receiving end of such rejection myself so know how it feels.) Editors aren't unkind vicious creatures who rub their hands together in glee when consigning other people's work to limbo!

Many of the stories frankly needed more work. There were good ideas, interesting characters perhaps but a great deal more effort in polishing and shaping was required in many cases. And of course writers need to learn more about the craft of writing.

The best way to learn is simply by reading enough quality writing. If you want to learn how to write short fiction, immerse yourself in the best short story writers and learn from the masters.

I also think that new writers need more support in terms of facilities to workshop their stories. Courses, workshops, resources, facilities, writing groups, readings. We do need to fuel our new writers, as you say Minishorts, but it does not have to be the responsibility of a publishing house.

I applaud those people who are doing something to help local writers. Names that spring to mind are Bernice, RuhayatX, Pang, Beth Yahp and MPH Writer's Circle. And Raman's Silverfish which has played an enormously important role in encouraging local writing in English. These are all small-scale initiatives sure, but don't you feel a groundswell of something happening here?

There are no magic wands to be waved but a great deal of collective responsibility on the part of those who care about the state of local writing.

So over to you now, Minishorts. What would you like to see happening? And more importantly - how do you think it could be got off the ground?

MPH Writer's Circle

Went to first meeting of MPH's Writer's Circle yesterday in the 1 Utama store. Quite an experience, the Booker Room was completely packed with what I suppose must be aspiring writers. Oon Yeoh who writes on IT for The Edge and is the author of Transition — Making Sense of the Digital Age was supposed to speak on the editorial process. I say supposed to speak, because although he began very well indeed (talking about the small publishing company he has set up with the intention of helping local writers); and about the pitfalls of self-publishing, discussion really got hijacked by the audience who were hungry to ask questions and share experiences about publishing.

Some of the topics touched on:

- if you want to produce a quality book, you need a professional editor - but this is where most people who self-publish try to cut corners

- the books that do well on the local market are self-help books, cookbooks and kids books

- if you manage to sell 3,000 copies of any book locally, you have a best seller on your hands

- local fiction hardly sells - maybe 10-20 copies!

There were some success stories though from an enterprising young novelist called John Ling and from an inventor called Bugs who has had his book of local fairy tales published with Periplus.

I got nudged by Leah, who was sitting next to me, to make an announcement that I would soon be running classes for anyone interested in creative writing. And afterwards was positively beseiged with enquiries, so for sure there is a market.

Friday was, for me, the day when all my hope birds came home to roost. I should soon have course up and running at a couple of different venues. Will tell you soon. Am full of bright shiny hopefulness.

Marred only by the fact that I am not myself at the moment and probably won't be for a few weeks more until I am on the right medication. I need my head back! I'm going crazy now, lost in a fug of wrong chemicals which affects body, mind and soul. At least I know what's wrong ... and am no longer scared of the men in white coats.

Leah was wonderful good at being there for me.