EDITOR...edit...WHY edit ? who cares ?
Jan 10 '09
The Bottom Line I once sent a letter to "letters" it was mutilated..not simply edited. Now every letter that I read, I wonder if thats the way the writer wrote it!
For almost my entire life, I always assumed an "editor" to be a guy who wrote intelligent articles in his newspaper..and for so many years, he also shouted at Clark Kent and told Lois Lane to go and find a story..(as in Superman)..and sent the cub reporter to take pictures. If they came back with a stunner of a story with pics that the world was saved from a disaster and life continues.
Did the editor alter the story to make it sound like a game of "lets go pick the flowers"..or was the story told in an interesting way ?
Now, in my retirement years while I enjoy relating my little stories and mini-adventures to some readers who like what I write..I have become "connected" to a couple of different editors at a couple of different places ??
While I never object to being corrected for a serious unforgiveable error, such as.. "in South Africa a driver of a vehicle "blows the hooter" ??.. but I didnt mind being told that "honk the horn" is more acceptable ??
So, I'm glad I'm not unique ! One of my new friends also mentioned 2 stories which she wrote and were published in a recent book, were also subjected to unneccesary editing, where several simple words were replaced with other simple words..(which were not her words).
Not pointing to a specific place...I have had some of my stories made shorter..one with the major first paragraph removed, and other sentences shortened as well as words changed and other different words brought in ?
Suitable relevant pictures were not used, and at times pics. totally unrelated to the story were placed.
I continue writing because of my wanting to share, and have never been paid for what has been published, and I have never received a reward when I have mentioned places and supplied a link for readers to follow thru.
A couple of my shorter stories were so badly edited (recently).. that when I read one story ..my thought was "what kind of idiot writes like that" ?
I must mention here, that I have never met any of these editors, and only correspond by emails, and I have been given "rules and regulations" relating to pictures and punctuation, and "use of vocabulary".. that seem okay for one story but not for the next ??
One editor accepts my use of three dots...while another does not accept.
So, never having met an editor, my couple of questions are..
Do they look like strutting peacocks with feathers open ??
What happens to editors when they move on to another career??
Are there specific courses to take to become an editor ?
Are there specific courses to take to become a good editor?
I knew you would say thats 4 questions.
emails and comments will be read ..and not edited.
lou.
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Epinions.com ID:
louisdrinkingt
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Member: Lou
Location: View of the Med.
Reviews written: 124
Trusted by: 66 members
About Me:
I love scooter riding, visiting new places, but limit that pleasure in rainy season.
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