Is anyone else unhappy with how their stories are edited?
If a mistake is spotted then fair enough but I find they take stylistic decisions.
They chuck in commas willy-nilly, sometimes changing the meaning of a phrase completely.
Worst of all is that they replace my interesting words with bland clichéd ones.
Are the editors American? Maybe they are taught different punctuation rules in school?
That may also explain why they are unfamiliar with good old British words like 'Thwap!'
If a cock hits you in the face, it doesn't go 'TWANG' unless the character has had some kind of metallic implant.
I'm no mod, but I have disagreed with edits they've made from time to time, and they've been very good at listening to my arguments.
So, maybe try politely writing to the mod who edited it and begging your case. It's worked for me.
Remember, they work hard, and for free. And they are good at what they do.
Dig the nylons.
The verifiers are a variety of nationalities. There was even a Canadian on there at one time (might still be some but not that one). So, yeah, you might get someone who writes different from you making some changes. As Verbs says, drop them a note (the acceptance message comes from their address so you can just reply) and explain why you wrote it as you did and why you think it is write. Frankly, I've never had a problem with someone's editing of my stories. It's mostly just nitpicky things like missed Oxford commas, nothing major.
Well, I haven't ran into this issue lately, but it can depend on what mod you get. Some live in the US, but some in other continents too. Some don't like certain things, like odd words, or ways of saying things. I can tell you for the most part, the mods edit them the way they think the story will flow the best. I've even had a mods PM me as they had my submitted stories asking about things and if I'd like to change something before it gets on the front page. I haven't had any really change much, other than words some sentences to better illustrate the story. Make sure you thank your mod afterward, they don't get paid.
Hey there,
I'm the Mod who verified your first story. I took a good look at the edits I placed. I added some commas after introductory phrases, edited some dialogue punctuation to be consistent with our standards and corrected the odd verb that was in the wrong tense. In my opinion, these were necessary edits for the sake of grammatical correctness.
If you feel I've altered your story too much, I'll gladly go through my edits with you. Just let me know.
Cheers,
Henke
I have had issue with some of the edits on a couple of my stories. I replied to the acceptance letter and the matter was resolve to both our satisfaction. No muss, no fuss.
Thank you for all your replies, I wasn't trying to be rude... I had no idea the moderating editors were approachable.
I wouldn't like any volunteers to think I didn't appreciate their efforts.
Apologies if I came over as ungrateful.
As for other things, yes it may depend on the nationality of the moderator. We do try and take the stylistic intentions of authors into account and apply a light editorial touch for clarity only where necessary. And I try to leave dialogue alone unless it's a typo or badly punctuated. A random example:
"Fuck you want?"
vs
"What the fuck do you want?"
Thanks for your reply, most helpful.
Your example made me remember an Elmore Leonard book, a Mexican badass says "The fuck you lookin' at?" and it captured with one line the guy's personality.
Thank you for all your responses. You were all very helpful. It was never my intention to be rude to anyone by starting this thread.
Sadly, I have hit a brick wall at Lush, I shall have to remain only a reader here.
On the whole I find the system works well, however they can be a little frustrating at times.
Curious that this topic should appear. Usually an indication of a systemic problem. Several years ago I submitted a few stories here. They were under my copyright, of course. They had been published in other forums with outstanding reviews. All had gone through a vetting process. I still get emails from fans to this day which surprises me. The stories I wrote are not stories per se, but experiences from real life, just the way they happened and from my extremely good memory, lol. One, then a second, of these stories was submitted. I immediately ran into an "editor". I did not mind, not at all. Different publishers have different standards, not always consistent, even from one editor to another in the same forum. I worked with the Lush editor exchanging messages and making changes. One of the stories was published although I felt uneasy with the end result. With the second, as the editor made more changes, I realized that she was changing the substance of the story and it was not the same story that embodied my own style and what had made all my stories so popular. In addressing this to the most senior person I found my reasoning falling on deaf ears. At that point I realized, to put it frankly, Lush needed me much more than I needed them. I pulled my story from lush and went my own way. No yelling or screaming, lol. I look at an editor as someone who can help me make my experience/story better. Not change it into something that changes the original intent. I haven't been interested in publishing anything here since then. I see that nothing has really changed.
Every so often I go to the story sections and read one or two. Sorry to say this but the stories seem to have been written by the same person. A result in the editing process? To the aspiring authors out there, if you really want to write something that is "you", I can only advise you to be true to yourself, do not let someone change who you are. Find an editor that will make your own self "better". Not change you into someone your not.
Good luck.
Well, it's just my opinion, but the fact is: everyone's got an opinion, so no matter if the mods changed something or not, someone is not gonna like it. People can always find something to be unhappy with, whether it's a story here, food, some other content or whatever.
Like this person's opinion: 'I think although may not mean what you think it does. It's used many times, and never correctly. That one word totally ruined the story for me.' Well, their entitled to their opinion, but if they disagree with the meaning of that word and it ruins the story when it's used 7 times and it has 7,000+ words, then WTFE. Should the mod have taken some of those out, or all of them? It was her opinion, no.
Maybe, maybe not. As Liz said, they aren't editors and even I use one. Editors aren't perfect and neither are the mods. So, I admit the premise of having a mod look over the story before it makes it on the site does have a flaw when it comes to changing some stuff. So, I guess this is me kissing some ass, but maybe tell the mods your feelings and changed the story if you really need to that is.
Remember to be polite and respectful though, trust me I've learned that the hard way. Kee and DanielleX can tell you that. So, state your opinion and maybe at least if they look over another story in the future, they can be in your mind a little bit better. Remember: they change things how they think it will be better, and to thank them after they verify your work, they aren't getting paid to look over our stuff.
Thank you Kornslayer (two of my favourite bands) and Liz for sharing your thoughts, experience and knowledge.
When modding, I'll only correct any incorrect punctuation, correct an obviously misspelled word, or edit out something that breaks our rules. And never change anything that is dialogue. The writer may purposely be speaking in dialect or colloquialism or slang. If there are over a handful of small edits, I'll send it back to the author to correct or get rid of any rules violations.
I've never had any issue with my voice being diluted, or my odd turns of phrase being "corrected" — and I use a lot of them. I've had plenty of good communication with story mods when they felt something was unclear or caused a speed bump in the flow, though. I've had mods willing to pre-vet pieces that I was concerned might be dancing too close to content lines, and suggest tweaks to get them through the queue when they did stick a toe over the border with minimal impact to the overall story. Nothing but positive experiences with the verification process here.
