It's a private job. And oh, dear God, this woman cannot write. She's an extremely nice woman; I wish that all of my clients were so nice. But she cannot write
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Ideally, I think that she should abandon the project, but I agree that it's unlikely that she'll do so.
I've been trying to help her fix it for a long time, but it's intensely time-consuming and I have other manuscripts that I have to work on. I've explained about the overwriting, the repetitiveness, the grammar and punctuation problems, and the need to research; she seems baffled by all of this. I've asked her detailed worldbuilding questions, because the world, as it stands, is inconsistent; i have yet to get a single answer. I strongly suspect that she thinks that all a crappy manuscript needs is a good editor who can "polish it up," and then everything will be fine.
Suggest that she take some classes in grammar and story structure, and maybe suggest a few good books in the genre for her to read (nothing Twilight-y, in other words).
Well, Fifty Shades IS Twilight-ish. So yeah, none of that. ;)
Yeah, I'd give her the advice and tell her you think you've helped her all you can and you need to move on. Suggest she look for another editor. While I hate to saddle someone else with the story, maybe if multiple people tell her the same things, she'll start to listen. :-/
Tell her she may want to join an online workshop to get some critiques and input before you do more work on it.
Although...we've had more than one of these at DII, and it frustrates the heck out of critters when they indicate what a problem is and suggest fixes...then are totally ignored. lol
Still, a critique workshop might save her money and your sanity.
I've been trying to help her fix it for a long time, but it's intensely time-consuming and I have other manuscripts that I have to work on. I've explained about the overwriting, the repetitiveness, the grammar and punctuation problems, and the need to research; she seems baffled by all of this. I've asked her detailed worldbuilding questions, because the world, as it stands, is inconsistent; i have yet to get a single answer. I strongly suspect that she thinks that all a crappy manuscript needs is a good editor who can "polish it up," and then everything will be fine.
Suggest that she take some classes in grammar and story structure, and maybe suggest a few good books in the genre for her to read (nothing Twilight-y, in other words).
Actually, here are some really good responses to some really poor writing, if you want to crib off their notes: http://dearauthor.com/features/first-page-features/first-page-unpublished-manuscript-fictionromance/
These sound like good suggestions. I'll try them. And DEFINITELY nothing Twilight-ish. Or Fifty Shades-ish, either.
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Yeah, I'd give her the advice and tell her you think you've helped her all you can and you need to move on. Suggest she look for another editor. While I hate to saddle someone else with the story, maybe if multiple people tell her the same things, she'll start to listen. :-/
Reply
Although...we've had more than one of these at DII, and it frustrates the heck out of critters when they indicate what a problem is and suggest fixes...then are totally ignored. lol
Still, a critique workshop might save her money and your sanity.
Reply
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