Don Russell is a nationally known software developer and self-confessed “geek.” During a conversation with a friend regarding the cost of editing Don’s cerebral light bulb lit up and it’s been flashing ever since.
Don impressed us with his website,
AutomatedEditing.com, which we
reviewed in May of 2011. After many improvements, Don launched version 4.0 of the site and it is absolutely a joy to use. We really began to wonder, though, “Just what drives this man to constantly tinker with this editing website?” So, of course, we decided to ask!
WOW: Hello Don, welcome back to The Muffin! Automated Editing is constantly evolving—this must be time consuming. What drives you to constantly improve the website? Don: Because it will never be “finished.” The problem with the English language is, well, the English language. It is amazingly complex, and
totally inconsistent. It keeps evolving, and changing. So trying to write algorithms that can look at something so “squishy,” and still give valuable, valid advice is worse than herding cats. It never ends. Robyn, you once reminded me that Oscar Wilde spent a day inserting and deleting the same comma. Only a writer or an editor (or a senile algorithm creator) could see the wry, painful humor in that event.
Let me use the simple example of a period. We all know periods end sentences. Ah, I wish it were that simple. What if they are the end of an abbreviation, or part of a number, currency, or part of an ellipse? What if there is a following parenthesis or quotation? Are they part of an internet address? One of the most difficult things for our software is something that probably sounds easy—determining where a sentence was meant to end.
And what about certain words? “Friend” is a noun, right? Wrong! It can be a verb today (I just friended you on . . .”) or even, in
very tortured English, an adjective (My friended neighbor is the one who . . .” And it could also be a typo/misspelling of “fiend,” or a common salutation. Ugh.
The bottom line is that every time I run a new test document through the software, I find something new—an exception I never thought of, or an outright error.
Unlike a pro editor, around 20% of the time our software gets it totally wrong. That will never change, even as we improve and add to the software, because English is so squishy. (Just visit the forums at the CMS to see brilliant editors and writers arguing over how something should be done!) The only solution is to strap on the keyboard, brew a large pot of coffee, and get back to work.
WOW: How has usage of the software compared to what you expected when you started the project two years ago?Don: I was not even close on predicting why members most enjoyed the site. When I started this project, my goal was to help fellow starting authors and I thought the main (perhaps only) use would be by authors who could not yet afford to invest in a great pro editor, and needed a low-cost way to get to the point where investing thousands in pro editing would be a great decision. They could catch most of their major errors and style issues, and get their writing to the next level to prepare for contests, first submissions, etc. Soon they would get to the point where a pro editor would be a logical next investment in their writing.
Yet today, with 20-20 hindsight, I discovered that there was another usage that has proven to be much more important to many users. The number one use is by authors who want a 24/7, easy-going English
tutor to help rapidly improve their writing and style. The best example I can give is an author who told me “People keep telling me I have a run-on sentence problem. How can I change that?” Well, all she needed was a few passes with the software where all her run-on sentences were flagged, along with suggestions for improvement, before she made huge improvements in that part of her writing.
That’s the benefit of the instant feedback from the software. It takes only a few times being flagged for a dialog error before you tend to stop making that particular dialog error in new writing. Misuse “which” and “that”—and the software points it out for you, so you easily learn the proper usage. Your writing gets better and better!
So my original goal turned out to be the number two reason. Oh, and the number three reason never dawned on me back when I started—business people checking reports and emails before sending out a potentially “embarrassing” mistake!
WOW: I confess; I’ve used the software to improve my writing as well! About your software, how do algorithms help us edit our writing?Don: In a word—instant feedback! (Or maybe that’s two words!)
I cannot overstate how exciting it is when I get emails from members who find that their grammar, and therefore their writing, improves week after week as they use the software.
People forget that the reason we want good grammar and punctuation is not to please the editors and publishers—but to make sure the reader gets our message! Good editing makes your intent clear to the reader. I think those who have the creativity to write are also, almost by definition, good learners. The software instantly points out problem areas, explains why, and offers suggestions. Their writing gets clearer and more powerful as the grammar becomes easier.
One other insightful comment I received was a bit of a surprise, but made a great deal of sense the more I thought about it.
“The computer doesn’t judge or threaten. It just offers ideas late at night when I am looking at what I wrote. I can deal with that. It’s a lot easier than having my boyfriend point out every mistake he thinks I made.”I get encouragement every week from members of our site who find that the instant feedback on their writing continually improves them, and make them better writers. The stories start to jump out from the words. After all, it only takes a few times when the software points clauses that are confusing before they stop making that mistake!
WOW: This has been quite a journey for you. What have you learned about yourself or others along the way?Don: I am sad to say that one thing I have learned was a real surprise to me, and was very discouraging. In short, I find that more and more writers see very little value in proper grammar and punctuation, and their writing suffers as a result. I see this every day in e-books, blogs, and even major websites. They seem to believe that “. . . people should only look at the idea, not the grammar.”
Sadly, it is not as simple as that.
I think they miss the point about why editing is important. It is not just to live up to some silly rules set by ancient librarians somewhere!
It is that the sole purpose of editing is to make sure your message and story are clear to the reader. Bad grammar or punctuation (unless you are Ferlinghetti!) destroys even great writing when it loses the reader.
The best examples of this are run-on sentences and passive voice. Neither of these is automatically “bad grammar.” Often they are excellent and powerful ways to convey and image or story. But more often than not, run-on sentences are so messy that they lose the reader completely. And passive voice often runs the danger of making the object of the sentence unclear. Beyond these two examples, I would guess that a large portion of those who purchase books (I personally would guess more than two-thirds) find bad grammar to be so distracting that it would significantly detract from their enjoyment of the work.
And all that goes double for contest judges and publishing acquisition evaluators!The good news is that the best writers (in terms of creativity and stories) consistently have better grammar and punctuation. There seems to be a relationship between creative writing, and good grammar.
The best writers create an idea, and then precisely use the English language to get it across. That is what hooks the reader. You somehow stop looking at the words, and start to enter the author’s vision. Neat!WOW: You obviously love language as much as you love those algorithms! Thank you for visiting with us today, Don. We appreciate all the time you put in to help us polish our work. I'm sure writers will want to check out the new and improved AutomatedEditing.com.Interview by Robyn Chausse
My March sprint has started out strong. I’m well over the halfwaypoint today and it is only the 15th. (Got to love those months with31 days.) The point, however, is not toget complacent. I found out how much asudden sickness can put you behind. I’m starting up a small side business as aneditor for both short stories and novel length works. Keep in mind, my “aspiringauthors” program is still free and in effect. I am offering a discount foryoung writers, which I define as being under 19 years old. Here are the detailsthat I will also post permanently on my site.
Rate:$1.00/page (standard manuscript format, 12pt font, double spaced)
Specialrate for writers under 19: $0.75/page.
RecommendedGenres:
Fantasy(all kinds), Science Fiction, Historical Fiction
OtherGenres I’ll Accept:
Mystery,Horror, General/Literary
Genresto Avoid:
Romance,Erotica, Self-Help
Tosubmit, email me at [email protected].
When I request themanuscript please send it in .rtf, .doc, or .docx format. It should have a common 12 pt font such asArial or Times New Roman with 1 inch margins all around, and be double spaced.Manuscripts not formatted correctly may be sent back for reformatting. TimeFrame: The time frame is negotiable, depending on the length of the work. Please give me as much time as possiblebefore a deadline.
Stats:
Running Total: 136,221
Month to Date: 30.434
Yearly Percentage to Go: 77.2%
Writing Tip of the Week:<
What does a good editor do?
A good editor will not just point out errors; she explains them, providing you with an education to enable you to perform a stronger rewrite. For instance, if your manuscript includes point-of-view violations—a major reason for fiction rejection—she will offer a thorough explanation of the concept and provide easy-to-understand examples. A good editor will encourage you and compliment you on your strengths, but she will not hold back in showing you where you need improvement or are making repeated mistakes. She does not expect you to know all the book publishing rules for copyediting—that’s her job. But she does try to help you understand some basic underlying principles that you might need to learn in order to be a better writer. A good editor knows your book is your “baby” and that you have poured many hours into writing it, but her goal is to help you make that book the best it can be, and sometimes that requires you, the author, to make drastic changes. In other words, a good editor is “on your side” and wants to help, but she is mostly concerned with getting your book in the best shape possible.
Why do I need a book editor?
If you plan to submit your manuscript to traditional publishers, you should eliminate all possible errors in advance. Manuscript submissions may be rejected for the simplest of reasons. Likewise, you could be unknowingly committing major errors. You have only one opportunity to make a first impression with a publisher; a professional edit will maximize the impression you make.
If you plan to self-publish, you’ll want your printed book to compare favorably with traditionally published books, all of which are subjected to thorough edits; that’s what assures consistent quality from one book to the next. To maximize your self-publication experience, have your manuscript professionally edited and avoid potential embarrassment by correcting all errors prior to printing. Some self-publishing or POD companies include a full edit in their publishing package, but if you can show your book has already been professionally edited, they will usually waive that fee.
What can I expect from a book edit?
Most edits (excluding proofreads) include marking up your manuscript and giving suggestions on how to fix a sentence when needed. You’ll need to address all the marked items on each manuscript page, then address the major concerns in a comprehensive rewrite. This could involve considerable rewriting, depending upon the degree of the problem(s).
An edit alone will not impact your chances of publication. The quality of your rewrite incorporating the editorial advice will determine your level of success. An edit doesn’t excuse you from further work on your manuscript; in fact, the opposite is true. You’ll need to perform a thorough rewrite following an edit to vastly improve your manuscript. Still, there is no guarantee that if you follow your editor’s suggestions and have your book free of errors that it will sell. But you will have a better chance than if you did not have your book professionally edited.
Consider an edit a learning experience. If you’re unwilling to learn, save your money, but don’t expect to be published easily.What is the most important consideration in selecting a book editor?If you plan to submit your manuscript to traditional publishers and hope to avoid rejection, you need someone who has a publishing record and who has clients who have gone on, after using her editing services, to get contracts with agents and publishers. The Internet abounds with editors eager to attract your business, but the overwhelming majority have never actually worked in an editorial capacity for publishers or have written and sold books of their own. Punctuation and grammar are only two of many reasons for rejection. Without actual professional experience, an editor can
Choose your editor--and your editing "weapon"--carefully.
So, you want someone to edit your fiction? Do you really?
For most writers submitting their work to a publisher or agent, having several people to read over their manuscript seems enough. Besides, they are over the red marks bleeding over the manuscript pages. Their book is in good shape now. After all, they've spent years crafting your manuscript with care. They've workshopped it and re-written the awkward bits and pieces.
Workshops and having friends read your work is great. Often other writers and your readers and friends will find that you've changed the spelling of Margo to Margot halfway through the book. They can look at the big picture and let you know that you killed off the antagonist in the fourth chapter...and, uh, again, in the seventh chapter.
Sometimes, however, they won't or can't.
Frequently a friend can read something and mark a problematic area with a question mark, but is unable to explain why the section seems wrong.
Those may be enough of a reason to hire a manuscript editor or an editing service, but there are others as well.
You may have read of the importance for your manuscript to be styled properly. A manuscript editor working with a fiction or nonfiction work should be familiar with and know how to edit using The Chicago Manual of Style, which is a publishing industry standard.
Whenever I mention style, writers often get nervous. As a writer, I understand that. I like my own writing style. However, the style guides are created to impose a uniformity and consistency to manuscripts, not kill the writer's voice. Which numbers are written out? Which ones aren't? The style manuals are not to squash a writer's unique style, but to make sure a reader is not distracted by inconsistent styles that bring a reader out of the web of intrigue the writer has created.
Once I was hired to clean up a manuscript just for styling and grammar errors--including the persnickety two spaces after a period. The writer's friends had read her manuscript, she assured me, and they all thought it was fine. But as I read along, there were conflicts throughout the story regarding the point of view. Even though it wasn't what I was hired to work with, I noted each instance of these jarring shifts that had brought me out of the narrative.
Now, true, you'll also encounter an editor who doesn't catch every grammatical error and may leave a number or two inconsistent. That happens. And you'll run across editors who differ in opinions moving a word here or --> there. But an editor works to make your prose better. She's not your high school English teacher who left you nervous each time you turned in a paper. Working with an editor is a collaborative relationship; she wants your work to look good so you can go forth and publish, sharing your unique voice and story with the world.
Have you ever hired an editor for your work? Would you do so again? Why or why not?
Elizabeth King Humphrey is a writer and editor living in Wilmington, NC. Her piece "Running on Heart" is in the September 2011 issue of The Writer.
I love to write. Taking in the information from the world around me and transmuting it into what I hope is a cohesive structure that others can understand and relate to gives me a sense of purpose and connection. Once I feel that I am close to being finished though my enthusiasm takes a dive—it’s editing time. All the time spent reading and rereading the same document hoping I don’t miss a mistake and knowing that I probably will—it’s such a grind! If the editing process lands you slumped in despair banging your head with your mouse you need to check out AutomatedEditing.com.
After listening to an author’s frustrated ranting about the time and expense of editing a new book, Don Russell, a nationally known software developer, took up the call. Combining his talents with those of an author and a teacher Don created an ingenious, user-friendly site where writers and editors can cut their editing time by hours or even days!
I had the opportunity to try the Standard version of Don's software which allows up to 10,000 characters per document. It worked great! DARedit caught punctuation, grammar and even style issues (like low numbers being spelled out). I'm impressed. Below, I share with you how to use the software and what I've found along the way.
How It Works:
The magic lies in linguistic algorithms that evaluate sentences for what might be wrong. Simply paste a copy of your already spell-checked manuscript into the window provided. The DARedit Manuscript Editing System then matches the text against an already substantial and constantly expanding bank of knowledge and offers back an analysis.
Anything that says "cut and paste" sounds like something even I can handle, so I gave it a whirl. I fed it emails, .pdfs, text from Blogger, and Word .docs complete with embedded links and highlighting. Here is what the readout looks like:
The summary states character count, word count, sentence count and how many errors were found.
The detailed report shows errors in punctuation, improper word usage, participial phrasing, clauses of reason and more. Hard Errors are those known as problems 80% of the time; Flags are suspected errors that need a discriminating eye. Copy the analysis and save it in your own file. Knowing which areas to review and which ones are clean frees up time to devote to those processes of editing requiring human evaluation such as Point of View. Read more information on DARedit’s capabilities at the end of
this page.
What I Found:
DARedit will analyze the body of the text in emails but doesn’t like the email addresses, everything else went through just fine.
There is a slight discrepancy (l
I love to write. Taking in the information from the world around me and transmuting it into what I hope is a cohesive structure that others can understand and relate to gives me a sense of purpose and connection. Once I feel that I am close to being finished though my enthusiasm takes a dive—it’s editing time. All the time spent reading and rereading the same document hoping I don’t miss a mistake and knowing that I probably will—it’s such a grind! If the editing process lands you slumped in despair banging your head with your mouse you need to check out
AutomatedEditing.com.
After listening to an author’s frustrated ranting about the time and expense of editing a new book, Don Russell, a nationally known software developer, took up the call. Combining his talents with those of an author and a teacher Don created an ingenious, user-friendly site where writers and editors can cut their editing time by hours or even days!
I had the opportunity to try the Standard version of Don's software which allows up to 10,000 characters per document. It worked great! DARedit caught punctuation, grammar and even style issues (like low numbers being spelled out). I'm impressed. Below, I share with you how to use the software and what I've found along the way.
How It Works:
The magic lies in linguistic algorithms that evaluate sentences for what might be wrong. Simply paste a copy of your already spell-checked manuscript into the window provided. The DARedit Manuscript Editing System then matches the text against an already substantial and constantly expanding bank of knowledge and offers back an analysis.
Anything that says "cut and paste" sounds like something even I can handle, so I gave it a whirl. I fed it emails, .pdfs, text from
Blogger, and Word .docs complete with embedded links and highlighting. Here is what the readout looks like:
The summary states character count, word count, sentence count and how many errors were found.
The detailed report shows errors in punctuation, improper word usage
, participial phrasing, clauses of reason and more. Hard Errors are those known as problems 80% of the time; Flags are suspected errors that need a discriminating eye. Copy the analysis and save it in your own file. Knowing which areas to review and which ones are clean frees up time to devote to those processes of editing requiring human evaluation such as Point of View. Read more information on DARedit’s capabilities at the end of
this page.
What I Found:
DARedit will analyze the body of the text in ema
The Word Queen is better known as Keidi Keating, who lives in the Malaga province of Spain. She moved there from London in 2004 and has enjoyed life in the sun ever since.
Keidi trained as a journalist in 1999. After a stint as a local newspaper reporter in the UK, Keidi stepped up the career ladder and became a corporate communications writer for a range of high-profile companies/associations, such as Powergen, Visa, The Dixons Group, McVities and Defra (The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs).
Six years later, she moved to Spain and started The Sentinella, a magazine aimed at the expat population. The magazine tripled in pagination within just two years, so Keidi launched a business opportunity to help people start their own magazines across the globe.
Keidi’s first book, Sol Searching, A Fun Filled Tale of a Modern Girl’s Move to the Costa del Sol, was published in October 2009. Critics have compared it to Bridget Jones’s Diary. She is now completing her second book, The Path, which is a fiction fantasy with a paranormal twist aimed at young adults.
Keidi set up The Word Queen in 2009 to help fellow writers fulfill their dreams of getting their books written and published. She enjoys her role with a passion and receives a huge amount of positive feedback from her clients.
WOW: Keidi, it is so great to have you with us today. Congratulations on all your writing and editing success. Tell us more about your business, The Word Queen. What manuscript editing services do you offer as The Word Queen?
Keidi: I offer writers an edit of their manuscript, which involves amending grammatical errors and restructuring sentences. The other option is an edit and a full critique, in which I delve deeper into the manuscript to evaluate aspects such as theme, plot, characterization, sense of place, dialogue and all the ingredients of a book, which can transform it into a bestseller.
WOW: How much do you charge for these services?
Keidi: For editing, I charge $200 per 20,000 words. For an edit and critique, I charge $250 per 20,000 words. My payment terms are half up-front and the rest on completion.
WOW: In your opinion, why is it a good idea for a writer to use a professional to edit and critique her work?
Keidi: As writers, we tend to become very attached to our work. It’s not uncommon to procrastinate editing, as we feel a deep sense of unwillingness to delete the words, phrases, metaphors and dialogues to which we have grown to love, even though they may not serve the novel. A professional editor knows exactly what publishers and agents want to see and can mold the story into a desirable shape.
WOW: You are right--it is so hard to edit and critique our own work! What are three or four common mistakes you see in authors' manuscripts?
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Robyn and Don:
Great interview. I know that this type of program would help many of my writing friends, too. What I love about this interview is your message that the main reason we need to learn grammar and punctuation is to make our message clear. YES! YES! YES! I completely agree with this. Thanks for sharing your software and the hard work that goes into it.