My sister Laura asked me to review her friend Jerry’s book. I read it, sent her back the review, and two days later received this from Jerry…
…If we can decide the scope of your editing, I will just share all of the files and we both can work simultaneously, even on the same file.
When I say “scope of editing”, I mean your level of involvement. With Vickie E., who didn’t have a sci-fi background, she was to fix the grammar only and look for story anomalies along the way. She couldn’t help with sci-fi specific anomalies.
I told her I wanted the manuscripts to sound like they were written, by some old fart living in Varemont, California.
Varemont, is a stereotype for most communities sitting on a mesa. I live in Clairemont Mesa, but there are dozens of mesa’s that fit the bill, even where Laura lives. This is very much a Southern California story. When you read the other manuscripts, you will see why.
Until we can talk, I am not sure of your motivation, in that I don’t know how much you wish to be involved, and what do you expect in return?
You have to realize manuscript I is 600 pages as it sits and in all, the trilogy spans at least 2,000 thousand pages. In my eyes it is epic!
Jerry
Wow, I had been signed up as an editor, and I had no idea!
I had no experience, no qualification, no expertise in fixing epic manuscripts (or any other kind!) What could I possibly contribute? What would my involvement require, considering time and commitment level? And what could I expect in return?
So, one at a time: What could I contribute? I could certainly help with Jerry’s grammar and sentence structure. I could also offer suggestions based on my extensive reading of science fiction.
Second, my involvement would require a tremendous level of effort, many hours of work, emotional stress, and analytical rigor. Not to mention the toll that creative dedication places on the soul. Or the heartrending price that Jerry’s illness would inflict upon me as I grew closer to him with our daily communications.
So. What did I want in return? Well, it seemed evident that no amount of money could compensate for this work. On the other hand, if I could contribute to a commercially viable solution, then compensation would be warranted. Plus, I would gain valuable experience as an editor and maybe even as a writer.
Jerry was obviously excited about collaborating. And I decided I really did want to get involved. What level of involvement? Well, given Jerry’s condition, I needed to be all in or nothing. So, I dove in head first. I must admit it seemed more like the Pacific Ocean than a Southern California swimming pool.
