Dear Exalted Editors, Okay, so I've worked myself to the bone, keeping all of your suggestions in mind. It hasn't been easy, you know! I'm starting to get a little bummed thinking about all the work I still have left and how someday, an editor like one of you will tear my work to shreds. And now it's after the New Year, and I want to take a break from fretting over my writing and freshen my mind with some positive thoughts. I read a guest post by author Marvin Wilson over at Helen Ginger's Straight from Hel blog in which Marvin mentioned that an editor once said he had a "strong writing voice," and that she (the editor) "was looking forward to working with [him]." What are some of the nice things you've said to the authors you've edited, or that you've heard said? I'd like to know that there is some light at the end of the tunnel. And in return, I promise to kill my darlings! Signed, Seeking Encouragement Maryann Miller : Please ...

Dear Exalted Editors, So, the author-editor combination seems like a pretty good one. Now I'm wondering about a different type of author-editor connection. I know that when you editors get a look at my rough manuscript, you're going to have a whole lot to say. You will definitely come across some spelling that needs fixing. I know that I slip up from time to time - it took me years just to figure out which vowels went where in "calendar." (That's right, isn't it?) And, as mentioned in the formatting post, I'm not a whiz with grammar, so I might have made some mistakes there. I won't argue with that. But, I'm afraid of what will happen when you start digging deeper. What will I do when you start switching sentence order? When you're concerned about the motives of a particular character? When you want the character's hair to be blue instead of brown? I've written my story a certain way, and I'm kind of attached to it. I know I've ...

Dear Exalted Editors, I recently went to a science fiction literary convention, and I had the chance to mingle with established authors and emerging authors from all walks of life. It really drove home the fact that not all emerging authors are like me. Specifically, it made me think about the different experiences some of these writers were bringing to their writing careers. The author/editor combination is one that I'm seeing more and more frequently. In this case, either a published author decides to become an editor, or an editor decides to give publication a shot. I can see the benefits to both of these transformations. Authors who have worked for years on perfecting their own writing should have a fairly good eye for making corrections in other people's work. Editors who have slaved over manuscripts in various stages of polish should be ahead of the game when it comes to polishing their own. Have the author/editors here found this to be so? What other benefits are t...

Dear Exalted Editors, I've met a couple of editors in real life. They seem nice enough. And I spend a bunch of time online with editors. Not once have they given me anything to fear. However, when I start to picture my manuscript ending up on an editor's desk at a publishing house, my imagination runs away with me... I see an enormous dragon shimmering in the torchlight. Her purple and black scales glitter as she tilts her head from side to side, regarding the several large slush piles on her desk. She cackles and lets out a whip of fire from her jaws, engulfing several stacks of precious manuscripts in flames. Next, she picks a document from the pile and glances at it. "'It was a bright day in June...' Passive voice in the first sentence? You'd better give up your publication dreams, because you're hopeless. Mwahahaha!" With two chomps of her sharp teeth, the manuscript disappears. She turns the heap of paper over to a pack of interns and tell...

Dear Exalted Editors, Okay, I've got a new question for you. I've always loved to write, and I like to think I have an 'ear' for grammar. However, I zoned out during those grade school lessons where they made you learn all the complex technical terms. Passive past participles? Double split infinitives? I have no idea what I'm talking about, can you tell? This gets especially tricky when I'm participating in my critique groups. I'll say something like "you're using 'to be' verbs like 'was,' 'is,' and 'are' too much," or "you're using 'had' too much." I feel like I'd get more mileage if I could speak the language correctly. If you give me a basic grammar lesson, I promise I won't make paper airplanes or stare at the clock waiting for recess this time! Signed, Not Partial to Participles Lillie: I believe in keeping things simple and talk to clients the same way you talk to your cri...

Hello, my name is Emma Larkins and I'll be running a feature called Emerging Authors Want To Know! I'm just starting out on the path to publishdom (and, hopefully, to making a living as a professional writer someday) so you can imagine I have a lot of questions on my mind. Dear Exalted Editors, My first question is based on an event that heaped a whole lot of stress on me - my first story submission to a literary magazine. I had the usual worries about whether the editors would like the story or not, and whether there was anything I could have done to improve the flow or the character interactions. But the one thing that truly terrified me, that made my finger quake as I pressed the submit button, was this - what if I hadn't formatted my submission correctly? I'd like to hear it straight from the experienced editors here - how important is correct formatting? I already know that spelling and grammar mistakes can easily get a story thrown on the slush pile, but what abo...