The Right Editor

There are quite a lot of articles on how authors can use editors, and how editors can help authors. They usually examine the proper use of language, the importance of continuity in a story, and some pitfalls that new writers of erotica (or any fiction, for that matter) need to avoid.

I'm lucky in that I've used an editor for years who is not only a personal friend, but a writer of erotica in her own right. (In fact, she's a better writer than I am, even though she needs to be reassured of that from time to time.) Not only does she do the things that an editor is supposed to do, like check my spelling and ask why a character I started out calling Maria is later referred to as Marie, but she adds another dimension to my writing based on her own perspective as a woman. She doesn't do it much, but when she does suggest a re-write, it's almost always because she caught something that I hadn't thought of.

I should point out that the kind of stuff I write isn't the usual porn I grew up with, where all a character had to do was show his ten-inch dick to a girl to entice her to bed and give her a thundering orgasm with a few seconds of his cocksmanship. I wanted to write plausible stories about real people having realistic sex, because that's what turns me on. And that's where Athalia has been a real help.

I don't know how many times she's returned a story with an annotation that a scene just "didn't work" for her. At first, it was usually one of my attempts to describe a female orgasm, or provide a motive for a female character's actions. I had come face to face with the writer's classic dilemma about "writing what you know" versus telling a story from multiple points of view. It's more than just lacking a set of ovaries, as she's pointed out to me. Being raised as a male, with certain expectations drummed into me and certain privileges granted to me, makes it hard to relate to that part of a population that has grown up with vastly different expectations and privileges. For example, it hadn't occured to me that a small-framed woman (as Athalia is) would be far more likely to be physically intimidated by an aggressive stranger than a large-framed woman or just about any normal man. She will not walk into a bar of strangers with the same mind-set I will. And I have given up trying to persuade her to visit a nude beach with me and my wife, since she still equates nakedness with vulnerability and her small size increases that feeling of vulnerability. At best, she will allow herself to be publicly nude only in woman-only situations, and she's uncomfortable even then.

I have to admit at this point that she doesn't write the sort of erotica that most women write. Rather then stick to the formulas of women's romance novels and short stories, she's striving for a more realistic portrayal of modern women in a society that raises its women to be more straightforward about sex and female physiology. (It's that common interest in realistic erotica that drew us together as writer/editor teams.) For one thing, she's mentioned how a woman's chance of getting pregnant directly influences her attitude toward sex. That's not a big factor for us guys, especially when the lust takes charge, but it makes all the difference in the world for many, if not most women. For another thing, she'll take into account whether a woman in her story is menstruating, and how that affects her attitude toward sex. That's a subject you never find in your bodice-rippers, and damned rare in erotica except as a fetish element, but Athalia feels that it's a part of any woman's life that shouldn't be glossed over. Women menstruate, they take it in stride, and they deal with it. It's no big thing.

If you check out her stories on the site, you'll see that her characters are more interested in the relationship than the sex. Her female characters are almost always the instigators of the sex, but are careful to sort out how others might react to it before they make the move. And she's explained to me how important these things should be to the female characters in my own stories.

I've edited her stories when she asked me to, and I've found it interesting that I seldom have to correct her on her portrayals of male attitudes and male orgasms. When I commented to her on that, she suggested that, during sex, women usually pay more attention to what their partners are going through than men do. I don't know if that's true in general, but it seems to be true for her. Aside from correcting grammatical errors and pointing out Britishisms that leak into her prose and spelling, about all I have to do is re-write her dialogue occasionally so that it falls more naturally on the ears.

It's been fascinating to work with her, and I recommend to any budding writer to find an editor that can not only fix your mistakes and polish your prose, but give you a perspective that you may be lacking. The pairing could be male/female, or young/old, or gay/straight, depending on the subject matter of your story; the important thing is that it guide you to an understanding of the world that widens your audience and your experience. It's certainly worked for me.

(Athalia adds: I can vouch for the fact that I've learned something from editing Jehoram's stories, as he has from editing mine, and I agree that a good editor can make the difference between a good story and a better one.

Jehoram doesn't mention that I'm an incest survivor, which has undoubtedly contributed to my fear of being nude in public places. I'm still working on that. Someday, perhaps, I'll be over it.

One more thing. Due to time constraints, I have not added my own name to the list of editors on the site. I do it mostly as a personal favor to a friend I've known for a long time. Once I've retired, I'll reconsider, but for the foreseeable future I'll have to stay with just the one client. So please don't ask for my services and force me to disappoint you, OK?)