OF PROOFREADING AND EDITS

Good morning

Today’s Daighacaer review is going to be a little different as I take a turn into some editing and proofreading.

I have, previously, given a manuscript to someone who purported to be an editor. I admit that I did not do a thorough enough investigation into his credentials and found that his form of editing was rude and dismissive with very little constructive editing. That put me off using an editor at all. However, I have had to admit to myself that I am too close to the story to see where different text  may enhance the story.

That said, I also wanted to find out whether other forms of editing may be worthwhile. Over the past two weeks, I have been using AI to do some proofreading and editing for me as an experiment on whether ‘outsourcing’ an editing and proofreading function to AI would be of any benefit. What I found is that, clearly and understandably, AI doesn’t understand nuance, sarcasm or playful interactions for what they are and, more often than not, removed any dialogue, scenery or characterisation which it either did not understand or ‘disliked’. My book of over 100,000 words was reduced to less than 23,000. I know that there are sections which may need to be streamlined but what I did not have in mind was changing my full-length book into a short novella with staccato dialogue.

 

Here is only one example of rather a drastic AI edit of the Patriarch tree from this:

“You are very welcome, young half-dra’en,” boomed the Patriarch in his deep, rich tones which vibrated the whole area around him. “You already know of the Heir-Prince’s encounter with The Lord Dayl. You know too that you are one of those on whom he will be depending.”

“I do,” said Jivdreg into the tree’s pause.

“Don’t take lightly that fact. You will be embarking on a life within terrible and unthinkable dangers for a little while. You will need all your wits and knowledge about you. Your mother has taught you well but now you will need to explore and expand that knowledge and your heritage so that you can do what you need to do. You were chosen for your unique abilities. Do not, under any circumstances, discount those.” 

To this:

“You’re welcome, young half-dra’en,” it rumbled, vibrations rippling. “You know of Eryen’s task with The Lord Dayl—and your role.”

“I do,” Jivdreg replied. “Don’t take it lightly. Dangers loom—unthinkable ones. Your mother’s teachings are a start; expand them. You’re chosen for unique gifts—don’t dismiss them.”

This type of stilted dialogue would completely put me off reading further. Perhaps it’s only me but I have to write what I will enjoy reading. More importantly, trees speak in slow and drawn out narrative as befits their age and station within Faeré. They would never rush. To me, this is an example of AI not understanding nuance.

It has been an interesting exercise, nevertheless, and I’ll be interested to see if there are any of the edits which I want to incorporate into the book. As for a human editor, I will have to consider that carefully before committing to anything.