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Feb-2-2009 11:27

Just a few questions:

1. How long does it take for a mystery to be picked up for editing? (Approx.)
2. How long does it take to edit a mystery? (Approx.)
3. What does it take to become an editor? (What do you have to know, what are the requirements?)

Just a few things I've been curios about. ;-)

Feb-2-2009 12:08

1. However long it takes to get to it on the pile, depending on how tall the pile is, and how much time, energy, willpower, and overall gettoitiveness the Editors have on any particular week. They usually check the pile every week or so.

2. Again, however long it takes to get to it on the pile (see above conditions ;-), and how long the actual mystery is. If it's an easy mystery with few errors, they can zip right through it. If the mystery's incomplete or illogical, again, easy peasie, cause it gets sent back to the author for a rewrite. If the thing's an encyclopedia (like some have been known to be ;-), it can take quite a while, but usually those are fairly straightforward. The most difficult are the ones that need to A. be pulled apart and rewritten because the author didn't do their storyline correctly; and B. be rewritten because the author didn't use correct spelling, grammar, punctuation (y'know, the stuff all us writing types keep harping on about ;-). Those can take quite a while. For the ones that are REALLLLLY needing help, the process can take months.

Postscript to #2--There's a secondary process to editing that the Editors have absolutely no control over which can take quite a while--Programming. If Ben's busy, again, the process of loading a mystery into the server and getting the story ready to go can take quite a while, and the lowly Editors have no control over this process. Talk to Admin.

3. What's it take to be an Editor....Hmmm. That is a toughie. Well, first off, you have to be Miss Missoula 1936 for at least one term. You hafta be able to drive a right-hand stick. Blindfolded. And you have to be able to make it through the Sleuthania's cargo hold, and have the denziens within actually LIKE you.

But I digress.

Basically, first and foremost, you have to have good writing skills. You also need to have a basic understanding behind the workings of Sleuth and all its locales

Feb-2-2009 12:13

(and have built up enough experience to be able to back that up). You'll notice that none of the current Editors (and most of the Mods) have less than 1 Million Exp. There's a reason for that. You also need to have been around long enough, and spent the time working at it, to build up a relationship in and with the Sleuth community. (All of the Editors and Mods have been well known and liked in their own time, even if they may be unfamiliar right now). And lastly, all staff (for lack of a better word) is picked by Ben, so he has last and final say.

Hope all that helps. ;-)

Breit

Feb-2-2009 14:21

Yeah what Breit said :) Although to change one teeny weeny part it's Sunny that deals with mods and editors.

To give a little idea of what happens. When a new SM is submitted if it's completely hopeless then it will be rejected fairly quickly with a note explaining what needs to be done.

Every so often anikka, squirrel and myself have a sit down and discuss the others. Sometimes an SM is not immediately recognisable as to how much work it actually needs, and bad spelling and grammer is a big one ;) These are again returned to the author with points on how to fix the mystery.

That narrows the pile down a bit more and makes it look a bit more manageable :) We then have the usual fight of who gets to edit which SM. Or in my case I'm not normally paying attention and get told which SM I'm editing lol.

You'll know when an editor has picked your mystery up because it will tell you, when it gets to that point as long as you're willing to help (even the best mysteries have things that need changing) then potentially it can be edited quite quickly. Of course this depends on how much time said editor has. Shockingly we have lives outside of Sleuth :) hard to believe right?

Once the editor is happy with the work it's submitted to Ben and if he likes it it gets uploaded and Voila :)

I hope that helps explain what we get up to a bit more :)

And Breit it's good to know that I was once Miss Misoula 1936 I must have missed the memo :D

Feb-2-2009 14:58

'35 for me. Talent segment got me over the line. All the practise I put in juggling my nuts and a couple of chainsaws really paid off...

There's no easy answer to the time thing. There's too many variables. How motivated am I? How temperamental is the author with changes to the SM? (Most people are pretty good though.) How much does the author hassle me? Usually I prefer to be hassled as it makes me sit down and finish it just to shut the hassler up :) SO sometimes it might take weeks and sometimes, well it can take months and months. I think we managed to get more than a few out last year, about 6 or 7. Which is a reasonably fair effort.

Feb-2-2009 16:36

'And lastly, all staff (for lack of a better word) is picked by Ben, so he has last and final say.'

So if I did a little dance for Ben would that help me become an editor? :D