Prereading, proofreading, and editing. Perhaps you've done some of these or had it done to one of your stories. These terms have been tossed around before, often interchangibly, but one doesn't exactly mean the same thing as another. True, there are similarities between the three, but there are vast differences as well. It'd probably be best for me right now to give a breif description of each, which will then be expanded on later.
Prereading is when someone is just a
prereader, meaning they read a story before anyone else, before it gets published to the masses. A prereader often gives the author tidbits of information, like what parts of a story they found interesting or just didn't like. But this information isn't necessarily helpful, and it doesn't have to nor should it be expected to.
Proofreading is when someone acts like a prereader, but they do more; instead of just reading they
proofread the story for errors within the text. Whether they be grammatical, technical, or just things for the author to consider, the comments a proofreader leaves are to help the fluidy of the text, making the story clean of errors and thus easier to read before being published.
Editing is when someone goes beyond proofreading, getting themselves inside the author's head to make sure there are no faults in the story itself, not just in the text. An
Editor is, in a sense, like a second author or more accurately a sub-author. Whatever an editor does often has profound influence on the story, anything from changing an ordering of events to even introducing and removing scenes or motifs. Of course everything is up to the author on whether or not any of that happens, and an editor does not do any writing themselves, nonetheless they make sure the author takes the story down its intended path and offers input for the greater good of the story being told.
I would like to go the record to say that I do not work for Equestria Daily, the Training Grounds, or whatever similar public service there is because I know I'll be bringing them up. All my proofreading and editing takes place privately within a close inner circle of friends. Nonetheless, it just about
always helps for an author to get another set of eyes on whatever they're writing, if not for the writer's sake but the story being written. Any help at all is something to be thankful for, and the fact that
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