I cannot stress more the importance of an editor to fellow black authors. I've been reading sample chapters from works that have reached the market, and the narratives are embarrassingly bad. Tense changes. Wrong use of words. 'Telling' over 'showing', most often in the form of a judgmental narrator. Grammatical errors sprinkled over narrative. And these are final, in print published works, not drafts. More so, these are actual mistakes, not clever authors inserting a form of experimental commentary or writing.
Professional manuscripts are edited over a period of months, possibly a year--3 to 4 times. With 3 to 4 editors overlooking the final process. Though often times there are errors missed (trust me, I speak from frustrated experience as an author and editor), an effort made is an error saved. Most errors are caught, few remain. But in the end, the author should always be presented as someone that has a grasp on the English language. Being an author, and just 'writing' are two different things. I'm pretty sure that most 'authors' out there within the contemporary setting, are people who write as a 'hobby', looking for an 'outlet' for their feelings. This, coupled with a lot of Print-On-Demand, and the Internet, make for shoddy writing and products. And the reading level of the audience has to be just as juvenile and oblivious to grammar as the so-called authors.
My work, by some contemporary black authors has been called 'fancy' or 'bougiee', and I take these as full blown compliments. I'm sure that these statements are a reaction to the challenge my writing presents, and how it points out that most of the black authorship (with the so-called Urban Fiction, Scarface knock-offs, or sexually frustrated author erotica) is on a very low-scale level of output, creativity, and YOU ARE HERE
Look, I don't profess to be perfect, but I strive to put out as close to a perfect product as possible. I try and do my best to make even my rough drafts show a command of my writing skills, so that the editors in my company understand what I'm trying to say even when I flub it.
