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sure thing buddy sure thing 1. AMASSING CAPITAL - As with the vast majority of businesses, you're going to need some startup capital. Because the general profitability of English language visual novel translations is approximately 0, you will likely have a difficult time finding investors unless they have two or more health conditions that inhibit their brain function. You will most likely have to self-fund. Flip those cushions, ransack your old man's attic for some forgotten stock certificates, you know the deal. The bare minimum, I'd say, is somewhere around $50,000. NOTE that you can increase your (probably non-existent because VN) profit margins by performing a work role in the company, translating, editing, etc; instead of just being the translation sweatshop overseer. OK and PLEASE don't go into debt over such a pants-on-head business idea. Please don't. 2. ESTABLISH THE COMPANY - Search for how to establish a company in your jurisdiction, it should be the same for a localization business as most other businesses. Come up with some sick name and branding, get a fancy graphic artist to do some of it, maybe get an anime girl mascot since zoomers seem to love that shit these days. OK you have money to burn and company branding that hopefully doesn't look like a kindergarten art project, not bad let's get started down that slope that ends in 'we are, regrettably, going to be phasing out of visual novel publishing'. 3. ACQUIRE LICENSES - This is where my man Kokoro, my 4th favourite person on Fuwanovel, 's advice comes in. Haul ass over to Japan — you DO speak Japanese, right? Perhaps consider enlisting the services of a business consultant with experience in Japan so as to not make a fool of yourself and make use of their connections so you are not cold calling. Otherwise, cold call, flash your sick branding, and attempt to get a meeting with a representative one of the last vestiges of a dying industry. In a pinch, you could try virtual meetings, but in general it is better to have boots on the ground when performing international business. BONUS STEP - Wait for COVID-19 to settle down. BONUS BONUS STEP - Consider working with Chinese companies as well so you perhaps stand a chance at financial success. Practise drinking baijiu and sake before you leave in order to sharpen your abilities in shitfaced negotiation. 4. ACQUIRE STAFF - Assuming you made it this far by the grace of God, you will need staff members to work on the license you have acquired. A translator, an editor, and a QA (preferably a GOOD one they're important) is probably the bare minimum, along with the unfortunate bastard that will have to handle the technical side of things with the engine. Probably attempt to pay them around the sweet spot between 'this would be a decent wage in 1820' and 'this would be a decent wage in 2020'. You have to keep those expenses down but if the sweatshop workers take up arms then the game is all over, commissar. 5. WORK ON THE THING - Do the translating and the editing and the QA-ing. Try to stick to the deadlines you impose and share, that alone would probably set you apart. 6. ADVERTISE THE THING AND DO SOCIAL MEDIA THINGS - Again use that sick branding to form an online presence. Do it yourself if you are personable and responsible, otherwise find somebody else to do it. 7. SELL THE THING - Contact storefronts, the classics, Steam, JAST USA, all that great stuff we know and love, get it listed places where people can buy it, maybe start your own web store if your web design person lives in an economically depressed region. 8. GO BANKRUPT - Ok nah just kidding but probably. Then you just repeat from 3, possibly skipping 4 if you are a benevolent overlord. Best of luck to you!

You go to a japanese drink party and meet the CEO of an eroge company.

A list of visual novels/games with harem ending that have a complete English version Update: + HaremKingdom + As of June 2021, I will no longer include short nukiges in this list Tags: F Foxgirl, Catgirl, Doggirl, ... L Loli HB Huge Breast T Tentaporn, Slimeporn NS No Sexual Content S Single Ending N Nukige R Rape I Incest D Other Dark Sexual Content 3S Partial Harem X Full Harem Ending Types: Game This game has an actual harem ending Game This game doesn't have an actual harem ending (usually a bang 'em all game) Game Unknown ending (I haven't found enough information) Recommendation: My favorite game Well-known game, recommended by community VISUAL NOVEL Adrift vndb NS X Aisu Paradise vndb X Aristocunts vndb HB S N R D X Amairo Chocolate vndb Amorous Professor Cherry vndb guide N 3S X Analistica Academy vndb Analogue: A Hate Story vndb guide NS X Angel, Devil, Elf and Me! vndb S N X Army Gals vndb guide X Ayakashibito vndb guide R 3S Battle Girls vndb guide X Beach Bounce vndb guide 3S Beach Vacation vndb I X Beauty Bounce vndb guide 3S X OPPAI Academy: Big, Bouncy, Booby Babes! vndb Bionic Heart vndb guide NS X Breeding Village vndb HB S N X Cara the Bloodlord vndb T N R D X Cat Girl Alliance vndb guide F L N R X Catgirl & Doggirl Cafe vndb F S N X Chichi Miko!! vndb guide L HB N I X Commander Babes vndb S N X Come See Me Tonight vndb guide L N I X Come See Me Tonight 2 vndb guide L N I X Cosplay Fetish Academy vndb guide N I X Customer Cums First! vndb HB S N X Deviant Dungeon vndb HB S N R D X Devil in the Details vndb guide Divine Slice of Life vndb guide 3S X Doki Doki Youth Soutsu vndb Dreams of Desire vndb Drinks With Abbey vndb Drusilla Dreams vndb Dumb vndb Everlasting Summer vndb guide X Edelweiss (Fan Disc) vndb X Elf Breeding Farm vndb HB S N R D X Endless Jade Sea -Midori no Umi- vndb guide L 3S Euphoria vndb guide L R I D X Fantasy Tavern Sextet (1 & 2 & 3) vndb vndb vndb Fate/Stay Night vndb guide 3S Funbag Fantasy vndb guide HB T X Funbag Fantasy 2 vndb guide HB 3S X Funbag Fantasy 3if vndb Funbag Fantasy : Sideboob Story vndb guide HB 3S X Funbag Fantasy : Sideboob Story 2 vndb HB X Gibo vndb guide N R I D 3S Hara Chuchu!! ~Kameba Ano Ko mo H na Tenshi~ vndb guide L N I X Hara Kano!! ~Ano Ko To Lovelove Harabote Seikatsu~ vndb guide L N I X Hara Miko Shimai vndb guide N X Hara Para vndb guide L N I X Harem Game vndb Harem Hunter: Sex-ray Version vndb HaremKingdom vndb Harem Party vndb L S N I D X Hazard: Magical Girdle vndb Hikari! Clover Rescue vndb S N X Hikari! Love Potion vndb T S N X Hot & Steamy Knights vndb HB S N R D X How to Raise a Wolf Girl vndb F S X Hypno-training My Mother and Sister vndb If My Heart Had Wings vndb guide L 3S Iinazuke wa Imouto-sama! vndb N I X I'm Gonna Nurse You! vndb guide N X I'm Gonna Nurse You! 2 vndb guide N X Idols Galore! vndb guide N R X Immoral Study Scenario 3: Asakura Manami vndb Imouto Paradise! (1 & 2 & 3) vndb vndb vndb guide guide guide L N I X Insexual Awakening vndb HB N I X Invisible Cock vndb Ishika & Honori vndb guide F L NS X Jewel Knights vndb guide L N R X Karakara (1 & 2) vndb vndb F S X Kagetsu Tooya vndb guide L 3S Koisuru Natsu no Last Resort vndb guide 3S Lady in Blue patreon Lamunation vndb L I 3S X Lancaster Boarding House vndb Leap of Love itch Let's Meow Meow! vndb guide F N X Libra of The Vampire Princess vndb guide F 3S X Life with Pleasure patreon Little My Maid vndb guide LOVE³ -Love Cube- vndb S X Lust of the Apartment Wives vndb N D X Maid Mansion itch Maitetsu vndb L S X Magical MILFS vndb HB S N R D X Maman Kyoushitsu ~Mirai no H na Obenkyou~ vndb Masquerade Hypnosis dlsite Master of the Harem Guild vndb HB S N R D X Monster Girl Breeder vndb Morning Lust vndb HB N I X Mother Daughter Pleasure Pet vndb HB S N R I D X My Girlfriend vndb guide My Girlfriend's Amnesia vndb N R D X My Girlfriend is the President (Fan Disc) vndb S X My Girlfriend Gets Aroused Watching Me Have Sex With Another Girl vndb guide N 3S X My Legacy vndb R I D X My sex slave is a classmate vndb guide N R D 3S X My Sister, My Roommate vndb NekoMiko vndb guide F X Nekonin Exheart (1 & 2 & 3) vndb vndb vndb F S X Nekopara (1 & 2 & 3 & 4) vndb vndb vndb vndb F L S X Nyan Café Macchiato ~Sexy Times at the Cat Café~ vndb Nympho Monster Domination vndb HB S N R D X Nympho Waifu++ vndb Oakwood Academy of Spells and Sorcery vndb guide 3S OctoberWEEN Special 2017 vndb L N X Onii Kiss: Onii-chan, Where's My Kiss? vndb L I X Oppai Cafe. My mother, my sister and Me vndb S I X Otaku's Fantasy vndb HB S N X Pick Me, Honey! vndb guide N X Paradise Heights vndb N X Prison Battleship vndb guide Prison Battleship 2 vndb Prison Battleship 3 vndb guide N R D X Rebel Spirit itch Santa Girls vndb guide X Sakura Agent vndb T S X Sakura Angels vndb guide NS X Sakura Apprentice vndb T S N X Sakura Beach (1 & 2) vndb vndb guide guide NS X Sakura Christmas Party vndb S N X Sakura Santa vndb guide NS X Sakura Shrine Girls vndb guide F NS X Sakura Swim Club vndb S X Sakura Nova vndb guide T X Sansha Mendan ~Rensa Suru Chijoku Choukyou no Gakuen~ vndb guide N R I D 3S X Sandwiched by my wife and her sister vndb guide N X School Days vndb guide L R I D 3S Secret Wives's Club vndb guide N D X Sexy Demon Transformation vndb T N R D 3S SSSS: Super Secret Sexy Spy vndb Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo vndb guide X Shera, My Witch vndb guide N R X Shiny Days vndb guide L R I 3S X Shion - Cruel Magical Angel vndb guide HB T N R D X Shoujo Dominance - My Precious Reina - vndb Sisterly Lust vndb Slave Pageant vndb guide N R D X Slobbish Dragon Princess vndb Snow Daze: The Music of Winter vndb guide N I X Steamy Sextet vndb F S N R X Suck my dick or die! vndb guide N R D X Summer Fling vndb guide X Summer Sisters ~Midsummer Secret with Childhood Friends~ vndb S N X Sunny Shine Funland! vndb Sweet Home - My Sexy Roommates vndb Sweet ☆ Switch vndb The Angel Inn vndb X The Eden of Grisaia vndb X The Interview: You Know What You've Got to Do to Get the Job vndb The Sagara Family vndb guide L N R D 3S X The Visit patreon Throb! The Greatest Inventions of the Sexy Era! ~Second Science Club–A Secret Society of Love, Rage, and Sorrow~ vndb L N R D X To Heart 2 vndb guide 3S To Love-Ru: Trial Trouble vndb Touma Kojirou's Detective File -Murder at the Opera House- vndb Triangle vndb Tsuki vndb Tsukihime vndb guide Twists of My Life vndb Wabisabi vndb F L S X Wanko of Marriage vndb WanNyan ☆ a la mode! ~Which Girl Will You Choose? An Erotic Cat & Dog Cafe Experience!~ vndb We Love Master! vndb guide L N I X Welcome to Pussy Paradise vndb What's Mine Is Yours (1 & 2 & 3) f95zone Wild Romance vndb F L S N X Zeliria Sanctuary vndb guide F X GAME A Zombie's Life Amayui Caster Meister vndb Apostle steam HB X Blacksouls dlsite L R X Blacksouls 2 dlsite L R X Boob Wars: Big Boobs vs Flat Chests vndb N R X Bunny Black vndb L T S R X Bunny Black 2 vndb L T S R X Cornelica, Town of Succubi dlsite R X Criminal Girls: Invite Only steam NS X Cum on! Bukkake Ranch! vndb L T R X Custom Order Maid vndb D X Daibanchu: Big Bang Age vndb L T R D 3S Demonic Nation Florehades dlsite F L S R X Disaster Dragon x Girls from Different Worlds steam Double Elf Fantasy vndb S X Duel Savior Justice vndb T X Dungeon of Lulu Farea steam F L S R X Eiyuu Senki vndb steam F L T S X Eiyuu Senki GOLD vndb Evenicle vndb L S R D X Fall in Labyrinth steam False Myth dlsite Frontier of Sister Indulgence dlsite L S X Goddess Complex (I - V) itch NS S X Gran Ende II dlsite L S X Harem Fantasy dlsite Harem Island patreon Harem Mate vndb Harem Villa patreon Harlem Blade vndb Harlem Blade II vndb Hero and Daughter+ steam F L NS S X Holy Road steam R D X Hot Spring Hero dlsite I'll break into the office of DLsite's distribution system, and have my way with all their mascot characters!!! vndb S N R D X Introducing An Apprentice Incubus dlsite Island Saga steam HB T X Just Deserts vndb steam NS X Kamidori Alchemy Meister vndb F L T 3S Kami no Rhapsody vndb F 3S Kichikuou Rance vndb Koihime Musou vndb L 3S X Lab Rats patreon Leane of Legitimate Crown dlsite Legend of Mercy vndb steam NS S X Littlewitch Romanesque vndb F L X Love Esquire vndb steam X Love Rebellion itch S I X Lust Epidemic itch Marunomi vndb Minna Daisuki Kozukuri Banchou vndb Monster Girl Club Bifrost steam F X MY]R dlsite My Territory – Was Witches Island dlsite Nano Control itch Ouroboros itch T S X Overwhored itch Parascientific Escape vndb Pervert Action Legacy blog Princess Harem dlsite Princess Waltz vndb L X Purino Party steam L S X Rance 1+2 vndb Rance 5D vndb Rance 6 vndb Rance Quest vndb RoboLife - Days with Aino vndb School of Lust vndb Sengoku NEET steam Sengoku Rance vndb T R D X Sextastic Tales of the Sacred Sword Hero dlsite F L HB S N R D X Sexual Violation x Tower Defense dlsite Shag the Hag itch Sister Travel steam L X Space Paws itch Star Girls vndb steam F NS X Straight Through the Maze dlsite F L HB S N X Strive for Power itch Succubus Affection steam Succumate steam Summer Memories vndb Suzukuri Dungeon: Karin in the Mountain vndb Tale of Wuxia steam NS 3S Tears to Tiara vndb L S X Terminus Reach blog The Bunker 69 steam The Legend of Arcadieu vndb The Little Brave dlsite The Spirit Master of Retarnia vndb T R D X Tyrant Quest patreon Venus Blood FRONTIER International vndb F T R D 3S X Venus Blood -Chimera- vndb F T R D X Ultimate☆Boob Wars!! ~Big Breasts vs Flat Chests~ vndb F L N R I X Utawarerumono vndb F S X Village of Adventurers 2 vndb X Way" [The Priestess of the Swords] dlsite Wish: Israfil Saga steam Wizard's Climber vndb Words Worth vndb IN-DEVELOPMENT !!! WARNING : THESE ARE GAMES WITH POTENTIAL HAREM ENDING (I played the majority of them, or at least a harem ending is mentioned by the developer or player) A.O.A Academy patreon A House in The Rift patreon Adventure High itch Aftermath f95zone Alison Fall of the Apple patreon Android LIFE itch Apocalypse patreon Astral Lust patreon Aurelia itch Bad Memories itch BizzareHolyLand itch Champion of Realms itch Complex Society itch Corrupted Kingdom patreon Corruption patreon Dark Magic itch Depravity itch Deviant Anomalies patreon Devilish Business patreon Ecchi Sensei itch Elfheim patreon F.I.L.F patreon Game of Whores patreon Grolokk patreon Hail Dicktator patreon Harem patreon Harem Collector itch Haremon itch Harem Highlander itch Harem Hotel itch Hero's Harem Guild itch House Chores itch HS Tutor blog Hypnosis itch Innocent Witches itch Knockout Master itch Lessons in Love itch Life Changing Choices itch Love & Sex: Second Base itch Love of Magic patreon Lord King itch Lucky Paradox itch Luke's Way patreon Lunars Chosen itch Max's Life patreon MIST patreon Monster Girl 1000 patreon Monster Girl Kingdom itch Murmur itch My New Family itch My New Neighbors patreon My Real Desire itch Mythic Manor itch Neko Paradise itch Once In A Lifetime itch Oppai Odyssey itch Out of Touch itch Parallel Adventures itch Peasant's Quest patreon Polarity itch Price for Freedom: Avarice itch Prince of Suburbia itch Princess & Conquest itch Quest Failed itch Radiant itch Randel Tales itch Ravager itch Renryuu: Ascension itch Reunion patreon Ripples itch Scarlet Law itch School of Love: Clubs! itch Seducing the Devil patreon Serenity patreon Solvalley School blog Summer of Love patreon Summertime Saga patreon Tales From The Unending Void itch Tales of Unity itch The Anomalous Dr Vibes patreon The Awakening itch The DeLuca Family itch The Fate of Irnia itch The Headmaster itch The Last Sovereign itch Threads of Destiny itch Timeless Island itch Town of Passion itch Treasure of Nadia itch Twisted World itch Unlimited Pleasure itch V.I.R.T.U.E.S. itch Waifu Academy patreon Wartribe Academy itch What A Legend! itch Winds of Destiny itch World After War itch WVM patreon Zombie's Retreat itch [Unknown]: Games from King Key, Siluman Soft

Even with all those hilarious sarcasms, this is the best answer I have got. Domo arigatou

I saw your recommendations last time and I greatly appreciate them. However, this particular one seemed to have a style such that I decided to leave it be. That said, given what you are describing now I simply cannot ignore it, I see. Not a fan of dark stuff, generally, but I'll see what I think of it.

I've been playing more of Ebon Light and seeing such a high-quality free/PWYW game is really a delight. The main story is the same throughout your playthrough but the branching is really unique and provides a lot of replay value. For one thing, your MC has stats which help define or shape her personality and there's a variety of choices you can make to increase/decrease these stats which impact the storyline. The painterly style is beautiful and provides a unique aesthetic for this dark fantasy game which also has a lot of interesting lore accessible from an in-game glossary. There's also MC customization available so you can change the MC's hair style/color, eye color, skin tone, and even clothes later on. However, what I love the most about this is that your personality doesn't impact whether your love interest stays with you or not. I mean, you can play a sweet, kind main character or a ruthless, cunning one and still get a happy ending. The story involves a young woman who drinks something she shouldn't have (which kinda gives her abilities) and gets taken to an island full of elves with a militaristic society. From there, she can choose if she just wants to survive or seek power- although, power may be the key to her survival. It's quite choice-heavy so again, a lot of branches. Also there are emo elf LIs. Each playthrough is fairly short- maybe four hours, but the branching makes it so that things don't get stale. In any case, I have been following the development of this game for years and the end product is everything I wanted and then some. It has garnered quite a few fans in the otome game community and I really want to share it with everyone. Seriously, please check this game out. You don't really even have to romance anyone to get a happy ending. It's a good plot-focused VN with romance and emo elves I happen to love. Ebon Light is a very unique game and one of the best VNs I've played. And did I mention it's free/PWYW?

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Recently I have trouble either reading VNs or translating (I'm awfully sleepy most of the time, probably due to the weather changes and the fact that now my job starts on 6 instead of 7, so I have to get up at 4:40), but I'm still going little by little. Today I finished Chapter 10 (New Year onsen trip), reaching 82% mark.

Ambiguity is a fascinating element of language, one an editor both struggles with and celebrates regularly. On the celebration side of things, ambiguity is an essential tool in the setup of a lot of short jokes, for one. As an example, an ambiguous statement leads to a misunderstanding, and in a VN said misunderstanding usually leads to an accidental love confession, resulting in the unfortunate victim stammering outrageously while blushing like a sunset. How cute. Ambiguity can also be a powerful tool in foreshadowing, since it allows a single statement to be interpreted in two ways, of which one can be applicable to the immediate present, thus making it a perfectly reasonable line to have in the present, and the other only meaningful when considering future events, usually causing the reader to look back and say, "Ahh-hah, now I see what it really meant." Ambiguity is also absolutely essential in writing clever blog post titles. But on the struggling side, ambiguity is often an enemy getting in the way of your reader enjoying your text. As you read, your brain furiously analyzes words as they come in, building up and tearing down many possible syntactical structures for the sentence and many possible semantic interpretations of the various words and phrases, before eventually trimming this all down to a single interpretation of the sentence, typically over the course of a tiny fraction of a second. However, there are many stumbling blocks which can lengthen this process or thwart it entirely, notably including actual errors (misspellings, dropped words, incorrect grammar, etc.,), which is probably the chief reason why such errors are so frowned-upon in typical writing. Slowing down the reader's understanding, or preventing it entirely, is generally not the author's goal, assuming said author is not James Joyce. Setting aside actual errors, ambiguity is one of the main impediments to a reader's understanding. Since one of a VN editor's chief goals is to ensure a script flows well for a reader, eliminating unintentional ambiguity is an important sub-goal. Even outside of intentional usage like in the cases mentioned in the first paragraph, ambiguity in English is still incredibly common, with small ambiguities cropping up constantly while reading essentially any text. Let's take a look at an example of a super-small ambiguity which slows down the reader just a tiny bit, a sentence containing my least favorite word: Looks fine, right? As a whole the sentence is totally unambiguous. But while you're reading it, you're going to run into "that", and "that"'s a problem. "That" is an incredibly flexible word in the English language: it's a pronoun, a determiner, an adverb, and a relative pronoun. It's actually even more flexible in British English, where it can act as a subordinating conjunction, and even though most VN translations are written in American English, the lines there are pretty fuzzy, and it wouldn't be surprising or confusing to see a sentence like "He asked that she go" in a VN. Now, in the sentence above, "that" is being used as a relative pronoun, but the prefix of this sentence, "I told you that" is also a perfectly well-formed English sentence in which it's instead being used as a pronoun, and if your brain follows such an interpretation immediately as you read the sentence, it'll take it a few extra milliseconds for your brain to unwedge itself, reorganize into treating "that" as a relative pronoun, and continue on forming the correct interpretation. All right, doesn't sound like a big deal, does it? You're right. This particular, single instance isn't. But they add up, and you can do better, so you might as well. To put it in super technical jargon I didn't know until I was writing up this post, English has a so-called "zero relative pronoun" which can be used in place of relative pronouns like "that" which are introducing restrictive relative clauses. To give an example, since the previous jargon is so technical as to be basically useless, instead of the above sentence, you can just drop "that" and write: Now, look, I'm not saying this makes a huge difference, but doesn't this version feel a tiny bit better when you read it? Eliminating usage of overly-flexible words like "that" is a good way to reduce some ambiguity, but keep in mind this is a single example of a specific case. It just happened to be the one which prompted this blog post. However, I assure you, if you start reading your work with a careful eye out for the clarity of each line, you'll find tons of small, unintentional ambiguities popping out at you which you want to correct. Training yourself to look for them and to clean them up is one part of helping your text flow better. I guess that's that. I hope you got something out of that, and I ask that, if you have questions, comments, or problems regarding this or "that", you leave a note below to that effect.

My blog posts so far have mostly been about how to edit. That holds true for most every other VN editing blog I've ever seen as well. But I'm a really big believer in approaching any significant task from a "Why, What, How" perspective. So now, let's try to answer those first two questions. Even "What Is Editing" would be starting in too far (it made for a better title, so sue me). Let's start with this: why do translation projects, or even original fiction projects like novels, have editors? The goal of editing is to help the author achieve their goals. An author brings a whole lot of goals to the table: a story, characters with personalities and motivations, a setting, overarching motifs, style, ... probably a lot of other stuff I forgot. Anyway, you get the idea; there's a lot there which they're just trying to get out on paper (or bits, or whatever) and then into your brain. An editor doesn't bring any of that stuff. An editor instead strives to understand all of these things the author wants to communicate, finds the points where they can be better achieved, and refines the text to better achieve the author's goals. Although there's obviously some overlap, there are quite different skill sets involved in the raw writing and the editing, and thus the two roles are often fulfilled by two people. How about for a translated VN, rather than for, say, writing a novel? The story is roughly the same, actually. Although the translator has essentially the same goals as the editor in this case, the skill sets required are quite different, and thus differentiating the two roles is not uncommon and frequently beneficial to the project, for the same reasons as it is with original writing and editing. I'll also add that an original writer is usually considered "too close" to the original text to make a good editor. Even a writer who is also a great editor will benefit from having someone else edit their manuscript. I haven't heard the same thing said of translators, though, so that might not be relevant to this special case. But the skill set differentiation point still stands in the case of translation. Assuming you're satisfied with that explanation for Why, let's move on to What. Professional manuscript editing typically distinguishes four kinds of editing: developmental editing, line editing, copy editing, and proofreading. Those are ordered based on both the scope of changes they make, and also the chronological order in which you should do them: developmental editing is very macroscopic and happens first, while proofreading is very microscopic and happens last. Let's drill into each: Developmental Editing Developmental editing is, first, the act of identifying all of those authorial goals I mentioned, and second the act of cutting, rearranging, and adding large chunks (think: add this whole new scene, cut that whole character) in order to advance the author's goals. Obviously, that second half isn't applicable to VN translation. You're not going to cut whole scenes or change how characters behave. Those decisions have already long since been made by the original writers, hopefully with the help of an editor of their own ;). But the first half is essential, and is quite a bit harder in VN translation, since you generally can't actually talk to the writer. Read it all, understand the authorial goals, and build a strong, consistent interpretation of the plot, the characters, the motifs, the setting, the tone, everything you can think of. If you don't form an interpretation while translating/editing, you're liable to thwart the author's goals as part of your translation, and as a result accidentally obscure or entirely lose key points of the original intent. Of course, you'll occasionally make mistakes in your interpretation, resulting in mistakes in translation. But if you don't even form an interpretation, the result will actually be worse: you'll still make mistakes in the translation, and the resulting translation will certainly be internally inconsistent, but you won't notice those internal inconsistencies because you have no guiding interpretation. If you form a consistent interpretation and let it guide your translation, when the text goes against your interpretation, the resulting inconsistency means you'll notice it, correct your interpretation, and then go back and modify your translation to fit the corrected interpretation. Line Editing Line editing is about assessing and fixing the flow of a scene and the flow of a line. It's about logic, language, word choice, rhythm, the mechanics of a sentence, and the sound of human speech. It is not concerned with grammatical errors, punctuation, and spelling, but more with higher-level ideas like tone, emotion, and atmosphere. A line editor worries whether a sentence ought to be punchy or loquacious, not whether it has all the commas in all the right places. "Logic" probably seemed a bit out of place there, so let me give an example for that one in particular, since it's essential. For example, unless you're editing the VN equivalent of a Beckett play (and if you are, please point me to that VN, because I'm interested), one dialog line should generally be a logical response to the previous one. A canny line editor will ensure the logical flow from event to event, line to line, and even scene to scene, ensuring consistency of the narration. This is also where all that authorial intent mentioned above comes into play: an editor in this capacity should also be ensuring consistency of a line with those overarching goals. A good line editor will help ensure that characterization is consistent, for instance, or that a motif is not buried inappropriately. An editor, in their avatar as the keeper of consistency, is crucial to achieving those authorial goals. The prose side of line editing is also key simply because stilted speech, unnatural utterances, redundant repetition, awkward alliteration, and their ilk all kick you out of the immersion. Your brain wants to keep reading something when it flows well. And nothing hits softer than shitty prose. Line editing is the meat of VN editing. It's what most existing VN editing blogs are about, not coincidentally. If you're an editor for a VN, line editing is what you should be thinking about constantly. In addition to recommending other VN editing blogs, notably Darbury's blog (mostly about line editing, though all the punctuation ones are more about copy editing) and Moogy's now-ancient blog post (basically all about line editing), I'll also suggest you go read up on line editing in a general setting. A quick search for "what is line editing" will lead you to mountains of useful links. As a random example, this is one such useful link, and it's hilarious, well-written, and edifying: http://www.thereviewreview.net/publishing-tips/short-course-line-editing. There is a veritable sea of such articles on the internet. Read them. Copy Editing Copy editing is about the nuts and bolts of grammar, punctuation, and spelling. It's not the same as proofreading, but it's getting close. The copy editor typically should select and enforce an appropriate style manual (AP, Chicago, MLA, take your pick). The copy editor is the person who gets mad when you write "I baked 7 blackbirds into that pie." instead of "I baked seven blackbirds into that pie.", and who calmly, patiently replaces all your misused hyphens in the middle of sentences with em-dashes. You're unlikely to have a dedicated copy editor on a VN project; if you've got the "editor" role, you're probably it. I think this is along the lines of what most people think of already when they hear "editing" anyway, but really the line editing is the most important to the enjoyment of the text. Still, the picky people among us can get awfully uppity if you start putting in stuff like ellipses with four dots and inconsistent use of the Oxford comma (sidebar for the attentive: I'm for it, as you've already noticed). Copy editing is a particularly thankless job, since it's not like you can do an exceptional job of copy editing and really salvage a bad manuscript, but poor copy editing can certainly hurt an otherwise-good manuscript. So it's worth investing the time in doing it carefully. One important recommendation for copy editing: take notes and build up a style document and glossary for your VN as you go. Are honorifics being used? What about name order? If you're going to romanize some words, is your romanization consistent? Do you 1) always write "senpai", 2) always write "sempai", or 3) mix and match? I don't care if it's 1 or 2, but it better not be 3. Write conventions like this in a shared document and make sure everybody knows about the conventions and the document. Proofreading Proofreading is the final stage of this pipeline. The role includes checking for grammatical errors, spelling errors, punctuation errors, typos, and perhaps some more exotic things like incorrect English dialect. It's straightforward and mechanical. Like copy editing, it is essentially thankless. It is, nonetheless, important. While you're making big sweeping edits doing all the stuff above, you're going to create tons of errors at this level. They need to be fixed. Make sure you have someone (preferably not the "editor", because they're too close to the text) do a proofreading sweep. You can lump it into QC if you like, but make sure that whoever is assigned to do this is looking at it carefully. Check. Every. Single. Word. There are errors in there, I guarantee you, and they're embarrassing. Getting the number of errors down to near-zero before you release your translation is going to make both you and your audience happier. In Summary There's not one editor; there are four. In an ideal world, with original fiction, you'd actually have someone separate filling each role. For a translation you don't need a developmental editor, leaving you needing three editors. In the non-ideal world you live in, you've probably got at least two of those roles to yourself. Push for someone else to handle proofreading, at least (call it "QC" if you have to), and make sure said person has the necessary ability and attention to detail. If you're the "editor", then you're almost certainly doing both line editing and copy editing. When that happens, make sure you keep a balance amongst all the things you need to do: for instance, spend 10% of your effort trying to understand what the author is trying to achieve, 88% of your effort on line editing (it's the meat, after all), and 2% on copy editing the little details like punctuation, romanization, etc. And If You Can Only Remember One Thing Focus on line editing.