Are writers weirdly terrified of editors?
Credit: Photo Boards
I don’t plan my novels so I should be terrified by editors. Weirdly though, I’m not. I love the editing process. OK, I’ll qualify that: not at first. No no no. When I open the initial email from the editor, I want to scream at the sky and cry on the keyboard. It can be overwhelming seeing all the changes and enhancements required to get the story to where it needs to be.
But before I go into it, let’s talk about the different editing stages.
Structural
Once you have a full manuscript, the next step is a big picture edit commonly called a structural edit.
Structural edits look at the story as a whole. Elements such as plot holes that need filling or characters who are two-dimensional and require further depth. There could be themes that aren’t quite developed enough or scenes that don’t nail the message. Questions often asked are: Is the ending satisfying? Are loose ends tied up? Dialogue is another one—is it realistic? Are enough scenes shown to the reader through action rather than exposition?
This is all specific to the genre you’re writing in too. So for me, a suspense writer, plot and pace are paramount.
Here are some of the issues picked up in the structural edit of my most recent novel, The Eleventh Floor:
Seasons: I was a bit all over the place with this in the early drafts. For example, I had a character wearing a summer dress in a park during Melbourne’s winter.
Pregnancy: There may have been a character who seemed to have been six months pregnant for about a year. Although a fascinating scientific concept and perhaps appropriate in a sci-fi or fantasy, that didn’t fly with this book.
Consistency: A husband with hazel eyes that suddenly morphed to brown by the end. I’m sure I would have got reader emails about that oopsie.
Pace: At one point, I got bogged down in description which slowed the pace, so a whole chapter got slashed.
Negligence: The baby in the book was often on the floor (in a dirty café) or near water (at a lake) and one editor was particularly stressed about this parental negligence!
Fact checking: all medical, legal and police procedures were checked and double checked.
Copy Edits
Once the overall manuscript is sorted, that’s when line edits commence. This is where we get down to the nitty gritty. Word choice and grammar conventions. Varying sentence lengths to avoid a boring rhythm. Ensuring we cut unnecessary filter words such as “that” and “just” which can clog the writing. Cliches be gone! Adverbs kept to a minimum. Repetition of phrases that each writer will have—mine are often related to raised eyebrows or churning stomachs.
An example of one of these editing suggestions is shown below.
See if you can find the error in this excerpt that wasn’t picked up until early copies were printed and sent out.
Imagine my horror! All sorted by the final prints though.
Who undertakes the edits?
Published or not, writers need to learn how to self-edit so we can submit relatively polished manuscripts. Once this is done, a fresh set of eyes is always useful and in a traditionally published setting, the manuscript would be handed to an in-house (or sometimes freelance) editor to start the process. In an indie scenario, most authors would pay a freelance editor before they publish, to ensure there are no glaring mistakes or significant black holes. I paid independent editors with Someone Else’s Child prior to securing my two-book deal because I was stuck on how to move the story forward (and sick of looking at the bloody thing). It’s not cheap but it is a worthy investment.
I have become proficient at this skill thanks to more experience in writing and also undertaking the RMIT Associate Diploma in Professional Writing and Editing. As part of the course we learnt how to edit other people’s work which is an invaluable skill. It has possibly made me more attuned with editors (and more sensitive to other writers).
What are editors really like?
Editors, in my experience, are LOVELY people. They want your story to be first rate and are champions for your book. They are also advocates for the reader, which means they want to deliver the story in the clearest way possible. They focus on the basics: fix errors, retain the authenticity of voice and respect the writer. It is useful to view editing as a partnership, not an attack on our work. Typically, editors are very kind to the author’s ego and most of their comments are framed as suggestions. As writers, we are not compelled to accept their suggestions as gospel and in my case, I have resisted only a couple of their recommendations (for good reason, which I communicate to them), because I know for the most part, the improvements will make a better story.
The editor–author relationship is vital for a book to reach its best. As an author I have learned to open myself up with brave and wild abandon when being edited because the oft unappreciated and largely invisible job of editing is truly where the magic happens.
What’s your experience been with editors? Are you an editor who deals with writers? Join the conversation on Substack.
Kx
