Working With an Editor

A friend recently asked me what it was like to work with an editor. Was it useful? What did I look for in an editor?  Modified for a PG rating, here's my reply.

Quick thoughts:

1. Working with an editor is guaranteed to trigger the urge to kill. 
2. Never leave home without one.

On Reflection

The first person I engaged to edit the Two Roads Home manuscripts was a published writer herself, who had also worked in publishing and taught creative writing. She was the first arm's-length reader of each of these books, and she pointed out some significant shortcomings in plot, pace and character development that even the best-intending friends had either failed to see or been reluctant to flag. She was such an agreeable and competent person that it only took a few days for my ego to recover, and to see that there was in fact a lot of work to do. She has since become a good friend and advisor.

You’ll recall that there are three levels of editing - developmental, line and copy. Together, they run the gamut from plot to punctuation.

My second editor was exceptionally skilled on the technical side of things, had a fascinating sense of how readers respond and was an avid reader herself. But her career, her life, before she started her publishing venture had given her a starkly different world view from the one I wanted to convey in my writing. This didn’t affect line or copy editing, but on the broader developmental plane, it led to some serious stand-offs on issues like how characters behave or think, what readers assume, and how the narrator directs the story. And, as you can imagine, when the discussion went off into those daisies, personality quickly came into play.

The bottom line is that I was a decent writer to begin with, but these two people raised developmental issues and asked questions that made my manuscripts much better than they would have been. Then, at the line and copy editing levels, they caught myriad errors and quirks that my repeated exposure had blinded me to.

So, what would I look for in an editor?

1. Strong technical skills,
2. Practical experience in applying those skills to work such as mine,
3. Willingness to color outside the lines,
4. Curiosity and openness to life beyond their own experience, and
5. A personality that won't dig its heels in when the going gets tough.

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