Just how do you edit? is one of the questions I am most often asked by people who are looking for an editor and have been referred to me.
Part of me wants to answer, “Well, it’s magic.” Because in a weird way, editing is a magical process. I’ll come back to the magic part later. But first, the rational answer.
Most of the editing I do now is editing books for individuals. Some of these books are in the pipeline to commercial publication, or at least hopefully so. Others are going to be self-published.
Writers come to me because they know they need help to turn an existing manuscript into something commercially viable, or to make their manuscript more meaningful. My work with those people I term “developmental” editing. Developmental editing is a messy process: I read the writer’s beginning efforts and give them feedback on what’s working and what’s not working, and try to help them figure out exactly what their goals are with their project. These conversations can be deeply personal and constitute a form of counseling, as the writer and I try to figure out for her- or himself what it is they really want to achieve. Such projects can take a couple of years of consistent work before a first draft of a manuscript is complete (or much less, depending on how much time the writer can devote to it). Typically the writer sends me material and we meet every two weeks, either in person or on Zoom, to discuss progress.
Other writers may come to me with a complete or nearly complete manuscript that they believe needs only to be copy edited. While sometimes that’s an accurate assessment on their part, often there’s more to the job that just fixing spelling, syntax, grammar and the like. The book may be “done,” but sections may be out of order or disorganized, or the writing style may need to be updated to today’s standards (more contemporary language, for example), or content may lack adequate depth, etc. In other words, our work ends up being more collaborative, rather than them just sending me the manuscript and I sending it back, clean as a whistle.
Logistics
The logistics, in developmental or copy editing, are the same: The writer sends me material; I edit it (I rely on Microsoft Word and its Track Changes functions) and send it back; we discuss the changes; I integrate our final decisions; and then we move onto consecutive chapters.
In the process, what happens slowly but inevitably is that we come to know each other well and usually genuinely enjoy our work together. We laugh. We take bathroom breaks, drink more coffee or tea, eat snacks; we may take a walk, if we’re meeting in person, to shake off the intensity of our discussion and let new ideas percolate. It is a wonderfully creative partnership in which compromise is usually involved. Oh, and yes, sometimes we disagree, though I’ve never had a serious argument with an author!
Magic
Now, for the “magic.” The foundation for the magic is that my life and professional experiences have dovetailed such that I am perfectly suited to this work. I like spending long hours alone, but I equally enjoy deep relationship with other individuals. I am devoted to reading, everything and anything I can get my hands on, and have been since childhood. My education in journalism and my work as a journalist (as a writer and editor), publicist, radio show host, and public speaker have given me an intuitive facility with words that I cannot really describe. I just know when something isn’t quite right; I feel how it needs to change. Sometimes I can explain that in technical terms to the writer. At other times it involves an innate understanding of the reader’s needs and desires; usually I’m able to articulate that clearly. (The only writer who doesn’t benefit from the latter is the writer who doesn’t care about the reader, that is, the writer who is writing only for him- or herself. That’s a conscious choice a writer must make, and hopefully has made, early in the process.)
In all circumstances, part of what I’m doing is coaching the writer. For beginners and longtime writers, having a writing coach can be just as important as having someone tell them a character wouldn’t act that way, or the syntax of that sentence needs to be fixed. We all need someone to remind us of why we’re writing, what our message is, who we are writing for, and—most importantly—how this magical process works. Having been a published writer since age 19, I know a lot about that magic.
Contact
So that’s how I edit—with a combination of relationship-building, technical expertise, and magic. I find it enormously gratifying. Be in touch if you’re interested in talking with me about working together. You can reach me at editorwritercoach@gmail.com.