What Exactly Does an Editor Do
Monday, January 11, 2010 Question of the day: How do you deal with editors? How much can an editor actually do to, and for, your work?
This answer is going to vary from writer to writer and from publishing house to publishing house. Some authors will tell you that these days, editors - to no fault of their own - are overworked and don't have a ton of time to actually edit. That agents are increasingly handling the bulk of that load: that agents will work with clients to really polish a manuscript before it goes out such that it doesn't need a heavy hand once it's been sold.
That said, I've been truly fortunate in that my editors at Shaye Areheart/Crown have been just the opposite. They dive in and have really helped me shape my books. I work with my editors in the way that some writers probably use critique groups, albeit with larger portions of a book. With The One That I Want, I really struggled to pinpoint what wasn't working with the manuscript, so my editor read the first hundred pages and offered some suggestions. When she does this, she isn't saying, "Make your characters do this," or "Cut this," she just more suggests some themes to play with, some general ideas to get the juices flowing. For example, Tilly, my protagonist, is given the gift of foresight into the future, she originally was given this gift by your stereotypical fortune teller. It didn't ring true, and I knew this and I raised it with my editor, who said, "Hey, this is a book about your past and your future, why not consider having the person who tells her this prophesy be a person whom she already knows?" GENIUS! I took that suggestion and ran with it...and that new character became a major - and pivotal - character in the rest of the book.
The same is true once the overall manuscript was complete. Again, I knew it wasn't where I wanted it to be, so my editor - who smartly didn't want to read much more again after the 100 pages so she could see the completed work with fresh eyes - gave me broad brushstrokes: why don't you try this, or how about drawing this out more, and then letting me figure out just HOW I was going to do that. Which I really appreciated. I've said this before, but I know myself as a writer: I can take something to a certain level and then I need an objective resource to help steer me to the next level. My editor does this by letting me retain total control and freedom over my writing and characters and imagination AND while still fine-tuning the ms.
So that's my experience. I know this doesn't hold true for everyone, but in the best of all worlds, I imagine this is what editor-author relationships to be. Anyone else want to weigh in?
Reader Comments (3)
I don't have an editor yet but have found critique groups to be very helpful, although it is sometimes difficult to know what advice to take and what to ignore. One of the members of our group paid a professional editor $2,000 to look at her manuscript. The editor's advice was about two paragraphs long and wasn't much different than what we (the cost-free critique group) had told her. However, an editor with a publishing company has a vested interest in making your book the best it could possibly be, and I'd probably trust that person.
I'm going through the exact same experience now, except with my agent not an editor. She totally "gets" my work and has the vision (and, thankfully patience!) to see how much greater the story can be. I'm reading through her line edits now and am in awe of her insightful suggestions. The final say is up to me, which is as it should be. I'm humbled she has the faith in my talent to believe I can take the manuscript to levels I sensed were possible, but didn't know how to achieve. Having my agent by my side to point me in the right direction is priceless. I feel truly blessed.
What I didn't realize before selling my manuscript is how much an editor does beyond just, well, editing! They're really the in-house champion for your book, and the editor shepherds it through the whole process. Mine is in touch with details of what's happening to my book, from cover art to catalog copy. She also excels at big-picture notes as well as smaller things like word repetition (I was surprised to see how often I fall prey to that). It's a complicated job requiring many talents, I've learned.