9 Ways Editors Can Make You Look Good…and 7 Ways They Can Make You Miserable
by Ruth Harris
As a former editor, I’m biased but, as a writer, I’ve learned that for me (and for just about every writer I know), editing is the most productive and transformative part of writing a book. Whether you hire a pro, rely on a crit partner, or DIY with or without input from beta readers, editing can take longer than writing and can turn an OMG-did-I-write-that? draft into a book you can be proud of.
Or not.
More on the downside later, but to begin on the bright side: If you are a beginning writer your editors are your teachers and mentors and will rescue you from the sh*tty first draft. If you’re an experienced writer, your editor can be the invaluable second pair of eyes.
9 ways your editor can help.
- Editing is your opportunity to figure out what you really mean to say and how best to say it.
- Editing will save you from yourself and your worst tendencies.
- Editing gives you the chance to come up with the killer line of dialogue, the mot juste, the cliffhanger that keeps the pages turning.
- Editing is the stage at which you cut the bloat or expand and amplify when you’ve gone too bare bones.
- Editing can shore up a blah plot, identify, fill and fix plot holes, and turn wooden characters into living, breathing, believable people.
- Editing gives you a chance to pick up the pace when the story lags and slow it down when you need to give the reader a chance to breathe.
- Editors are partners, coaches, shrinks, cops and cheerleaders—sometimes all at the same time. They dispense tough love when needed and gold stars when earned.
- Your editor will help you polish your strengths and turn OK narrative into compelling storytelling, good dialogue to great, plot-twists-that-fizzle into a breath-taking, never-saw-it-coming shocks.
- Editing will bring you face to face with your worst habits. To be specific:
- passive characters and/or passive verbs
- adjective overkill
- adverb and/or pronoun abuse
- dangling participles
- untethered plot points
- run-on sentences
- clutter words and crutch words
- the dreaded wandering POV
How to choose an editor.
Define what kind of editing you’re looking for.
Valerie Comer wrote a succinct analysis of the differences between a rewrite, revision and editing that will help clarify your thinking.
Where to start looking for an editor:
Elisabeth Kauffman lists professional associations and sources and dispenses solid advice about what questions to ask as you search for your perfect editor.
Network with other writers in your genre.
They will be able to suggest editors who know what they’re doing and warn you away from those who don’t.
Writers’ Cafe has yellow-page lists of editors and informative threads about editors and editing pop up regularly.
Understand the differences between developmental or content editing and copyediting.
A developmental/content editor’s contributions involve a broad overview of the manuscript, its structure, scene and chapter placement or rearrangement, even the basics of plot and character. A developmental/content editor (sometimes called a book doctor) can answer an SOS when a manuscript is on life support and needs rescue.
Joanna Penn describes the functions of different kinds of editors and offers guidance about how to find the right editor.
Victoria Mixon offers samples of line editing and copy editing plus a sample developmental editing letter and explains how the editing process works between writer and editor.
Editor Belinda Pollard warns writers not to depend on editorial labels but to find out exactly what to expect from different kinds of editors no matter what they’re called. She also reminds us that “the right feedback at the right time is the secret weapon of every successful author.”
Choose an editor who’s an expert in your genre.
S/he will be knowledgable about current trends, best practices and no-nos. A sci-fi specialist will not be up to date on the latest in romance. And vice versa.
Your editor is your partner and guide—not your overlord.
Feel free to disagree with suggestions but be sure you have a good reason for your choices. Sometimes a brief discussion will lead to a third solution that’s even better.
Editor Derek Murphy discusses the importance of story and why fixing the writing won’t improve the story. He also explores common conflict issues between writer and editor.
Even billionaires need editors.
Warren Buffett’s long-time editor at Fortune, Carol Loomis, spills the beans.
Copyediting and proofreading. They’re different.
Copyediting takes place when all the nuts and bolts of a story are in place. The copyeditor is concerned with clarity, clarity, cohesion, consistency, and correctness (the “4 Cs”) according to Amy Einsohn’s The Copyeditor’s Handbook.
Proofreading is yet another stage in the editorial process and comes last of all, just before you send your book out into the world. The proofreader is über detail-oriented, on the look out for typos, typographical glitches and lapses in spelling and punctuation.
Please note that a grammar geek or high school English teacher might make an OK proofreader or even copy editor, but, unless they have extensive professional fiction editing experience, they’re unlikely to know much about plot structure and character development.
Editor and proofer, Emily Hetherington, talks about how she spots spelling, grammar and punctuation errors, typos and the use of slang and colloquialisms.
The Writers Center shares a useful article that covers the art and craft of proofreading.
The Chicago Manual of Style offers a Rosetta Stone to proofreader’s marks and squiggles.
How to prepare your manuscript for editing.
Some advance clean-up will save your editor time and save you money.
- Create a style sheet as you write. It’s not hard and it is invaluable for you and for your editor. I’ve written before about the importance of style sheets.
- Perform a basic spell check and watch out for homonyms and homophones—words that sound alike but have different meanings. They will pass a spell check but you must actually read the sentence in context to ensure the word you used is the word you mean. Examples: through/threw; there/their/they’re, here/hear, by/bye/buy, to/two/too.
- Run a grammar program. Most word processors have one and will root out common errors that guarantee rejection and/or bad reviews.
- Review your dialogue tags. They can often be pruned or even deleted.
- The cliché finder will hunt down, uh, clichés.
- The Passivator will highlight passive verbs and adverbs.
If you decide to self-edit.
Be on the lookout for:
- Flabby language.
- Trite and/or do-nothing-go-nowhere dialogue.
- A saggy middle.
- A blah (or confused) ending.
- Info dumps.
- Boring backstory.
- Good guys who are too good and bad guys who are too bad. Characters require shades of grey to be believable.
- Too many sub-plots or sub-plots that fizzle or wander off never to be heard from again. Decide if they should be combined and streamlined or simply done away with.
- Too many characters? Do they get in each other’s way? Do they perform the same function? The solution is cut and combine.
More helpful advice on self-editing.
- Deborah Rains Dixon addresses story structure, why it’s crucial and includes different examples of structure.
- In Self-Editing For Fiction Writers, two professional editors cover basic elements of fiction like dialogue, exposition, point of view and interior monologue.
- Kristen Lamb lists six ways to self-edit your book.
- Here’s a guide to writing an exciting action scene with the before and after edits. (The principles demonstrated here can be widely applied.)
- If you’re writing romance, here are 20 steps to a great love scene.
- How to write horror with advice from Stephen King.
Mismatch: when editing goes wrong.
- You’re writing Regency romance, your editor is thinking Space Opera. Need I say more?
- Your editor’s negative comments—“dated,” “nobody cares about xyz,” “I hate your MC,” “change the setting from New England to Naples”—are getting in your head and stopping you from writing.
- The 5 tip-offs of a bad editor.
- How to tell good editors from bad.
- Writer beware: 10 things your freelance editor might not tell you but should.
- George RR Martin considers editors a writer’s natural enemy.
- Julian Barnes, UK author and winner of the Man Booker Prize, overrules his US editor like this: FOYB (F*** Off, Yankee Bastard)
If you think all this sounds too picky and painful not to mention too time-consuming and expensive to bother with, think again. As someone who served time in the slush pile, I guarantee: an unedited manuscript is the mark of the amateur, the bane of the pro, the kiss of death, a sure-fire route to nowheresville.
Whether you hire an editor or DIY, it’s your book. You decide.
by Ruth Harris (@RuthHarrisBooks) May 29, 2016
What about you, Scriveners? Do you use an editor? Have you had a bad experience with an editor? What do you look for in editors?
Anne is still having fun with poisons on her book blog. This week she talks about the pretty but highly toxic flowering shrub, oleander.
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If only I could convince my aspiring writer-students of the importance of fresh editing (by different eyes than their own.) Somehow, Ruth, they are certain that when an agent or publisher sees the brilliance of their original fiction idea, they will overlook sloppy grammar/punctuation, and all the rest. Surely publisher’s editors will take care of cleaning up and tightening up any faulty prose, right? After all, that’s what they are paid to do.
Sigh.
Very happy to see this post, Ruth!
Hi Melodie—You have to “convince” them? And they want to be writers? Incredible! Where did this attitude that someone else will take care of the basics come from? They’re like carpenters who don’t know how to use a saw or hammer.
Great advice, & The Passivator? Really? I’m in love with the title alone.
Hi CS, Thanks. Hope something in here helped and, yeah, isn’t The Passivator a great title? 🙂
In my case, hopefully my editor is thinking space opera.
I’ve never created a style sheet. Guess I need to learn how to do one.
Definitely checking out the Passivator – thanks!
Hi Alex, Whew! Always good for writer and editor to be on the same page. 😉 I can’t imagine writing a book without making a style sheet. Saves A LOT of confusion/mistakes as you go on and the book gets longer. Very simple to do, too.
I agree totally, Ruth. There are no great writers, just great editors. If they happen to be the same person, so much the better 😉
And I can attest to the wisdom of your dictum: ‘Choose an editor who’s an expert in your genre.’ Aeons ago, I made the mistake of consulting an editor who’d been a ghost writer for the novels ostensibly written by the super-model Naomi Campbell. A woman semi-literate. But my novel was historical fiction, limned in the idioms of 16thc London. My editor didn’t understand it, and queried every word I wrote. Of course! Her idioms were grounded in those of The Huffington Post.
Next time round, I consulted an editor who’d done her PhD in Jacobean literature. Whee! Her edits were spot on. My novel – Dream Of Darkness – romped off to Amazon stardom.
It’s as important to choose the right editor as to choose the right soul-mate. A mere proficiency with syntax doesn’t cut it.
Oh, John, aaaargh! Naomi Campbell’s ghost writer? Couldn’t make it up. Glad you survived. And you are right about editors and soul mates. John LeCarré *married* his editor. No fool, he.
Wow, Ruth, is this ever timely for me. I’m editing another nonfiction anthology and next to my Chicago Style Manual, this post is going to be my Bible. Hope other writers who also edit take advantage of this wonderful editing guide you’ve provided. Thank you so much. Great information and tips on editing. I’ve bookmarked and have already used twice this AM. Love it.
Hi Paul, Ooooh, I’ve written a Biblical post???? 🙂
As an independent editor, I see posts like yours, Ruth, and squirm. With trepidation, I read through, terrified that I’ll come across something in the ‘bad’ column that I’ve done–meaning I’ll have to send myself to the corner to ‘think about what you’ve done’!
I’ve emerged unscathed — whew…
I love the wildly varied info and points you make here. Editing is, to me, such a complex process, yet most authors I work with view it as very straightforward.
My experience with 99% of my authors also conflicts with the idea of an editor never changing words, adding words, and such — only producing margin notes on what to do. If I did that with most manuscripts I see, I’d have to develop a separate document that addressed the work needed. I point out an issue with margin notes, but have also performed a minimal re-write that serves as an illustration of how to correct that issue. I strive to instruct, not just point out problems.
Many of my authors have limited writing skills. I would do them a disservice by making assumptions about their ability to make certain changes consistently.
Thanks for the great post — great links (I went to and read all, just in case, you know, there might be something…um…bad I’d been doing…). :oP
Hi tigerxglobal, Always good to escape the woodshed! 🙂 Authors with limited writing skills? I mean, is that like tv anchors with limited speaking skills or tennis players with limited serving skills? Jeez.
…yeah–all that–people with very little or no writing-specific education. My quote form even states that my quote assumes the client has sufficient skills to perform necessary re-writes.
But the passion is always in them, and all (so far) are anxious and willing to better their craft. I point them to the many writing workshops, etc that are available as well. John’s place is at the top of the list for me…
Oo, I have style sheets–for everything: people, places, even animals. 🙂
Hi Southpaw, I hear you! I wrote a book with a baby rhino whose Mom was killed by poachers as one of the MCs. Little Zuri made it to the style sheet, that’s for sure! Book is A KISS AT KIHALI. Starring the baby rhino, Zuri, means “beautiful” in Swahili.
What an excellent post. As a freelance proofreader I see too many manuscripts that haven’t been edited (or properly edited). I shall be sharing your wise words far and wide. 🙂
Hi Wendy, Thanks! It amazes me (literally) that people who want to be writers don’t seem to have a clue, And, by the way, I read a “Look Inside” the other day filled with editing errors and oversights. The publisher was HarperCollins so it’s not just wannabes and amateurs.
Ahh…the joys of editing, self or otherwise. I’ve been on different journeys with editing. For my first, I dealt with a beta reader, who was also a former newspaper geek), who helped me polish up my manuscript so that it would make it palatable for the queried masses. Eventually dealt with two good editors at the publisher for my book.
Self-edited with the 2nd, but presented it to a couple beta readers who were also (good) writers that I friended on FB, who helped me work out the kinds. For shorter stuff, I’ll use beta readers and myself for editing. For longer, I’ll seek out an editor, which is what I’m doing with my 3rd. She’s a freelance writer with a half dozen books under her belt who I’m also friends with on FB (see a trend developing here?).
I’ll always deal with people I know and trust for editing, because it really does a disservice to readers not to have the best possible product out there. Plus, it definitely helps to have someone who is familiar with the type of genre you write in. It’s also important that you find an editor who isn’t squeamish about you write in either. Just because they say they do certain genres, doesn’t mean that they’ll go drifting off to a darker edge of that genre.
Hi G.B., sounds like you’re on a roll! Squeamish is a definite no-no!
Thanks Ruth. There is a wealth of information here (excuse the cliche!) I am in the middle of editing the most complicated novel I have ever written and it is bloody hard. But, thank god I knew it had to be done!
Hi Christine, Writing is hard but editing might actually be harder. I’m not joking, either! 🙂
I use a copy editor. It was a business decision, based on what I determined I needed. Though, truthfully, developmental editing never was on the plate. It’s just not anything I need.
The bad experiences have been with other writers. I went to a sci-fi con panel on editing. At the time, I was looking for a copy editor. I was the only one there, so the panelists asked me what I was looking for, so I told them. During the panel, when more people had shown up, they very specifically said that it was a Really Bad Idea to only get copy editing and the Everyone Needed Developmental Editing–clearly directed at me.
And when I asked for recommendations from other writers, I got only developmental editors–none of them did copy editing, or had much of a background in, well, anything. One writer had a meltdown when I said I only got copy editing and treated me like I was stupid and couldn’t figure out what I was supposed to do.
When I looked for the copy editor, I wanted one who wasn’t too expensive or too cheap. I found one that had a $150 minimum charge for anything, including a short story and others that were $100 an hour for copy editing. I also ran across some where their sites were clearly aimed at first time writers (using phrases like “the book of your dreams”)–they would not do well for me. And they did have to have a website, because the often told me a lot of about them. Not having a site also said something, and it wasn’t complimentary. But this also was a business decision.
Hi Linda, Sounds like you encountered some my-way-or-the-highway mind sets. As you point out, every writer needs to know his or her own strengths. If you don’t need a development editor, then you don’t. Period. Next case.
By and large, my experiences with editors (academic non-fiction, now a novel with Random House) have been really positive. It’s amazing to me how they can take an already polished MS to an even better level. Copy edits were especially instructive: I consider myself relatively proficient at grammar (I teach college comp courses!), but even I learned a few things. 🙂 And the copy editor caught a couple of things that my editor and I both missed and I’ll be forever grateful for those.
Hi Rosalyn, Books are Rorschach tests which is why one-star reviews exist side by side with five-star reviews. For the same reason, different editors bring different insights and catch lapses that others missed. And, yes, the transformative power of a really competent edit is amazing!
I’ve had two fantasy novels accepted by Double Dragon Publishing. DDP does not edit–they read it as an editor would and if it has promise but needs editing they do a provisional rejection and ask the author to have it professionally edited. I’m pretty proud of the fact that I self-edited both and they were accepted. However, I’m a former English teacher and happen to be blessed with a natural (or developed?) talent for proof reading. I’ve also been blessed with magazine editing of my fiction by Regina Williams (The Storyteller) and N.K. Wagner (Page and Spine). I learned a lot from them.
I also purchased cyber editor software–ProWritingAid. What a help! Over-used words and passive verbs were my big faults and it spotted them all.
I’d never heard of a style sheet but I sure can see the usefulness. I’ve had to go back sometimes and recheck names, spellings, and relationships. Having a style sheet would be easier.
Thanks for a great article!
Hi Fred, Thanks for your detailed and helpful description of how you went about self-editing your book. Thanks, too, for the tip about ProWritingAid. Much appreciated!
Wow. Great information. Thank you.
Hi Barbara, Thanks for the kind words! 🙂
Great overview, Ruth. Thanks for highlighting these areas and pointing your readers to great articles and resources. I’m linking to your article in my latest post. Thanks!
Veronika, thank you for the kind words and the link. Much appreciated!
Great post Ruth! You described the entire writing/editing process so well! There are many stops on the route to a best seller!
I am a freelance proofreader with spelling my specialty, finding the misplaced words that spell checkers miss. I see so many errors at all levels. I find errors in spelling in 99% of the books I read. Many writers want to use me as a beta-reader, I discourage that and tell them I should be their last stop before publication.
Thanks again for making the process so clear!
Hi Mark, Thanks for the kind words! Couldn’t agree more. Not just in self-pubbed books, either! HarperCollins, I’m looking at you. I hope your clients are paying attention to you. Next week I’m writing about first chapter mistakes that will kill a sale.
Looking forward to that post!
Great post. I agree with Jim Bessey who suggested we bookmark this page. Do you ever speak at nearby events? I live in the Central Valley so SLO is a favorite place to come. Thanks again for the resource.
Marsha–This post is by Ruth Harris, who is a New Yorker through and through. I’m the one who lives in SLO. We’re a bi-coastal team. 🙂
I used to teach at the Central Coast Writer’s Conference, but I’m not up to it any more. My crippled knees make it hard for me to get around. I sometimes participate in Sisters in Crime events though. And I sometimes speak to the Nightwriters. I hope to meet you sometime.
This is a great post from Ruth!
“Copyediting and proofreading. They’re different.” Oh for a dollar every time I had to explain that one! Well done, Ruth. Great article and I liked the linked articles too.