"Sometimes, when people talk to me, and they find out I’ve written a couple of books, they ask me what editors do.
Also, I just read Stephen Guise’s interesting article about the problems facing editors. The gist of the piece is that skilled editors are being overlooked for commissioning editor positions (commissioning editors choose which books to publish as well as editing them) in favour of applicants with sales and marketing skills who might bring in a big celebrity book, but don’t have experience of actual editing. My editor at Simon and Schuster, Francesca Main, is very much a commissioning ed. who works with words, and I just wanted to talk about the editing process, in order to shed some light on the value of this work.
I submitted the ‘first’ draft (actually the ninth) of my second novel, The Hunger Trace, to Francesca in December 2009. We’re in the final stages of editing now. I hope. So, for a start, that’s nine months of graft. Back in December, I’d got as far as I could. I couldn’t really see the novel any more, and it was giving me gastric flu. It was the best I could make it at that moment. I needed new input.
In March, Francesca sent me a thoroughly marked-up manuscript (I’d say 4 or 5 comments per page) dealing with sentence level things, and an in-depth report on the major issues with the novel. This report broke down into sections including: Plot, Structure, Character, etc. So, fairly big stuff. We’re not talking about shifting commas.
Some writers might balk at this. Some don’t want that kind of comment, and I understand. I met a writer once who said they made sure their work was perfect before it went to an editor, and so there were few changes. This was an experienced writer, and a far superior craftsperson to me. I’m very much into collaborating with a small group of readers I trust (starting with the missus). I want people to like the book (at the root of it, I want people to like me) and so I value reader input. I’m okay at creating characters, writing decent sentences about the sky, and doing dialogue, but I’m still learning about what works in terms of plot and structure – getting folk to turn the page. I’m interested in it, I study it, and I hope to get better."
His article resonated with me, perhaps because I write in the same way. I like a small group of readers I trust (starting with the missus) to read my work before I send it to my editor. But you have to be careful of what you wish for! Last night the missus told me she wasn't loving the first draft of my latest. She had a surprisingly long list of things she thought it lacked, and I felt thoroughly defeated. It takes me a day or even two to step back and really hear criticism about something I work on so hard, but I eventually come around.
I'm thinking about her comments this morning and realizing she's completely right. I've got a lot of work to do to get a second draft up to snuff but I'd rather hear complaints from her than hear them after the book's in print. It's too late at that point! Way too late.
