It is heartening and satisfying when I spend hours editing a book proposal or manuscript and the author actually learns something and begins to apply the techniques or practices to his or her project. So often, however, I see the same habits showing up time and again in the author’s work.
I am a teaching editor. The author, when receiving his edited manuscript or proposal back from me, has the opportunity to learn what he or she is, perhaps, doing wrong, what it would take to tighten and strengthen the work and so much more. Yet, so often, when the work comes back to me for a final edit or when the author sends me a new chapter to review, I see many of the same lazy writing habits I attempted to repair in previous chapters.
Authors, it makes no sense to hire an editor, trust that editor, be extremely pleased with the work the editor does and not learn from him or her. Here’s what I suggest:
• Instead of just accepting the suggested changes at face value (or, even worse) rejecting them because you don’t understand how they enhance your work, take a serious look at them.
• Read the passage with the change and then without it. Does it read better?
• Study the note left by the editor. If you still don’t understand or see the difference it makes, ask the editor to explain the suggested change.
• Watch for patterns. Does the editor suggest similar changes throughout your manuscript? Maybe she continually recommends that you cut sentences in half or even thirds. Examine your way of writing. Do you tend to create sentences that are long and cumbersome? When you write the next segment of your book, pay attention to your sentence length. Are you trying to say too much in a single sentence? Do you notice how much stronger—more powerful—your words become when you choose them more carefully and avoid running too many of them together?
• Perhaps you tend to “over” write. In other words, you make statements such as, “Walter beat everyone to the table and was first to get there because everyone else came later.” Depending on the context, I may change that sentence to read, “Water was first to be seated at the dinner table.”
• Maybe you “under” write with phrases such as, “Walter drove home and ate a piece of cake. When he got up, he left the house.” I think you will agree, there’s a lot missing here that could be added in order to give your story more interest and continuity.
• Do you tend to mis-communicate? Here’s one example: “Entering the chicken coup in my Easter dress, Lyle finally kissed me.” (Was Lyle wearing her dress?)
There are many editorial problems and, as I said, “habits” that we adopt. If you go to the expense of hiring an editor for your book proposal and your manuscript (and you should, by the way) do your best to learn from him or her. And the next time you need an editor, it won’t take them as much time to do the job.
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