APRIL MAY , , 2020 2021
INTRO TO EDITING By : Barbara Donlon Bradley
As an editor I get to read some wonderful stories . Some of them are rough diamonds and my job is to polish them so they shine beautifully . When I used to work with my critique group in what feels like a thousand years ago a friend told me that when editing you have to remember that each manuscript is special to the author . To consider it a baby and as the editor I ’ m calling that baby ugly . My job is to dress that baby up so it looks pretty . I always liked that because it is true .
We put a lot of work into our stories .
They make us pull our hair out at times , have been known to make a grown person cry , throw things and make us get downright irritable when the characters don ’ t do what we want . Once it ’ s done though we ’ re proud of what we did , and we want everyone else to be proud of it as well . It ’ s hard to take when someone finds fault with your baby .
I have to be careful how I explain why the author ’ s manuscript looks like it ’ s bleeding . And some of them do shed a lot of blood . What authors need to understand is that every editor wants to make your book the best it can be . I might make them bleed but I ’ ve had authors win awards , so I feel like I ’ ve done my job .
Sometimes it ’ s simple things . Moving a few lines to make a scene stronger .
Switching words to give a sentence more punch . But there are times when a complete rewrite is needed . As the author you have the right to say no but I have found most authors make the changes . If they don ’ t they give a reason that makes sense and as their editor I recommend they put that info into the story so it flows the way it ’ s supposed to .
So I ’ ve decided to write a column . My goal each month is to show some of the trends I see . Some will be a quick read . Others will be more in depth . It depends on the subject matter . I hope to help those who might have questions so if there is a subject you ’ d like to get information on please feel free to contact me .
barbaradonlonbradley @ gmail . com
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