Hello Readers,
I received the edits for The Copper Tarnish and it reminded me how much I loathe editing.
It’s not the editor’s fault. They’re fantastic and doing their best to make my book even better. I’m just very emotional about the story.
While editing, I go through 4 phases (To be clear this is just me talking to myself. I don’t harass my editors):
1. NO!
At first I alternate between hubris, “How dare someone want to change my perfect words. They just don’t understand my genius.” and despair, “This is such a mess how can I possibly fix all the horribleness in this typo ridden mess.”
2. Why?
Then comes the confused indignant questions of, “Why is this important? You obviously don’t understand.” and, “Why the hell did I forget this or write it this way?”
3. Fine
I finally get to acceptance where I realize that it’s fixable and agree to change it. I don’t always use their suggestions but I try to fix what they’ve pointed out as a problem.
One of the most useful pieces of writing advice I ever got was that if an editor points out that something is wrong, they’re probably right; if they tell you how to fix it they’re probably wrong. (It’s a generalization but gives you permission to fix it your way.)
4. Okay, that’s better
In the end, in my experience, a good editor will be right the majority of the time. Again, an editors goal is to make the book better.
So the last stage is to recheck the edits and go, “Damn this is good.”
I should go back to editing. The faster I finish, the faster I can get back to writing The Hounds of Bakerville.
Be kind and stay safe,
Éric