Mike Billington's Blog - Posts Tagged "editing-novels-books"
Finding an editor - a GOOD editor...
Finding a good editor is one of the hardest things that I think you'll ever do as a writer. We all need them - even Hemingway admitted that and he was notorious for berating editors and, occasionally, punching them - but finding them, that's another story.
I spent nearly 50 years in journalism and a fair share of that time editing other people's work. As a newspaperman and now as a mystery writer I have developed my own classification system for them.
A) The frustrated writer: This person wants to write, often desperately, but for some reason doesn't or can't. Be wary of this person because invariably he or she will want to rework your story and, thereby, make it their own and that is NOT a good thing.
B) The curmudgeon: This is a person who has read the great writers down through history and now thinks he/she knows exactly how a story should unfold, what words should be used, how the characters should be drawn and is quite prepared to call you a failure as a writer because you aren't Dickens or Twain or Hemingway or Dreiser. The curmudgeon lives in the past and anything written after 1955 is probably not very good, at least as far as he or she is concerned. Avoid the curmudgeon.
C) The entrepreneur: This is someone with a degree in English or related field who has figured out that with all the new writers bursting upon the scene thanks to independent publishing opportunities he or she can make a comfortable living posing as an editor. These folks are usually young, very aggressive and, sadly, not very good. For them, manuscripts are like pieces on an assembly line: The more of them that they can "edit" in a week, the more money they can make and making money - not helping an author polish a manuscript - is really what motivates them. Avoid them.
D) The seasoned pro: If you can find someone like this, latch onto him or her. These are people who know the language, whose egos are not threatened by reading the works of others and who have no agenda beyond making sure your book is coherent and free from silly typos and continuity errors. They understand that your book is the end result of a lot of soul-searching, research and the blood, sweat and tears inherent in bringing it to life. They also understand that even if you're not the new Dickens or Hammett, you may still have a very fine book and that you might just be setting some new standards with your writing.
Finding these folks isn't easy and I can say that with some degree of experience. In all my years in journalism I had fewer than a dozen good editors and I can think of only three that I would classify as being great.
That notwithstanding, if I were to suggest the best way to find a good wordsmith to help you with your manuscript I'd say look for a retired newspaper editor (not me, I'm too busy hammering out my own stuff.) Why a retired newspaper editor? Simply because over the years they will have worked with a wide variety of reporters and read an awful lot of stories - both good and bad. One of them can probably work with you as a result and will likely know what constitutes a good paragraph, chapter and novel.
Once you've discovered an editor that seems legitimate, talk with him or her at length about the editing process. Doing so allows you to get a feel for his or her professionalism and, just as importantly, it gives you a sense of their approach to editing - are they, for example, inclined to be collaborative or dictatorial? That, in turn allows you to determine whether their approach suits you or not.
Once you've done that, all that's left is to ask yourself this simple question: Am I comfortable entrusting my work to this person?
If the answer is yes, then by all means do so but if you have any doubts, my advice is to keep looking.
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KCABGK
I spent nearly 50 years in journalism and a fair share of that time editing other people's work. As a newspaperman and now as a mystery writer I have developed my own classification system for them.
A) The frustrated writer: This person wants to write, often desperately, but for some reason doesn't or can't. Be wary of this person because invariably he or she will want to rework your story and, thereby, make it their own and that is NOT a good thing.
B) The curmudgeon: This is a person who has read the great writers down through history and now thinks he/she knows exactly how a story should unfold, what words should be used, how the characters should be drawn and is quite prepared to call you a failure as a writer because you aren't Dickens or Twain or Hemingway or Dreiser. The curmudgeon lives in the past and anything written after 1955 is probably not very good, at least as far as he or she is concerned. Avoid the curmudgeon.
C) The entrepreneur: This is someone with a degree in English or related field who has figured out that with all the new writers bursting upon the scene thanks to independent publishing opportunities he or she can make a comfortable living posing as an editor. These folks are usually young, very aggressive and, sadly, not very good. For them, manuscripts are like pieces on an assembly line: The more of them that they can "edit" in a week, the more money they can make and making money - not helping an author polish a manuscript - is really what motivates them. Avoid them.
D) The seasoned pro: If you can find someone like this, latch onto him or her. These are people who know the language, whose egos are not threatened by reading the works of others and who have no agenda beyond making sure your book is coherent and free from silly typos and continuity errors. They understand that your book is the end result of a lot of soul-searching, research and the blood, sweat and tears inherent in bringing it to life. They also understand that even if you're not the new Dickens or Hammett, you may still have a very fine book and that you might just be setting some new standards with your writing.
Finding these folks isn't easy and I can say that with some degree of experience. In all my years in journalism I had fewer than a dozen good editors and I can think of only three that I would classify as being great.
That notwithstanding, if I were to suggest the best way to find a good wordsmith to help you with your manuscript I'd say look for a retired newspaper editor (not me, I'm too busy hammering out my own stuff.) Why a retired newspaper editor? Simply because over the years they will have worked with a wide variety of reporters and read an awful lot of stories - both good and bad. One of them can probably work with you as a result and will likely know what constitutes a good paragraph, chapter and novel.
Once you've discovered an editor that seems legitimate, talk with him or her at length about the editing process. Doing so allows you to get a feel for his or her professionalism and, just as importantly, it gives you a sense of their approach to editing - are they, for example, inclined to be collaborative or dictatorial? That, in turn allows you to determine whether their approach suits you or not.
Once you've done that, all that's left is to ask yourself this simple question: Am I comfortable entrusting my work to this person?
If the answer is yes, then by all means do so but if you have any doubts, my advice is to keep looking.
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KCABGK
