Why Every Writer Needs an Editor
Every writer needs an editor. It’s part of the process in creating a smooth, polished piece of work. This most certainly includes novelists. If you’re writing a piece of fiction, you’re asking readers to stick around for the long haul. An 80K-word story is a big commitment, and if you lose a reader due to poor editing, well…then you’ve lost the game.
And yes, to those already saying this: self-editing is part of it. But it’s only one part. An objective pair of eyes, a professional pair of eyes, is what truly separates ‘done’ work from ‘finished’ work.
So I thought I’d offer up an example to better prove my point. Here is a short snippet of a piece of writing that’s gone through one draft of revision. (Disclaimer: with respect to privacy, this is actually something I wrote 7ish years ago. However, and you’ll note the work was written circa 2010, it still serves to prove my point here…)
First Draft
She twirled around in a circle for him, playing up to his attention. He laughed. So did she. Michael winked devilishly as he reached forward and grabbed her hand. He brought her body in close to his and started to hum. Jennifer smiled, a bit bemused. That bemusement increased when he took a step backward. Jennifer stared up at him with a curious expression. He nudged her lightly and with a light laugh she took a step forward. He turned to the left and she followed him; now she was humming along with him. He entwined his fingers into hers and spun her quickly away. With the flick of his wrist she was being called back to his body.
Okay. This excerpt is all right, but it’s far from great. The scene is rough, a bit choppy and could use with some rephrasing and restructuring. Let’s take a look at what a round of line-editing would do for it:
One Round of Editing
Click on picture to see the full size view.
So, as you can see, this paragraph actually needed a lot of work. Granted, not all paragraphs will require this much editing—but then again, some of them will. Gosh, there are times when entire sections will need to be re-written, scrapped, or moved around.
But a novelist, seeing these marks (no matter how daunting) has the potential to take a working paragraph and make it better. Going back to our example, as the writer here is one way I would rewrite the original version after seeing these comments:
Revision
Playing up to his attention, Jennifer twirled in a circle. Michael laughed. So did she. Reaching for her as she glided past, he grabbed her hand, pulling her up short. Before she realized what was happening, Jennifer found herself being pulled into his arms.
And then he started to dance. Humming softly against her quiet, bemused laughter, Michael brushed his hand against the small of her back, his body rocking her gently to the sound of his music. Soon enough, the soft strains of her own, accompanying harmony joined in as they moved across the floor.
What do you think? Better? Yeah, like tons and tons better. (If you feel like a challenge, go ahead and do your own version of a rewrite for this paragraph. Feel free to comment with it, if you please.)
So seriously–need I say more? WRITERS NEED EDITORS. It’s like peanut butter and jelly. Get yourself one. A sandwich, I mean. 
