Word of the Week #281:
As an editor, you know what kind of projects I find the toughest to handle?
It was when the writer is a subject expert—truly elite in their own field—but is really not good at writing.
In a way, it is just heartbreaking, right? Like, we can see the potential in the content, but we also know that the faults in the writing are far too glaring to turn it into a good book within the scope of our jobs as editors.
Over the past few years, I have worked on a large number of manuscripts—probably close to a hundred, by now. And every now and then, I do encounter manuscripts that fall exactly in this category.
And it is always very frustrating to handle these projects, not just because we are dealing with someone who is used to being the best at what they do.
Someone who is highly respected and even revered for their skills honed over several decades.
Someone who is brimming with knowledge that their peers and subordinates could truly benefit from.
Someone who expects to write a book that is far superior in quality than their abilities would allow.
Someone who might been too proud to accept that writing is an entirely new skill that they will have to learn from scratch.
Someone who is so used to being surrounded by underlings and bootlickers that they are unwilling to treat an editor barely half their age as an equal, let alone as a critic.
But hey, what can I do? If I stopped working with people who are rich and successful in their careers, I would never get a chance to be like them.
Plus, no matter how poorly they write, I’m sure some of their expertise will always seep into me, and that is always great.
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