Mike Reeves-McMillan

Editors, take note.

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Mike Reeves-McMillan

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Editors, take note.

I remember a particular amateur editor who didn’t know English language nearly as well as she thought she did. I had to fight her in order to retain my style and voice in a short story I submitted to an anthology (and swore never again to participate in any project she was a part of).

Like V.S. Naipaul, I studied English language at university, so I was able to explain why some of her edits were incorrect; but a lot of it came down to “this is in my voice; don’t edit it so that it’s in yours”.

I have worked with a lot of editors, and the true professionals help me to bring the best out of my writing. They only suggest changes when things are unclear, misleading, or incorrect. I was an editor myself at one time, and it’s one of those professions in which, if you do your job well, nobody notices.

Originally shared by Alexander M Zoltai

V.S. Naipaul Writes an Enraged Letter to His Publisher After a Copy-Editor Revises His Book, A Turn in the South

http://www.openculture.com/2018/08/v-s-naipaul-writes-enraged-letter-publisher-copy-editor-revises-book-turn-south.html

Comments

10 responses to “Editors, take note.”

  1. Karen Conlin Avatar
    Karen Conlin

    As with physicians, the first rule for editors is “First, do no harm.”

    Reply
  2. Karen Conlin Avatar
    Karen Conlin

    As with physicians, the first rule for editors is “First, do no harm.”

    Reply
  3. Karen Conlin Avatar
    Karen Conlin

    As with physicians, the first rule for editors is “First, do no harm.”

    Reply
  4. Karen Conlin Avatar
    Karen Conlin

    As with physicians, the first rule for editors is “First, do no harm.”

    Reply
  5. Karen Conlin Avatar
    Karen Conlin

    As with physicians, the first rule for editors is “First, do no harm.”

    Reply
  6. As If Avatar
    As If

    I’m an editor as well, and I consider part of my job to bring all of my writers’ sentences up to the level of their best sentences. This means editing in their own voice, using their own patterns of sentence structure, etc. It’s challenging, but that’s part of why I enjoy doing it.

    Reply
  7. As If Avatar
    As If

    I’m an editor as well, and I consider part of my job to bring all of my writers’ sentences up to the level of their best sentences. This means editing in their own voice, using their own patterns of sentence structure, etc. It’s challenging, but that’s part of why I enjoy doing it.

    Reply
  8. As If Avatar
    As If

    I’m an editor as well, and I consider part of my job to bring all of my writers’ sentences up to the level of their best sentences. This means editing in their own voice, using their own patterns of sentence structure, etc. It’s challenging, but that’s part of why I enjoy doing it.

    Reply
  9. As If Avatar
    As If

    I’m an editor as well, and I consider part of my job to bring all of my writers’ sentences up to the level of their best sentences. This means editing in their own voice, using their own patterns of sentence structure, etc. It’s challenging, but that’s part of why I enjoy doing it.

    Reply
  10. As If Avatar
    As If

    I’m an editor as well, and I consider part of my job to bring all of my writers’ sentences up to the level of their best sentences. This means editing in their own voice, using their own patterns of sentence structure, etc. It’s challenging, but that’s part of why I enjoy doing it.

    Reply

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