What Does an Editor Do?

Beginnings

As an angsty tween (and then teen) many, many years ago, I wrote prolifically. Beginnings mostly. Beginnings of stories, beginnings of novels. I actually finished a couple of stories—one for my final project in eighth-grade English; another for a rare creative writing assignment in tenth grade. While my junior high and high school English teachers provided substantial feedback on my academic writing–feedback that still sticks with me today–they never provided critical feedback on those rare creative writing assignments; I just received a checkmark or an A for completion.

Creative writing is nearly impossible to grade, especially if you’re writing it for a class in which creative writing has not been discussed/taught (as was the case in both my junior high and high school English classes). Similarly, in an English literature class in college, the professor who graded my literary analyses harshly raved about a poem I wrote for one particular assignment. She made some comments, but they were all positive. I thought, wow, it must be a good poem! (Spoiler alert: It wasn’t.)

There’s a reason that most of those beginnings–the stories and “novels” I started writing as a tween and teen–were never completed. Like many novice writers, I got stuck at certain points. I had been writing stories since I was six (which was when I decided I wanted to be a writer), but aside from writing and reading a lot, I had no creative writing background. When I was 16 or 17, I submitted that tenth-grade story to a literary journal. I thought, if Mrs. B. liked it, it must be good! (She was a notoriously hard grader after all.) Naturally, though, it was rejected.

“Edit, edit, edit!”

That first submission to a literary journal was in the early ’90s, back before email and electronic submissions. After (probably) several months, I received the rejection and, with it, a handwritten note stuck to the returned story: “Edit, edit, edit!”

I had no idea what that meant and, naturally, at 16 or 17 years old, I felt dejected. To my teenage self, editing meant checking for grammatical accuracy.

I never did anything with that story, though I’m sure I still have it somewhere. From a technical standpoint, I’m sure it was cleanly written—no punctuation or grammar issues. But from a craft perspective, I’m sure it was lacking in MANY areas. After all, I hadn’t studied the craft of creative writing; at that point in my life, I probably didn’t even know that studying craft was a thing one did. And even if I did, I wouldn’t have had any idea of how to go about it.

Now, many years later, studying craft is one of my most favorite parts of the creative writing process, as is analyzing and editing writing so as to help others create stronger, more effective prose. (It’s much harder to analyze one’s own work, but the more one delves into the analytical process of writing, the better one can also assess their own work. I still, however, highly recommend getting feedback from others and, in fact, still rely on others’ editorial feedback for my own creative work.)

So…What Does an Editor Do?

They key job of an editor is to help the writer create stronger, more effective prose, but this process can take a number of different forms.

There are different types of editing, and the names of the different types can be confusing; not only do different people sometimes have different interpretations of the various types of editing, authors themselves may not know what kind of editing they even need. This is not unusual. Especially for longer works (e.g., a novel), it can be difficult for a writer to self-assess where they are in the process. Many authors—especially novice writers—will underestimate the amount of work that their manuscript needs.

When I edit, I use Track Changes in Word (unless the author specifies the use of another program), and I leave comments. I make a lot of changes, and I leave A LOT of comments. Sometimes my comments are meant as explanatory (“I made this change because…” or “I deleted this phrasing because…”), but sometimes the comments are there to point out inconsistencies or question word/phrasing choices. I will also leave comments to ask questions, especially if the intended meaning isn’t clear to me.

I also look for clarity, consistency, and cohesion/flow, as well as overall logic.

As a writing tutor in graduate school, I would meet one-on-one with students to discuss their papers. There were often times when I would say, “It’s not clear to me what this means. How does this idea connect to this idea?” The student would say, “Oh, well, this is what I mean…” and they’d give me a thorough explanation. My response: “That needs to be in the paper.” And they’d let out a big sigh. In technical and academic writing, what might be perfectly clear to the writer is not always clear to the reader. My job is to help enhance the clarity.

In creative writing, some writers may actually have the opposite problem. As an editor, I occasionally delete large chunks of prose in a creative manuscript because the writer is telling the reader way too much. So, editing also involves understanding the audience and purpose of a piece.

What Does the Author Do After the Editing Is Done?

Editing is a slow process—especially if you want it done well. While not the norm, there have been occasions where, on my first pass over a manuscript, it takes me an hour just to get through two or three pages. For novels, when I return the manuscript to the author, there could be thousands of changes tracked (for line or copyediting) and hundreds of comments (depending on the size of the manuscript and the type of editing). What that means for the author is that it will take considerable time to go through all of those changes, accepting/rejecting the changes and addressing the comments.

Sometimes I think that my part as the editor is the “easy” part. I know from my own experiences as a writer that receiving thorough feedback on a manuscript can be overwhelming and even disheartening. When I receive thorough edits on a piece, I generally read over the comments and look over the suggestions at least one time without making any changes (without accepting or rejecting the tracked changes). I will think about the comments and edits for a while–sometimes a few days, sometimes longer. Then, I go back and read them again. I often find that after thinking about the feedback for a while, I interpret it differently. Addressing an editor’s comments can be a lengthy process.

What does this mean to you as an author?

Don’t wait until the last minute to find an editor, especially for a long work or a creative work (e.g., a novel). (The timeline tends to be different for academic or technical editing because the nature of the editing for those types of manuscripts is different.) You also want to allow yourself plenty of time to revise after receiving the feedback from your editor. This amount of time will vary from person to person and from project to project. I generally suggest that novelists allow at least a month for going through my edits after I give the edited manuscript back to them.

Final Thoughts

You don’t have to write alone. In fact, you shouldn’t. The process of writing is very individual, but there are certain steps you don’t want to skip over: editing and proofreading are two of those essential steps. Regardless of how experienced you are as a writer, these are crucial steps. If you are an experienced writer and have a strong critique partner or group, you may feel like you can skip hiring a professional editor and just hire a proofreader instead. However, if you’re planning on self-publishing a book, you almost certainly want to hire a professional editor.

In the nearly 30 years since that story I wrote in tenth grade was rejected, I’ve gained a lot of editing and writing education, expertise, and experience. And perhaps someday I’ll pull out that old story and “edit, edit, edit!” More than likely, though, I’ll simply look at the story as the exercise/assignment it was and let it go. And that’s okay, too.