Editing has a bad reputation. There’s the idea that to edit your novel you have to rip it apart, examine all the little bits and trim off all your darlings. You need to be ruthless and determined. And your editor is the one to whip you into shape. I don’t actually subscribe to that view of editing, and I don’t think you should either.
Editing shouldn’t hurt. It should stretch our abilities and make us look at our work in a new light. But be hurtful? Make us feel bad about our writing? No, editing shouldn’t do that.
I speak about this because as an author I’ve worked with editors who I swore made it their job to make editing be painful. And I’ve heard editors say that their goal is to make the author cry. Editing with a sense of meanness doesn’t do the author, their vision, or the work any good, and in fact, it can be harmful in many ways. I’ve also heard authors talk about editors who didn’t have a kind word to say or who seemed unnecessarily adversarial during the process.
There is a balance to be found when editing, I think, between pointing out questions that arise in the text (Who is speaking here? I’m not sure who this refers to, etc.) or confusing scenes that perhaps didn’t serve the purpose the author intended, and actually remembering that there is a human who has invested blood, sweat, and tears into the manuscript either metaphorically or literally, and striking the right chord.
You don’t want to discourage an author. Having an author who stops writing after you edit is a cardinal sin, as far as I’m concerned. You also don’t want to neglect in pointing something out because you were afraid of hurting the author’s feelings. There are ways to deliver bad news that aren’t “you are wrong and here’s why”, and if you’re not sure how to do this, I encourage you to learn.
The editor-author relationship is a partnership. It’s a dance where one leads for a while, and then follows where the other person leads. Who this is depends on the project, the editing needed, and the relationship between the two. There are no wrong answers here as long as the relationship is a mutual one, and not a “you do as I say” sort of relationship.
There are enough hurdles an author faces. An adversarial editor doesn’t need to be one of them. Or at least that’s my editing philosophy.
If this sounds intriguing to you, I encourage you to check out my editing services.