Never Edit Blind(ly)

Explain yourself when editing, and ask questions when being edited. It’s a process. You chose words for a reason, even if it was because they just looked sophisticated and you didn’t really know what they meant. Things happen.

The editor – also known as “knife wielding idiot” – requests you change some words. Maybe “is” appears too often. Editor types know this because they can drop your manuscript into an app and it’ll tell them that. Too many “is”‘s! Get rid of some! And “the” isn’t looking good, either. Keep an eye on it.

So you run off to blindly fix whatever editoridiot asks; and in the process you improve your story, right?

Maybe.

 

Let’s say you want this sentence fixed.

 

“Let’s go see grandma!”

 

The kids are excited about a trip to a house filled with love and cookies and toys. They pile into the car, full of enthusiasm.

 

You know what you mean, and the editoridiot knows what she means by “fix it”. But what if your ideas of how to fix it are… different?

 

So you guess about what she wants. They’re too excited. Lose the exclamation point. And you fix it. Now it says:

 

“Let’s go see grandma.”

 

No, no editorasshole says, that’s not fixed! FIX IT!

 

So you type “Let’s go see, grandma.”

 

Well, now it says something different, doesn’t it? The kids were excited to go see grandma, hence the exclamation point; now they’re actually talking to her and considering the prospect of something she is reluctant to witness. It’s fairly ominous. Taunting. Actually, the grandkids are gone and a rude teenager has replaced them, torturing the sweet old woman into giving up her jewelry box to save her elderly husband.

 

If editoridiot had taken the time to explain, you wouldn’t have made grandpa freaking murdered and thrown down a well.

 

See?

 

BTW, imagine how many things you change AROUND the words they request changed, so the story still makes sense. That’s a lot of time and energy wasted without knowing what they want. Don’t assume you know. Heck, don’t assume THEY know.

 

Communication. That’s the key to any healthy relationship. When you know each other well, you know what the other person means. Until then, don’t guess.