Red Ink and Manuscripts Don't Mix

A friend of mine was looking at my website the other day, and he asked me how I could stand to spend my days editing manuscripts. I asked him what made him think that, and he told me that it seems rather redundant and boring. I can only imagine that he pictured me with red ink pen in hand making copious notes on some poor author's book, tearing it to pieces, and then handing the garbled mess back with an "F" scratched at the top. Once I explained my role in the publishing process, he looked at me and said, "Oh." Just "oh." I was hoping for more, but c'est la vie, eh?

I find editing rather enjoyable. It's my way of fine-tuning a manuscript and making a good story great. By and large, I think editors live behind the scenes too much. Very little recognition for the work that's being done. Sure, authors get all of the credit, but without an editor's touch, believe me, very little that's being published would get published.

Editing, for sure, is much more than punctuation and sentence structure. I mean, that's part of it, but only part of it. Usually, the last part of it. A good editor, and there are a few out there who I would consider good, will take a book and make it work from cover to cover. I will be the first to admit, however, that there are a lot of "editors" out there who do nothing but make simple corrections at the sentence level. These folks aren't really editors -- they're proofreaders, and that's OK as long as they don't give a false sense of security to a writer who's needing much more.

Manuscripts come in many forms. Some are logical, full of detail, have a storyline, and are organized. Others are written in stream of consciousness, go here, go there, expound on this, barely touch that, and seem to have no direction. An editor's task is to take each and make them readable. A good editor will make them enjoyable. A great editor will make them saleable. The very best of the best will make them award-winning.

That's my goal. Being the very best at what I do is all I have ever wanted. When I take a manuscript as an editor, I TAKE it, own it, make it. Sure, the author will get the credit for the work, and deservedly so, but when it's all said and done, my paw prints will be all over it.