So often, people send me things saying "I'd like this to be shorter, if possible." For the most part, I have no problems with that. Many of the authors I work with spend a lot of time putting a lot more words onto the page than they really need. It's often easy to cut out a certain amount of text. Barring any issues with the author's style preferences, shaving "Then, he moved to the door and leaned against it, with an air of disgust." down to "Disgusted, he moved to lean against the doorframe." is often pretty easy, after all. And, taking it a bit further, I have to admit that I absolutely love condensing entire books down to the text on the back cover. (I used to work at a job where we had
As an editor, I spend a lot of time trying to coach authors down the paths I think they should take. I also try to nudge them away from things that I just don't think are working. I was trying to figure out a nice way to explain this to someone I was working with, recently. Sometimes that's much more difficult than others. Then, as I was out walking the dog that evening, I came across this driveway, and realized that maybe working with authors is easier than working with some drivers - or maybe contractors - I'm not entirely certain what prompted this. Luckily, I've never had to resort to neon orange spray paint with my authors. But it's good to know that it might be an option sometime if I
I am a native English speaker. My "mother tongue" is American English - though I do have some Canadian/British English influences. The town I grew up in had some German speakers in it, so I picked up some of that along the way. (For instance, I know how to say "turn off the light" and "very hot.") I studied French in college and lived in Paris for a year. So I am relatively comfortable in basic French - but my comprehension is better in Paris than Montreal. In most other languages, I simply speak food. I can read menus in Italian and Spanish. I can watch a telenovela and guess at the plot - but I can't pretend to know what the actors are saying. What does all of this have to do with editing?
