Writing Tip: When an editor changes your work too much.
Time to be a pro!
A reader asks:
Have you ever had an editor change your work to the point that it didn't feel like yours, anymore? It makes me so frustrated.
Alle sez:
Time for some tough love! If you want to work professionally as a writer, to be paid for your work, part of that success is accepting an editor’s final say in the matter.
I’m not saying it’s easy to do, this acceptance bit. I’m saying: it’s necessary.
If there are one or two places in the piece that I really disagree with the editor’s opinion, I write a short sentence or two saying "This is why I’m hoping to achieve with blah blah blah, but I leave the final decision to you."
When I have done this, usually, it’s all worked out to my satisfaction. When the situation does not go my way, I accept the editor’s choice.
The many different sorts of editors make this question hard to answer so easily.
When I do content/structural editing, I might suggest major changes because the manuscript isn't working as it is. The author is completely within their rights to say no to my suggestions, because they're the author, and have to live with that book forever.
But as a line editor, I'm never trying to change what an author is trying to do, I'm trying to take out the static, to make the message/plot/action clearer. If someone fights those corrections it is usually just out of ego.
Wholly agree. But this question took me on a detour. I’ve been legit over-edited—the editor *subjectively* overriding my voice and word choices with hers. Simply ignoring these intrusions is one option. Another is asking the editor a question that politely exposes the intrusion…maybe does a little reverse training. I don’t have such a question at the ready yet…..suggestions welcome!